Smash.

[Temis the Vorta]

This show doesn't really depend on certain characters or certain actors for its appeal. The premise has an inherent charm, it hasn't been overexposed on TV, and the musical numbers are good.

In fact, the weak part is when they start to delve into the characters' personal lives - snore - and this week's episode was strong precisely because it kept focused relentlessly on their work lives. The personal elements such as Karen's "makeover" stem from workplace relationships.

This show could split focus next season, with Ivy winning the role of Marilyn finally, and Karen, Derek, the writers and the producer all going off to work on a new show. Or would the director stick with the existing show? It would be fun to see behind-the-scenes at an actual show, going on night after night, and splitting the focus with another show in development would keep things from getting redundant.

I would have thought this was all a moot point, but the ratings ticked up this week - maybe it's hit bottom? It's expensive, but NBC is desperate, there's the synergistic value of being able to spin off a real-life Broadway show, and the demos are good. 2.4/6 from an audience of 7M shows it's skewing youngish, particularly if you compare it with its competition in the same timeslot.

 

[Professor Zoom]

It's expensive, but NBC is desperate, there's the synergistic value of being able to spin off a real-life Broadway show....

I wonder how that would work, actually. Obviously, the songs would be in place, but who would write the book? Would the show contain the scenes already shown on the TV show? If so, who gets credited as writer for the Broadway show: the staff of Smash? The residuals checks from the run would be a pain in the ass to negotiate.

Ah, well. That's why the all have agents and lawyers.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Legitimizing the Jonas Bros sounds like a movie title.

If "Nick" stays around, maybe that could inject a little of the Camp Rock audience?

9 year olds staying up past their bed time to watch Smash?

The thing about a 9 year old staying up past his/her bedtime in a house with a Nieslon ratings box is that the family gets a spread sheet at the end of the month to let them know how they're doing, and if they should be ashamed of anything like too much cinemax, but that would seriously out the kid as not keeping to her/his stringent bedtime... "Who the hell has been watching Smash???!"

Though no one has to stay up late to watch TV any more in this postTivo universe.

Time is an illusion.

...And lunch time doubly so?

Is that Douglas Adams?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Smash numbers rebound. S2 is looking more likely all the time.

Nice to see a broadcast show with the guts to show two guys in bed. Not sure I've ever seen that on broadcast before. Funny scene, too.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I like how the son who REALLY REALLY wanted a sister, now, no longer cares.

This show works hard for it's drama.

 

[Guy Gardener]

works hard?

Did you see that ad on during the ending credits?

'it's all happening next week! after all the trouble all the bitching all the heart ache, the entire universe explodes!"

I was enjoying the show.

Assuming we were sauntering though nothing too heavy.

However, the producers had thought they were feeding us the height of ultradrama!

Gosh.

you need to build towards something and garner an emotional tithe with your audience to create a zone of giveafuckability...

Seriously, the advertising soured me on what looked like a nice little series alerting me to an uncharacteristically low glass ceiling.

 

[HaventGotALife]

This show is going nowhere fast. I don't care about these characters' lives. Every plot "twist" is predictable. The acting is getting worse. Yeah, yeah a play about Marilyn is making the women crazy, insecure, and hypersexual. I don't care about the adoption--we don't know why these characters want a child. There's no underlying reason for anything that is expressed in this. People have no motivations for anything. It's a bore when they aren't singing and dancing.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

This show works when it focuses on the characters' work lives and how their work lives intertangle with their personal lives. They just need to cut out all the purely personal stuff. The characters are just not that fascinating.

 

[HaventGotALife]

This show works when it focuses on the characters' work lives and how their work lives intertangle with their personal lives. They just need to cut out all the purely personal stuff. The characters are just not that fascinating.

I think this comes from the writing and directing. They don't allow us to see any of the motivations of the characters and why they want what they want. Therefore, we have no emotional investment in what they are doing. I think this could be done without dialogue which is why I think the show needs better directors. There's a noticable change between the amount of effort shown on the musical scenes and everything else.

I also think that the show is too obvious. For instance, we see Ivy starting to break down in the early scenes of last week's episode. Showing her crying was way over-the-top. The camera held too long on her when she stopped any everyone was talking at the table like she had just stunk it up. They spent 10 minutes on something they could've done in half that time. This bores me because I am not distracted and I am watching the show. Don't treat me like I'm two years old.

I think the camera and staging is weak. With exception to last week's episode, too often there's no intimacy between the camera and the actors on screen. I'm a little unsure of my footing here because of lacking the technical knowledge, but it seems to me that the camera should use close-ups and less over-the-shoulder moments. There's no communication in body language and too often we have our backs to the camera. There's no use of background outside the dance numbers. For instance, we've had Ivy and Karen involved in scenes in the rehersal room. Too often, you cannot see Karen in Ivy's shots, and vice-versa. They chopped the scenes, despite their interaction, to show only Karen when Karen was singing, and no reaction from Ivy. We had to have an extra cut for that, to see her reaction. It's a waste of time and film.

My favorite scene from last week's episode? When they were talking about the piano (before the "I see he's really reflecting!" line). This showed the friendship and chemistry between the two writers. It showed that they have a commitment to their craft, they are a bit ecentric in their methods, and it was a light-hearted moment. Why can't the show do more things like that? They did this in the pilot.

There's nothing added from one scene to the next. I think the catty scenes with Karen were forced and not needed after we see the beginning of the episode with the dance with Karen. Megan Hilty lets us know that her character is insecure in that scene. She doesn't need to be so emotionally raw throughout the entire episode. Showing her with some tact might endear me to her--that she tries to get over it and doesn't wallow in the drama.

