You gotta take the good with the bad.  And this week, it was all bad for those of you who were waiting to find fault with The Wiz: Live.  The Peacock Network finally got it right.  There was really nothing to bitch about.  I guess you’ll have to wait until FOX‘s version of Grease.  I can already read those reviews: “The cast members are older than most high school teachers”, or “Derek Hough would have made a more feminine Sandy”.  Back to The Wiz: Live – this was the slickest of NBC‘s annual endeavors.  And speaking of slick, how did I never realize that the Tin Man is singing about lube?  It was like a three-minute commercial for WET.  “Slide some oil to me, let it trickle down my spine.  If you don’t have STP, Crisco will do just fine.”  Crisco?  Well, it was the ’70s.

For the most part, the cast was superb.  How great to see Stephanie Mills doing…well, anything.  And I really liked Mary J. Blige, although I think someone lent her the dress Patti LaBelle wore as the Acid Queen in the 1989 version of Tommy: Live (look it up).  But I know the question all of you have – what the hell happened to Toto?  After Dorothy got to Oz, that damn dog disappeared!  Did Dorothy have some Vietnamese neighbors?  Since I have nothing but time (and oil) on my hands, I investigated.  In the original Broadway production of The Wiz, they had trouble training the dog, so he was written out once Dorothy left Kansas.  Other viewers were annoyed at the lack of rainbow casting in this show.  Uh, you might not have noticed, but Toto was WHITE!