'Rise of the Pink Ladies: 21 Hidden 'Grease' Gems Fans Will Love

The show is packed with Easter eggs. Did you catch them all?

School is back in session at Rydell High! Paramount+'s musical series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is taking fans of the original movie back to Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson's old stomping grounds—four years before they ever met. But, fear not, Grease fans. Even though the show is a prequel to the 1978 film, there are plenty of references to the classic.

"It’s for a new generation. The little nods are sprinkled in there for the generation that fell in love with it," Marisa Davila, who plays Jane, told Hidden Remote ahead of the premiere.

Co-star Cheyenne Isabel Wells agreed, telling the site that there are "a lot of little Easter eggs throughout the whole series."

"I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they watch the first couple of episodes," she said. "And I think they’ll be happy about it."

From familiar characters to nods to song lyrics, here are the hidden gems we found in the first two episodes of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

1. A callback to how it all began...literally

Like the movie, which starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, the series begins after some summer lovin' between two high school students. "This isn't the end?" Jane asks Buddy (Jason Schmidt), to which Buddy replies, "Of course not, it's only the beginning."

Fans will recall that before the opening credits rolled in Grease, Sandy asked Danny, "Is this the end?" Travolta's character answered, "Of course not, it's only the beginning."

2. "We're gonna rule the school"

The title of the debut episode is a reference to something Rizzo says to Jan and Marty when they show up to Rydell for their first day as seniors.

Related: They Go Together, Remembered Forever! See the Cast of Grease Then and Now 

3. Grease is the word

Grease continues to be the word all these years later. The first musical number of the series is Frankie Valli's "Grease (From 'Grease')," which was the song in the opening credits of the original movie.

4. The xylophone

The show's Asst. Principal McGee (Jackie Hoffman) begins her announcements with a xylophone. The character Blanche played the instrument before Principal McGee's announcements in the film.

5. McGee's flowers

The xylophone isn't the only thing that didn't change between the series and movie for McGee. Hoffman's character in the series also wears flowers on her clothing like Eve Arden's Principal McGee in the film.

6. St. Bernadette's

Olivia, played by Cheyenne Isabel Wells, references St. Bernadette's in episode one when Asst. Principal McGee says she is going to call her mother. "No, wait! She said if I screw up again she'll send me to St. Bernadette's. The nuns hit you there," Olivia says. In the movie Grease, Kenickie's high school dance date, Cha-Cha DiGregorio, declared that she was the best dancer at St. Bernadette's. "With the worst reputation," Frenchy noted.

Related: Test Your Grease Knowledge!

7. 'Frenchy'

Jane's little sister Fran is nicknamed is Frenchy. The moniker was given to her by none other than her bad-influence friend Betty Rizzo.

8. Pierced ears

In the show, Rizzo pierces Frenchy's ears (and they get infected). Grease fans will recall that in the movie, Frenchy pierces Sandy's ear during their sleepover.

9. Another full moon

The Rydell High dance in Grease apparently wasn't the first time the T-Birds have mooned a crowd. The T-Birds in the Paramount+ series mooned pep rally attendees in the premiere episode.

10. The Frosty Palace

Rise of the Pink Ladies shows that The Frosty Palace was around long before Danny, Sandy and the rest of the gang used to hang out at the spot.

11. The history of Frenchy and Rizzo's friendship

The Paramount+ series explains how Frenchy and Rizzo became friends years before they ruled the school as the Pink Ladies. "When we moved here, I got bullied every day at school," Frenchy tells her sister, Jane. Frenchy revealed that Betty made fun of how fast she spoke and how strangely she talked, but one day when a boy was teasing her about her voice, Betty walked up to him and kicked him right in "the family jewels." Betty told the boy that only she can talk to Frenchy like that. After that, Frenchy walked up to her and said, "Betty Rizzo, meet your new best friend, and she said 'fine.'"

Frenchy told her sister that she was not going to drop Betty as a friend because a "friend like her is the only way I'm gonna survive junior high."

12. Pigtails

Before Grease's Jan sported pigtails, Dot (Josette Halpert), another character with a three letter name, rocked the hairstyle in Rise of the Pink Ladies.

13. Doris Day

When Jane apologizes to Olivia for getting her into trouble (or, really, for the fact that Jane didn't get in trouble when Olivia did), the tough-as-nails Olivia tells her "At ease, Doris Day." This is reminiscent of a line in the Grease song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee." The lyric? "Even Rock Hudson lost his heart to Doris Day."

Related: Where Was 'Grease' Filmed?

14. "Put up a fight"

Jane confronts Buddy for telling Neil that they "went all the way" when they didn't. "We almost went all the way, and you were pretty eager to do the things we did," he says. "So were you!" she reminds him. "Well, yeah," he answers. "But girls are supposed to [waits a beat] put up a fight."

True fans will immediately think of Kenickie's controversial lyric from Grease's 'Summer Lovin' ("Tell me more, tell me more, did she put up a fight?").

15. The auto body shop

The T-Birds are working on a junker at Rydell's auto body shop when they break into song. Real ones will know the scene is a nod to the movie's iconic "Greased Lightning" number.

16. "Too Pure to Be Pink"

As with the premiere, the title of the second episode, "Too Pure to Be Pink," references a line from Grease. Rizzo says in the movie that Sandy "looks too pure to be pink."

17. Cherries

Nancy shows the girls some new jacket ideas, including one for "The Red Cherries." This is arguably a nod to two moments from Grease: The cherry sodas Sandy and Danny order at The Frosty Palace, and Marty's last name, Maraschino ("you know, like in cherry").

18. Flog your log

After the ladies find a note Buddy wrote Jane in his locker—in which he confessed to lying about her—they discuss using the letter to blackmail him. Either he drops out of the race, they decide, or they expose him. Jane expresses her reservations and Nancy reminds her that he had the perfect opportunity to clear her name in the boys' locker room (where Nancy was staked out to get this exact sort of intel), and he just went in the shower instead.

"Yeah," Cynthia says. "Probably to flog his log!"

This is a callback to an exchange that happened between Rizzo and Danny in the movie.

"Where are you goin'?" Rizzo asks him. "To flog your log?"

19. This party's a 'drag'

Nancy refers to Dot's party, which the ladies crash on their mission to blackmail Buddy, as a "drag." Her word choice may seem simply of the time, but given the way she says it, it's clearly a reference to Rizzo's lyric in 'Summer Lovin,' "Tell me more, tell me more, cuz he sounds like a drag."

20. The (fantasy) sleepover

There's a song-and-dance number near the end of the second episode that is a nod to the sleepover the Pink Ladies have in the movie. Notice Jane's nightgown, which is reminiscent of Sandy's. And did you catch the shot where Dot (the one with the pigtails) shoved cake in her mouth? So very Jan of her!

21. The T-Bird hair slick

"Too Pure to Be Pink" ends triumphantly with the newly minted Pink Ladies walking down the hall in their jackets. Just before the very last shot, we see Richie (Johnathan Nieves) doing the signature T-Bird hair slick that originated in the movie. Looks like we've got our series heartthrob.

Next, Find Out Everything to Know About the Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies Series