NBC's SMASH, Season 2 --

[wally]

Yeah, I don't get the point of having Matt there either. And they didn't even let him say anything...which means they didn't have to pay him much. I also agree that they made him look unattractive. So disappointing.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I'm with you ray. It's misogyny on parade at Smash. Even Sunjata's advice about the JFK number- that Marilyn was the predator and the men were the victims- is ridiculous.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Whizzer, yes! That was another moment I ranted about to my boyfriend last night. And throughout that conversation Messing's character acts like a 14 year old trying to make her case and we're supposed to think that she just can't see the "truth" about Marilyn and that Sunjata's character is just telling it like it is.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Exactly!

There's so much advice one could give the creators of Bombshell were it a real show, but why aren't they examining the damaged nature of Marilyn more? She was abused, emotionally and sexually, and basically prostituted out in her early years in Hollywood. I thought My Week With Marilyn, and Williams in particular, nicely captured the flip side of Marilyn's glamour that would interest a modern audience.

If I saw that JFK in Bombshell I'd probably be telling them to cut it.

Also a score and a book grow together. You can't rewrite a whole book and still expect the songs to work (if they ever worked to begin with).

It would be nice if they would just show Messing simply fix her messy book. Show us that she's the intelligent, creative woman she's been built up as.

[beautywickedlover]

Like I said, the show better have some closure planned for this season.


'Smash' slouches lower

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Wow- Smash got a 0.9 in the ratings share. Those numbers are on par with Do No Harm, and we all know what happened to that turkey.

[beautywickedlover]

^ The second season of 'Harry's Law' had ratings like these and it was able to have a complete second season. I think the best thing to do is to just have this season be the final one. I'm not sure if a cable network will want to pick it up afterwards.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

But an episode of Harry's Law was a fraction of the cost of an episode of Smash. If Do No Harm and Harry's Law were cheap and canceled, where does that put Smash?

Sure many of the episodes are already filmed, but they could make more money from advertisers running reruns of SVU. Even Deception is getting a higher rating share (by almost 33%).

[DigificWriter]

I don't think Harry's Law had the network support SMASH does, though; they also didn't have the backing of people whose credentials are as stellar as the likes of Steven Spielberg. SMASH is a series that I honestly think has a chance - small though it might be - of remaining on the air despite tanking ratings simply because of network support.

We'll see, though.

[ucjrdude902]

They're about to finish taping the last 2 episodes. They would be FOOLS to not show what they've already paid for.

[Kelly2]

Just leaving this here.

[DigificWriter]

All of Smash's second season will air even if the ratings continue to tank; what the ratings will end up determining, ultimately, is whether or not it gets a third season, and, as I noted, I think there's a chance - albeit a very small one - that the series has enough behind-the-scenes and network support to survive in spite of tanking ratings.

[Borstalboy]

"Cousin Debbie, predictably, is unconvinced and acts all paranoid and defensive and clings to her terrible ideas and basically performs an interpretive dance to that BuzzFeed article we all read about how Theresa Rebeck is a monster who is single-handedly responsible for the war in Afghanistan, the melting of the polar ice caps, and, most unforgivably, a Chinese adoption plotline so dramatically dead on arrival that little Jeremy Lin–Manuel Miranda is still languishing in overcrowded orphanage somewhere in Hunan Province, while her teenage son Carpet weeps linty tears of woe on the floor of someone else’s dorm room at Bowdoin..."
The Shukert Recap

[Owen22]

Oh please. For the first time, beginning with the second part of the opener, SMASH is actually kinda good.

To those of you having nostalgia for the HORRIBLE first season...are you friggin' insane????

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Networks don't show episodes that they've already paid for all the time. I'm not saying that will be the case for Smash, but it's not uncommon. Just this season 666 Park Avenue was canceled with 5 unaired episodes that had already been paid for.

Same thing with Made in Jersey, although that received a Saturday night burn off for a couple weeks. Still, CBS new they could get better ratings (and ad revenue) with NCIS reruns than with new episodes of Made in Jersey.

It's not foolish to not air filmed episodes at all- granted the reruns (which have already been paid for obviously) can generate more ad revenue.

