NBC's SMASH, Season 2 --

[dramamama611]

1. 1776 had a whole bunch of men that would be president sing. Didn't affect opinion a lot.

2. It's a musical. Major characters usually sing.

3. Even within the show, it's only in rehearsal. Will it stay? Who knows.

I don't love Smash -- but I want to. I keep waiting for it to get better. (And for them to realize they hired a script doctor, not a dramaturg.)

[DigificWriter]

"Even within the show, it's only in rehearsal. Will it stay?"

Yes, yes it will.

I don't personally see what the point of complaining about Our Little Secret is. It's a great song, and Katharine McPhee and Julian Ovenden are great together on it.

[trixigold]

I was forced to watch the movie version of "1776" as an elementary schoolkid and hated it. So, yes, some of us don't like singing politicians, it might just be a personal quirk. Though I still remember some of the songs in 1776, like the one where they sing, "Open up the window! Vote yes!" even though I only saw it once many, many years ago.

[chris_ranke]

Are they still shooting season 2 of SMASH or have the wrapped? Cause if they havent I am scared they will get canceled before they shoot the final episode. And if they have yet to shoot the episode then PLEASE make it a proper ending. Cause this show is NOT coming back for season 3 sadly!

[FireFingers]

Smash is shooting today in Manhattan, so they can still give it all a proper ending. Hopefully.

[ucjrdude902]

You realize there hasn't been the slightest bit of a formal announcement?

[chris_ranke]

Yes I do. But since I have been interested in tv-ratings for a long time and have seen tv-shows (also on NBC) been canceled with similar and higher ratings I am not optimistic as to SMASH returning for a season 3.

I am even nervous for them to pull the show before all episodes have been shot with these ratings.

FYI I love SMASH and really want it to suceed! I am just being a realist and if NBC would renew it I would be very happy, but unless the ratings go way upward in the coming weeks that is almost certain not to be the case ((

[finebydesign]

"FYI I love SMASH and really want it to suceed! "

So did NBC. Smash has been given the royal treatment if it fails it's because it's a terrible show. I watch it now because hearing Hilty sing Shaiman is a thing of mine. It's ironic the show this year is about bringing in a script doctor and the show itself has one!

The show seems like a huge mess, firstly why would there be a 3rd season? If any of these people leave "Smash" why would we care? If "Smash" opens and wins Tonys, what else is there to care about? The tour? If "Smash" doesn't get new songs why would we care? What would be a 3rd season? Last year it was Megan or Katherine, who was it going to be for the part? This year nobody cares AND whoever gets stuck in that role will be canned from season 3 because "Smash" could not possibly be the emphasis of Season 3.

On the BBC this would makes sense to do one season, but to drag this on further is bizzaro. Even for people that don't work in the theatre this show has to play as incredible and trite.

[dramamama611]

^ I think you mean "Bombshell" -- the name of the ficticious b'way show.

In this, as in most dramas, you are suppose to care about the characters. This is more of a soap opera with the backdrop of a b'way show. It's not really about b'way shows.

for people with no interest in theater: I can't see how they'd ever choose to turn this on -- even if it WAS the best thing in the world. It just holds no appeal.

[beensince1987]

^Only if they can write some characters that we can (well.. I can) care about...

[SporkGoddess]

I totally agree that one of Smash's biggest problems is that it can't decide if it wants to be an "insider" type show, or one with mainstream appeal (like Glee). So you have references to people like Jordan Roth, but then you also have Megan Hilty singing Robyn.

[dramamama611]

1987 -- Totally agree with you.

I WANT to like Smash, I WANT it to be good. I hung through the first season -- but it's proving to be a difficult thing to continue to do.

[FindingNamo]

Come on people, have you already forgotten the mantra of the '00s: "It is what it is"?

"Smash" is what "Smash" is. Enjoy it or not for its soapy melodramatics, its good original songs, and, I don't know, its location shooting. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, we watch "Smash" with the "Smash" we have, not with the "Smash" we wish we had.