At the end of the day we can say "this character kissed her ex-boyfriend" or "This character wants a baby." But what else besides that? These don't seem like real people and they make it about as interesting as watching paint dry. These writers act like me when I was in High School.

I could go on, but that's enough for now.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yeah you're right. These people have no other level besides what we see on the surface. Oh well, I still like the singing & dancing.

 

[sojourner]

WTF? I just went to Brighthouse's ondemand and they have episode 6 up but not episode 5. for a fairly serialized show, this is pretty fucked up. What episode did they actually show on the 12th?

 

[HaventGotALife]

WTF? I just went to Brighthouse's ondemand and they have episode 6 up but not episode 5. for a fairly serialized show, this is pretty fucked up. What episode did they actually show on the 12th?

Go to http://www.nbc.com/smash/video/ and stream it online.

Here's the Episode List:

1. Pilot (aired on 2/6)
2. The Callback (aired on 2/13)
3. The Cost of Art (aired on 2/20)
4. Enter Mr. Dimaggio (aired on 2/27)
5. Let's Be Bad (aired on 3/5)
6. Chemistry (aired on 3/12)

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Smash renewed by NBC

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Yay! I'm liking the show pretty much so far...

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yay! I'm liking the show pretty much so far...

Seriously? It's such a trainwreck of cliche.

The funny thing to me: it feels like a show about theater written by what TV people think theater is like. What's funny? A good chunk of the writers are playwrights.

I'm finishing out this season, because I'm curious how bad and cliche it can get (Debra Messing fucks a guy, basically because she's horny--thank god they had a leather couch in the rehearsal room) but then I'm out.

 

[Beagleman]

I really enjoyed the pilot but from there it's downhill. It really has become such a cliche soap opera (what with that assistent guy who overhears everything).

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It may be a trainwreck but at least it's not the same kind of trainwreck that I've seen a hundred times before. Cop show, convoluted conspiracy, teen angst...those are the trainwrecks I can't tolerate anymore. I guess I'm just that desperate for anything the least bit different.

And they really need to turn sneaky assistant guy into a nasty little creepy villain. That's the kind of character this show needs more of.

 

[Professor Zoom]

And they really need to turn sneaky assistant guy into a nasty little creepy villain. That's the kind of character this show needs more of.

That's the thing: it LOOKED like they were--with him stealing the notebook... but that seems to be TOTALLY dropped. Now, he's just an annoying little snitch.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Just saw this week's (almost last week's now) show - when they're singing and dancing, it's great. When they switch to the personal draaaama - ech.

The show's been renewed for S2 but the showrunner is being replaced.

While the pilot of Smash was universally praised, there have been some qualms about the creative direction of the series — chronicling the creation of a Marilyn Monroe Broadway musical — which became increasingly soapy. Additionally, Smash, which started off big and broad, sometimes meandered into niche territory by focusing too much on the insider Broadway stuff over the human drama of the two singers, played by Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee, battling it out for the role of their career. Rebeck, a playwright in addition to being a screenwriter, will have a continuing presence on Smash — the female lead on the show, Julia (Debra Messing), half of a successful Broadway writing team, was based on her.

Well, that explains why Julia is so incredibly annoying. She's a Mary Sue!

But that critique makes little sense. It's too soapy, but we want more Karen vs Ivy soap? The insider-Broadway stuff is interesting, because it's unfamiliar (to me and undoubtedly to most of the audience). I love it when they switch over to Eilleen and her troubles and tribulations trying to produce a Broadway show while at war with her hubby, who has all the money, and how she managed to fix the boiler basically by being a barfly.

That kind of stuff is unexpected and fun, much better than Julia's adoption drama or Tom's dull boyfriend. And speaking of Tom, another good scene was when he flipped out in the meeting when he thought Ivy was being scapegoated because he's seen that happen before, and then he turns around and scapegoats Michael. For good reason, but still, he's such a bitch!

The worst part is how Leo is being written. He breaks down and cries over his mother's infidelity? WTF? Wouldn't a teenage boy be more likely to be rebellious, angry and sulky? And I can hardly believe he didn't jump on the opportunity to blackmail Mom into letting him smoke pot in his room, or at the very least, call her on her hypocrisy. She's basically got no moral authority over the kid anymore. I want to see him run amok.

 

[gblews]

Just saw this week's (almost last week's now) show - when they're singing and dancing, it's great. When they switch to the personal draaaama - ech.

The show's been renewed for S2 but the showrunner is being replaced.

But that critique makes little sense. It's too soapy, but we want more Karen vs Ivy soap? The insider-Broadway stuff is interesting, because it's unfamiliar (to me and undoubtedly to most of the audience). I love it when they switch over to Eilleen and her troubles and tribulations trying to produce a Broadway show while at war with her hubby, who has all the money, and how she managed to fix the boiler basically by being a barfly.

Smash needs to balance the soapy stuff and the theater/show stuff the way Mad Men balances the soapy stuff with the advertising business stuff. The heavy emphasis on the ad business (and the situations that develop from the business) is what keeps Mad Men from deteriorating into an out and out soap opera and is what keeps the show interesting.

For Smash, more of the theater stuff and less of the characters' private lives when it doesn't relate directly to, or perhaps indirectly, to the theater/show. This is one of those times when replacing the showrunner might be just what the doctor ordered.