The proof is in the data
stats
spotify
Surpassed 217k monthly listeners
Crushing Me — 3.8 MILLION streams
I Want More — 1.5 MILLION streams
Merely Players & New Cool — 1 MILLION streams
TIKTOK
Over 7,300 uses of the soundtrack
Over 3,300 uses of Crushing Me
BILLBOARD
Number 70 on Top Current Album Sales
amazon
Reached number 12 in DVD sales for a comedy series
itunes
Number two in TV Series charts for four consecutive days (US)
Reached number one in Comedy TV series charts (US)
Reached number seven in Top TV Shows (US) and number nine worldwide
capitol records
Sold out limited edition vinyl with a best-selling second print
Rotten tomatoes
80% Audience Rating
awards
Emmy awards
Outstanding Choreography For Scripted Programming - 2023 — "Routines: New Cool / Hand Jive / The Boom" — Jamal Sims, Choreographer (Nomination)
Outstanding Choreography For Scripted Programming - 2023 — "Routines: Pulling Strings / Hit Me Again / High Rollin'" — Jeffrey Mortensen, Choreographer & Louise Hradsky, Choreographer (Nomination)
LEO AWARD
Best Choreography in a Dramatic Series — Jeff Mortensen & Louise Hradsky (Cruisin' for Bruisin') (WON)
hollywood critics association
Best Streaming Comedy Series (Nomination)
press
While the show was covered by press while it was available on Paramount+, it has racked up just as much press while completely unavailable to watch, and more as new audiences find it through digital purchase.
TV LINE
Ari Notartomaso, who was named one of TVLine’s Performer of the Week honorable mentions for their work as Pink Lady Cyn, also mourned the show’s loss on social media.
“I have cried all day knowing that we got to make something that made us and so many people watching feel seen and represented, and, at the same time, that this is yet another show added to the list of diverse casts and sapphic main characters that were pulled after a first season,” Notartomaso wrote.
The Hollywood Reporter
‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’ Creator Responds to Paramount+ Removal: “A Particularly Brutal Move”
autostraddle
Like many little lesbians, Grease’s over-the-top gender performances and really cool jackets resonated with something deep within me. That’s why it’s so exciting to see a character like Cynthia put the T in T-Bird and queer the Pink “Ladies.”
“One of the things that was started on set — and actually I think was started by the other Pink Ladies — was that instead of referring to us as the Pink Ladies, we started calling ourselves the Pinks. It was really sweet to know people cared enough to change language on-set in order to make me feel more comfortable.”
NPR
Ever had a show you've been meaning to watch disappear from a streaming service? Or have your favorite series get quashed? Cara Horton, a self-described "theater kid," feels your pain.
"I'm getting really sick of my favorite shows being canceled after one season when they're left on massive cliffhangers," says the 15 year old.
Horton was a big fan of the Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms which was canceled after one season. Now it's happened to her again with Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, which was recently nominated for two Emmys.
Horton took a cue from a fellow-Phantoms fan and started a petition to save the Pink Ladies. Paramount Television Studios is shopping the Grease prequel to find it a new platform. But Horton sees a trend.
"I think streaming services have really forgotten that it takes a couple of seasons before a show gets big and picks up," she bemoans.
CBR.com
Musicals like Grease remain endearing due to their songs, which also meant that the prequel show Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies needed to be as influential in the musical wheelhouse. Fortunately, the series pulled through.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies was a powerful story, albeit one cut short by Paramount+. Like its predecessor, the music and the music made the series stand out. The songs were fresh and fun, inviting new audiences as well as old ones into their fold.
NY TIMES
That drive to follow one’s heart and brain wherever they might lead made the original Pink Ladies feel iconoclastic even in the 1970s, Tranter, the music producer, said — a timeless idea that carries over into this newer iteration. “So many people watched ‘Grease’ so young that I think they don’t realize how progressive and edgy it was for the time,” they said.
“What’s so great about Annabel’s story is that these Pink Ladies are radical and subversive and rebellious,” Tranter added. “They’re causing a moral panic in their town just because they want something.”
the indiependent
It feels as though television executives have forgotten it usually takes a series two seasons at least for a buzz to be created. If a show isn’t given this chance and it’s buried on a streaming platform with little to no marketing it will take time for people to come across the series. In fact, when it was first reported that Pink Ladies was to be removed its audience numbers were briefly bolstered.
Pink Ladies fans have taken action and created a petition, which has already reached over 40,000 signatures. It states that the show has diverse casts and sapphic plots and leads, which is valuable in today’s world, as viewers see more and more of themselves on screen, with shows like these leading the way. This diversity is ultimately very important to many people and shouldn’t be overlooked and so the petition wishes for the rights to be transferred to another platform and ensure its continuation.
Digital Spy
One of the other absolute joys of the show has been its ability to embrace the stories of a more racially diverse cast. The Pink Ladies and T-Birds are a mix of Italian, Mexican, Jewish and Asian heritage — characters whose ethnicities have made them natural outsiders during this time.
Rise of the Pink Ladies succeeds not only in leaving room to tell their stories against the backdrop of 1950s America but in also embedding them in the overarching narrative.
CBC
Hradsky says their Emmy nomination feels bittersweet following news that Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies wasn't renewed for a second season.
"We're riding a high right now. We're bummed that we don't get to experience another round with our cast and crew," she said.
"We know that Paramount+ is shopping the show around [in hopes of someone picking up season two], we're crossing our fingers."
AV CLUB
The series wears its liberal politics on its sleeve, treading the line between nostalgia for the aesthetics of postwar America and criticism of its regressive politics. The show takes a refreshingly light approach to thorny topics like racism and slut-shaming while largely doing them justice. And though its messaging can be didactic at times, Pink Ladies never feels like a chore. In fact, it’s a wall-to-wall blast.
screenrant
Paramount Plus is called out for a newly Emmy-nominated series having been removed from the platform just weeks after its finale for tax purposes.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies fans are calling out Paramount+ for removing the series from streaming in its entirety. The show was a musical prequel to Grease following the formation of the girl gang known as the Pink Ladies, featuring over two dozen original songs. It was removed from the platform just three weeks after the season 1 finale premiered.
collider
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies takes audiences back four years before the events of Grease. Grease was already a popular musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy. Its catchy songs and iconic cultural phenomenon made the film popular over the years. Therefore, the new 2023 series was expected to match Grease's memorable quality.
However, the show was canceled after one season. Nevertheless, audiences were appealed to the show because of the nostalgic elements and charming core cast. Fans of the original movie Grease can appreciate the evoked memories of the beloved film in the show.
tv line
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies: Five Things We Wish We’d Gotten to See Before It Was Cancelled
“I Want More” isn’t just the title of the standout song in Season 1 of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. It’s also what fans of the Paramount+ prequel to the 1978 movie musical were left crying upon learning in June that the series had been cancelled. Not only that, but it was being altogether removed from the streaming platform. (It has since been made available for digital purchase and is getting a DVD release in November.)