Are we really going to be glad when it's gone because we simply can't countenance a television show that uses the word "dramaturg" when it should be using the phrase "script doctor"? I mean, REALLY, if they can't get that right we'll be happier when it's gone and we no longer have hilarious Vulture recaps and regular new Shaiman/Wittman numbers?

I will miss it when it's gone.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Count me among the Sicilian Mourners when it goes. (I mean...I'm Napolitano...but we'll go with Sicilian for our purposes).

I do wish, however, that those crazy crazies that were dumped from the show last season were replaced with something interesting.

Cause right now? I'm a little bored...and that makes me have the sadz.

[mikem]

To me, the problem wasn't that JFK was singing; it was that the song and the scene weren't very interesting. The show may be less wacky than last year (although that's debatable), but it is committing an even worse sin: it's boring.

Knowing how bad the season premiere ratings were, I watched this week's episode with an increasingly sinking feeling because I could see people yawning and turning off their TV sets across the country.

And I completely agree with Whizzer's comment that the plot of Hit List would be a HORRIBLE musical. And it's not the recipe for a good TV show, either.

[finebydesign]

I love most the Shaiman/Wittman numbers, but how many more are there? I listened to the cast recording and it seems like they're just going to use what is on there for the rest of the season and pop-tunes. Did they also write the "Next Jonathan Larson" stuff?

The show makes me cringe A LOT. One this week was the script doctor, he was like "the songs are great but the book needs help." So that means were stuck with those songs?

[FindingNamo]

Obviously not, since Deb and Tom wrote a new song in 10 minutes. I dunno, this is one of those shows that I think is better served by looking at the arc of the story across the whole season, like American Horror Story. Fixating on one of the myriad things that rushes by in any one episode seems to me to be missing the larger point.

Many people lamented the marijuana-taking autistic son last season, and the escapee from the Island of Misfit Toys who poisoned Uma Oprah. I feel like an effort at course correction has been made, and I also feel like thing will get interestinger (I just made that up for you, Robbie) as the season gains momentum.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I think it would be helpful if they just had two competing musicals this season: Bombshell and Hit List. Hilty, who is so at home with the Shaiman/Whittman stuff, would be vying for the Tony against McPhee, who would be better singing the pop flavored score of Hit List. We could watch Messing and Borle fix Bombshell while McPhee works with Jordan to bring Hit List to Broadway.

Adding the Les Liasons Dangereuses musical is unnecessary, even though it gives us a chance to hear some new show music. (Do we know which real life composer is giving us the songs from Dangereuses yet?)

What Smash really needs is a good Alexis Carrington to come and shake things up a bit. All great soaps have excellent villains that the audience loves to root for as much as the heroines. How many of us screamed (and possibly fainted) when Alexis shot the rifle that caused Krystle to fail off her horse and lose her baby? How satisfying was it when Krystle threw Alexis all over the art studio trashing the place? I want to see Hilty and McPhee in a cat fight in Bethesda Fountain to shake things up a bit.

[SonofRobbieJ]

I will give this last episode this. It actually got two things right (in terms of the theater world):

The Kennedy/Marilyn song. It was the right choice, it was quickly assembled and you could see instantly that it didn't work, but was a step in the right direction. That's actually pretty realistic and served the story well.

Ivy's first crack at the Cecile sides: That is EXACTLY right. That's what most actors do the first time through. They play at something, and then a coach (or friend or what have you) sees instantly what they're doing wrong and they help course-correct. I would have enjoyed seeing the actual audition to see what kind of Ivy-ness she brought to it.

[dramamama611]

Namo -- you bring up any good points! I'll try to keep them in mind!

Fine by Design: no, Hit List is written by a few different composers. So far:
Joe Iconis
Pasek & Paul

Another name showed up on this week's credits: Gasparini?

(the credits specify who has done the writing by "show")



Wiki's list of songs/composers

[finebydesign]

For your consideration:

Best Comment of the Year



"Obviously not, since Deb and Tom wrote a new song in 10 minutes. I dunno, this is one of those shows that I think is better served by looking at the arc of the story across the whole season, like American Horror Story. Fixating on one of the myriad things that rushes by in any one episode seems to me to be missing the larger point.