[DigificWriter]

Did 666 Park Avenue and Made in Jersey have the vocal - and on-the-record - support of the top exec(s) at ABC and CBS, though? Because that's what you're looking at with SMASH.

[perfectlymarvelous]

I'm really annoyed by Daniel Sunjata's character pretty clearly being prepped as a new love interest for Debra Messing. Yes, he is very attractive, but he's also a raging jackass misogynist who was incredibly condescending to Messing's character this episode.

Actually, all the straight men on Smash are pretty much total jerks, even the "nice" ones. And yet all the women wind up sleeping with them anyway when they seemingly have no redeeming qualities, it's incredibly stupid.

[SporkGoddess]

Ray: Yes, yes, a million times yes! I was SO mad and that whole scene made me hate that guy. Yup, I'm supposed to believe that Marilyn Monroe had power over the President of the United States because omg sex. And then I just saw this privileged guy telling this woman about what SHE should find meaningful and also he was being really creepy with the whole "You don't know heat" as if to say that he wants to see a sexier side of her. Ugh ugh ugh.

I also wish they'd delve more into Marilyn's history of sexual abuse.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

666 was strongly supported and promoted by ABC. I'm pretty surprised they didn't let the final episodes air, only to be replaced by Don't Trust the B-- and Happy Ending repeats. (Last week the reran the pilot of Zero Hour in that slot for Christ's sake!)

Made in Jersey had some behind the scene drama that aided it's early demise, but it did fairly well initially given the Friday night time slot.

Networks can go on and on about how much they believe in a show all they want, but lip service doesn't mean a thing when it comes to the bottom line.

The BWW headline is very missleading- Smash Ratings take dip against tough competition?! Vegas and Body of Proof are NOT tough competition. CBS can pull in the total viewers for their hour long crime shows/dramas, but they struggle in the 18-49 market shares, which are the only numbers that matter.

Vegas and Body of Proof are two extremely weak shows, and both look to be canceled by CBS and ABC respectively by year's end. Smash should be trampling them in the rating shares, but instead they wind up in third place.

These are very, very grim facts that no network exec can argue with, no matter how much he or she believes in the show.

[Michael Bennett]

The network would probably make more money selling the remaining episodes on itunes to the 3 million people left watching the show.

[elphaba.scares.me]

But just because an episode has been shot doesn't mean it's done. They started filming in July, right? Six months before the first episode aired, five months before they sent out critic screeners?

Aside from the usual work on a TV show (editing, color correction, etc), Smash has a lot to do in the sound/music editing department. They may be shooting the last couple of episodes now, but they still have a ton of work ahead--and expense to incur--to get them ready for prime time.

I'm rooting for Smash: they've certainly piqued my interest with new characters, conflicts, musical styles, and a couple of fantastic musical numbers this season alone. But last night's exposition-laden hour was about as much fun as being a deck hand on the Titanic.

Edited to include the fact that no matter how misogynistic, reductive, or imperious Daniel Sunjata's character may be, MY. GOD. THAT. MAN. IS. GORGEOUS.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

MB is right. Selling the episodes on iTunes or to hulu plus users would probably make the most amount of money at this point.

[DigificWriter]

ABC IS going to air the remaining eps of 666 Park Avenue as a 'summer series'. 666 PA also didn't have the production talent associated with it that SMASH does.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

ABC does claim that they'll air the remaining 666 eps in the summer, but already that show is a long forgotten memory.

[songanddanceman2]

I have to say this season so far is much better, it feels like it flows and it's lightening up a bit.....and not in a camp way (though it will always be camp in nature). It's a shame that the ratings are so low but NBC will air them all. The show has only had 2 episodes so far, let's see what happens (it was just off for a week which I'm sure did not help). Also NBC need to move it, it's lead in shows (NBC disastrous comedy block) scored very very low (around a 1.1 on average), Smash needs a good lead in to rebuild faith in the show after a shaky season one that saw many Jump ship. NBC is a disaster of epic proportions at the moment.

[ucjrdude902]

A friend…who works for NBC says there are whispers of moving up The Voice and putting it as a the lead it to Smash on Tuesdays.