The Next Best Thing, Starring Shakespeare

Eh now, what’s this?  The Next Best Thing is a new reality show where people do impressions of famous people.  Nobody’s actually “doing” Shakespeare yet (although that would be interesting, wouldn’t it?) but I was surprised to see them highlight two auditions who used Shakespeare as a monologue piece.  There was a Jackie Gleason dressed up like Ralph Kramden from the Honeymooners, who did a medley (ranging from “To be or not to be” to “My kingdom for a horse”), which I thought was good but he didn’t pass.  And then there was a John Travolta who was lousy, who read a passage from Romeo and Juliet directly out of the book while doing his Vinnie Barbarino (from Welcome Back Kotter?  Anybody?)  He was lousy. Made me pay attention for a few minutes. 🙂