Many people lamented the marijuana-taking autistic son last season, and the escapee from the Island of Misfit Toys who poisoned Uma Oprah. I feel like an effort at course correction has been made, and I also feel like thing will get interestinger (I just made that up for you, Robbie) as the season gains momentum.


-FindingNamo

I could reread that all afternoon and keep laughing.

[The Pud]

Some of you didn't like the scene between Marilyn and JFK
the singing President. Well in 1942 James Cagney played Franklin D. Roosevelt in "I'd Rather Be Right". Not only did FDR sing in this show, but dance too. A bit of broadway history about the great George M. Cohan, in Yankee Doodle Dandy,enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV-U1DJxsAM,

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I think FDR sings in every show he's in.

[EricMontreal22]

"So did NBC. Smash has been given the royal treatment if it fails it's because it's a terrible show."

There's zero doubt that this is NOT a case where one can fault the marketing--which often is the case when a quality show disappears (the first time I experienced that was as a young teen with My So-Called Life, and yes, I joined SOS--Save Our Show and wrote letters, etc. I hate to say, but now when shows I enjoy go, I'm disillusioned enough that I don't bother doing any of that.) However, thoughts on Smash aside, I think it's ben proven time and time again that when tv shows get canceled too soon it often has very little to do with the quality of the show--although what do I know. I have no real interest in any of the dramas in the top ten Nielson ratings.

As that article posted above says, and many on here have, a huge problem is simply that the current network tv model simply cannot support shows that don't have the broadest possible audience. And yet, more and more they want to have it both ways--they want to get the "cool" loyal crowd that cable attracts, while getting much larger numbers. It'll be a slow death, but within 20 years I frankly don't see network tv lasting for most scripted tv, at least in this model, anymore.

Maybe that's always been true. Many classic cult shows that did run a long time on network tv, Buffy being an obvious example, stuck around out of good luck--Buffy was on the WB and UPN two networks, which, like the CW rely on audience loyalty and a very young youth demo and don't expect or need the ratings the other networks need (Fox initially was the same, but is now up there with the Big Three, despite still not having programming during the 10-11 time slot.)

But Networks don't seem to learn. According to Ent Weekly the pilots ordered for next season are extremely concept heavy (let's do a procedural but every cop will be partnered with a ROBOT! etc.) The author of the Smash piece in the Atlantic (which I admit I found too negative) had a piece about why fantasy/sci fi shows really aren't working on network tv--and it's the same issue as with Smash. It wants to appeal to a niche but also to a wide audience, and so doesn't really fit in either (they say one reason Once Upon a Time, which I don't watch, is a minor success is because it's unabashedly campy and doesn't seem unsure of its tone the way shows like 666 Park Ave did.) http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/02/fantasy-we-have-problem/62209/


Anyway. Whizzer, I believe Shaiman/Whitman are writing the songs for Liaisons--I expect stuff similar to what we heard from Heaven on Earth or whatever it's called.

I actually, personally, agree with everything Namo wrote. I admit though, if the next episode (which was so highly praised by most critics) doesn't feel like a big step in the right direction, I'll be disappointed.

While I haven't been bowled over by the Hit List songs so far, I love that they are highlighting young songwriters (Benj Pasek was insanely excited on Facebook when his song was featured--as he should be, I can't think of any other way he could imagine several million people hearing a song by him)--and it's far preferable to the pop covers. (Dancing On My Own was fine, even though I now have that song associated with Girls, but like I said subject wise it should have happened last year--but the Eurythmics dream sequence was IMHO worse than the much hated Bollywood number, which I kinda found hysterically, bizarrely great.)

[The Pud]

"I'd Rather Be Right" was a real Broadway show in 1937. I enjoyed the the scene from the movie so much that I would have liked to see the musical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'd_Rather_Be_Right

I think that this show was amazing in the day, think about it. Roosevelt was President when the movie came out, he was crippled with polio, I mean could you see a singing and tap dancing Obama?

[darquegk]

I BELIEVE Shaiman/Wittman will provide the new musical numbers for Liaisons- there was a Facebook photo of Shaiman with the Liaisons cast, posing together.