Smash - season 1 (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

The fact that no one bothered to update this thread through all of April pretty much tells you where this train wreck went.. HOLY COW. It's like a complete implosion of bad ideas on this show.. but, when you're a network that's as far in the toilet as NBC, I guess you'll take what you can get.. but.. woof

 

[Greg_S_H]

I watched the first 20 minutes or so of the pilot. Not really my thing, even if it was good. I wonder if NBC regrets the early renewal.

 

[Jeremiah]

I still have the eps on my DVR, nobody said it got better so never watched them after episode 1. McPhee is very attractive though.

 

[Josh Dial]

We're still watching it in our house. It's not great, but it's not *that* bad, either. I have enjoyed all of the "Bombshell" musical numbers (so much so that I would buy the soundtrack), though the covers haven't been as memorable.

I will say this about the plot as it relates to the music proper: it's pretty accurate. A production really does have all that drama throughout (the significant other is a stage actress/dancer, so I hear all about it). The plot with the son and the adoption and the marriage is all crap, though.

We'll finish the season, and likely watch next season. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it to anyone, however (strange blend of opinion, I know).

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Well, once you're into it, it makes more sense to stick with it. More than if you haven't gotten started.
I lapsed after only a few episodes. The show could have been so cool if it just focused on the production instead of trying to be Glee for grownups.

 

[Matt Hough]

I think it's the worst written show on network TV (at least of the ones that I'm watching). I do MORE eye-rolling every week than the week previous. It's soap opera and not even good soap opera because all of the relationship woes are telegraphed weeks in advance, and then we watch it slowly, slowly, slowly march right in lockstep toward the inevitable. All of the couples on the show are completely devoid of any romantic chemistry, and the individual characters are mostly obnoxious or at best unlikable. Why am I still with it? Because I read a month or so ago that the creator/showrunner will be leaving at the end of the season, and I have a SLIM hope that maybe the show will be improved by her leaving and with some much-needed tinkering over the summer.

I'm not saying that there haven't been effective musical numbers here and there scattered through the season, but there have been many duds, too, and I have most of all resented the producers' overwhelming and desperate desire to turn Katherine McPhee into some kind of legendary, charismatic singer giving her one or two spotlight moments every week and falling back on the now hilariously cliched set-up with a group of open-mouthed spectators gaping blankly at her "mesmerizing" voice as she captures a room (when in reality she has a pleasant but rather innocuous voice of no real distinction.) In truth, for the last two weeks, it's been Megan Hilty who's brought down the house with her solos.

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

...
I'm not saying that there haven't been effective musical numbers here and there scattered through the season, but there have been many duds, too, and I have most of all resented the producers' overwhelming and desperate desire to turn Katherine McPhee into some kind of legendary, charismatic singer giving her one or two spotlight moments every week and falling back on the now hilariously cliched set-up with a group of open-mouthed spectators gaping blankly at her "mesmerizing" voice as she captures a room (when in reality she has a pleasant but rather innocuous voice of no real distinction.) In truth, for the last two weeks, it's been Megan Hilty who's brought down the house with her solos.

I agree regarding Katharine McPhee. I cringe whenever the director is imagining her as Marylin. I think she does a horrible Marylin impression, and I don't buy that she is supposed to embody Marylin so much that the director just can't help picturing her that way.

 

[mattCR]

What kills me is that week after week we trot out completely ridiculous events that seem to be cut out of "Days of Our Lives" or "General Hospital". Just horrible.. oh, kid gets stoned in the park.. let's get a lawyer who's conveniently dating a friend.. oh, wait, he's a gay republican.. can't handle that, that relationship is off (character dissappears), workplace romance Bartender with hidden money and mob connections, ex dating bimbos.. and yet, there's MORE! considering adopting a foreign baby but can't get it to move through the system instead decide to re-open an affair that you kept secret for years and get caught in the act by your son who's now traumatized and went from an "A" student in advanced classes (who also hangs out in the park to get stoned for fun as a science experiment I guess).. your lead gets a pill habbit which she breaks cold turkey in two weeks, and this after she publically humiliates herself onstage in another show..

I could go on with a litany of completely crazed happenings.. I think MattH has it right.. this show is like a trainwreck

 

[David Weicker]

Watched tonight's episode. As usual, the songs within the 'play' were good. The drama isn't so appealing, but some parts are better than others, and others are extremely worse (can somebody just remove Derek).
I loved seeing Anjelica singing September Song, but they really missed an opportunity. When asked if she knew it, she should have said something like "my grandfather used to sing it" (for those who don't know, Walter Huston introduced the song back in '38).
The church song was good too.
David

 

[Matt Hough]

I just watched this week's episode this morning. Liked the Bombshell moments (nice that they got Broadway star Marc Kudisch to play Zanuck) but really disliked everything else. Yes, I got the nostalgia of having Anjelica Huston sing the song that her grandfather made famous (accompanied by Marc Shaiman who's writing the songs for Smash with his partner Scott Wittman), but it brought the show to a screeching halt as did that church revival number. The soap opera is still so thick you could use a chainsaw on it and not be able to cut through it (Ivy turns up everywhere Dev and Karen just happen to be which will just have to make him feel EXTRA guilty so he'll feel compelled to confess his infidelity). I still find the personalities of these folks very dislikable.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I wished I liked the non-singing stuff more on the show, and the finale just had to toss in more soapy elements with Ivy, Grr.... But I'll give a second season a look if it comes back in the winter (not on the fall schedule, it seems).

 

[David Weicker]

I think this will be a tough second season.
Most of the best moments were the songs within the play. And now, we've seen all (or practically all) of them. I doubt we will see them re-performed. That leaves the non-show songs which were, IMHO, OK to really sucked. Not sure, musically what they will do next year.
And without the balance of good musical numbers, we'll be left with the drama. While there are a lot of dramatic moments involved between out-of-town tryout and Broadway premiere (and beyond), that also leaves a lot of non-show drama - which ranged from (at its kindest) didn't-work/wasn't-memorable to absolutely-horrid/drive-away-the-fans
We'll have to see
David

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, I think the original idea of Smash dealing with the creation of a new show each season was a better idea. Taking Bombshell to Broadway, while there will be changes, a few songs thrown out and a few new songs put in, doesn't seem likely to sustain the season which means the emphasis will once again be on the tiresome soap opera elements of the show which were the real turnoff for me.

And we got glimmers of what's ahead already: Who's the father of Julia's baby? Will Dev and Karen make up? Will Ivy go unhinged? What trouble will Ellis stir up? Ugh.