Since it’s not exactly genre, we haven’t discussed the new series “SMASH” which will be wrapping up this coming Monday. So I figure, What the hëll. Let’s do that.
First of all, I’m kind of astounded that the series got on the air in the first place. It’s a show for which Kathleen and I are the target audience, and that’s NEVER a promising endeavor. The ratings for the Tonys indicate that the vast majority of America doesn’t give a dámņ about real Broadway, so why in the world would they be captivated by a TV series about made-up Broadway? If they want to see something on TV about performers struggling for their shot, they’ll put on “The Voice” (the show’s lead-in) or “American Idol” where it’s involving real people, or at least nominally real. Judging by the ratings, viewers more or less haven’t embraced the show, for those reasons and others, and yet NBC has given it a second season pick-up. Which is good, because we’ve been enjoying the hëll out of what has been remarkably schizoid ride. And I mean that in a good way.
In case you haven’t been watching it–and the odds are sensational that you haven’t–the series focuses on some hardy souls mounting a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Produced by Morticia Addams and directed by Commodore Norrington, the show is unfortunately titled “Bombshell,” a hideous name because you just know that sticking the word “Bomb” into a title is catnip for reviewers. If the show’s in trouble, the headlines write themselves.
The cast is populated by a insanely marvelous combination of TV, movie and Broadway vets, all of whom have wildly different acting styles because of their varied backgrounds. Not to mention Katharine McPhee who, as an actress, is a wonderful singer. The notion that there is ANY competition between her “Karen” and the character of “Ivy” (performed with Emmy-worthy zest by Megan Hilty) is ludicrous since Ivy is so clearly better suited for the role that they had to develop artificial story reasons why she isn’t first choice. Consequently the show’s tone lurches wildly from episode to episode and sometimes scene to scene.
If this sounds like I’m down on the show, I’m not. There is literally nothing else like it on television right now. First of all, the original songs written for “Bombshell” are insanely catchy and hummable, far more so than I’ve seen in quite a few musicals these days. They also find ways to shoe-horn in various covers of pop songs; if Karaoke didn’t exist, they’d have had to invent it for this series. And then there’s the occasional flight of total demented fancy including a recent Bollywood number called “1001 Nights” which was undoubtedly McPhee’s best performance to date (my God, is she limber. Go check it out on Hulu if you don’t believe me.)
And then there are the guest stars, some of whom are positively meta. When the producers decide “Bombshell” requires a movie actress to give it some star power, they bring in Uma Thurman playing more or less a fictionalized version of herself, which is what “Smash” needed in order to try and bump the ratings up. In a recent episode, Ivy looks longingly at a photograph and I found myself wondering why she had a picture of Bernadette Peters in her dressing room, before I remembered that show business legend Peters did a guest shot as Ivy’s show business legend mother.
The production of the show within a show is rife with sexual hook-ups and romantic turnabouts for pretty much every single person in the cast who isn’t relegated to the chorus. Which all seemed a bit much to me, but Kathleen–a Yale educated stage manager–assures me that it’s remarkably true to life in that regard. If I had any single problem with the show, it’s that oftentimes the developments are so meticulously set up that you’ve got more telegraphing than Samuel Morse. Uma Thurman’s “Rebecca” makes a point of repeatedly mentioning having a peanut allergy and that she only drinks smoothies. You don’t introduce that piece of info for no reason, and the only reason is the obvious reason: she ingests peanuts via a smoothy and she’s out of the show.
So now, with the season finale coming up, we are left with two huge questions: who poisoned Rebecca, and who is going to wind up playing Marilyn? Well, it’s easy to say something’s predictable after the fact, so I’ll go out on a limb three days early and say that it was “Ellis,” the smarmy, unctuous assistant to Morticia (or, if you insist, Hollywood royalty Anjelica Huston.) Why? Because there was a scene where he was in a bar with Morticia and Morticia’s boyfriend (and investor) with a shady past, complaining that Rebecca was wrong for the role and was dragging down the show. Shady boyfriend then announces he’s going to make sure that the tipsy Ellis is gotten safely to a car. He leaves. Why? I figure it’s because he slipped a bag of peanuts that he got from the bar to Ellis and told him to do what was necessary.
So then who winds up playing Marilyn? Katharine McPhee, and here’s why: because the standard show business drama trope is that the young, innocent naif (which is what “Karen” is) gets into show business, gets treated like a kicked puppy, but then inevitably develops the stamina, the determination, and–frankly–the sense of dirty pool required to make it to the top. If Hilty’s character, who is in every way more fit for the role, winds up getting it, McPhee’s character has no arc and no pay-off. My guess is that Karen finds out that Ivy had a one night stand with Karen’s boyfriend and this is the final straw that causes the talons to come out that she will use to then claw her way to the leading role. And she will do something appalling to attain her goal because hëll hath no fury. Again, it’s the standard trope. Anne Baxter blackmailing her way into stardom in “All About Eve” or Elizabeth Berkley simply shoving the lead down a flight of stairs in “Showgirls.” That’s what I think is going to happen here. All you’ll need to complete it is Norrington saying to her, “You’re going out there a nobody, but you’ve GOT to come back a star!” Which could make for an interesting second season since McPhee’s on top and she has to guard her back from Hilty.
And if this all sounds incredibly melodramatic and soap opera-ish, well…it is. And I’m still there for it every week. What can I say? I’m a sucker for musicals.
It is, however, worth noting that there already really was a musical about Marilyn Monroe. It bombed. So staking one’s fortunes to a musical about Monroe–which is what both the fictional producers of “Bombshell” and the real producers of “Smash” have been doing–is a risky endeavor. Especially since everyone knows how her life ended, and it wasn’t happy. Although if you want to read a compelling dramatization of that, I’d point you to “Bye Bye Baby” by Max Allan Collins, an entry in his superb “Nate Heller” detective series. Now THAT would make a great movie. Or maybe a Broadway show.
PAD
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Everything you said about the show (both positive and negative) is right on the button, Peter. (You knew I’d be a fan, right?) And yet I can’t stop watching it. The musical performances are just so good (even the ones by characters who aren’t supposed to be singers) that this is just compelling stuff for a musical theater buff. Speaking of my last parenthetical comment, why haven’t we heard Brian Darcy James sing yet?
Pat
I love “Smash” so much that I have even roped my poor boyfriend into watching it every week! I do agree with you that it is absolutely ludicrous to think that Karen could ever compete with Ivy for the lead in this show. That is by far my biggest complaint about the series, but without that competition, there really wouldn’t be a show.
I only know a couple of other people who watch it, but it’s all the three of us talk about when we get together anymore. Another friend actually said she might have to start watching it out of self-defense. I am so happy it got picked up for a second season.
My wife watches it because it reminds her of her days in theater back in college, and why she doesn’t want to try to reenter that world now.
I just watch off and on hoping for the occasional semi-hallucinogenic musical scene (like that Bollywood number, which was perfect). Besides, Megan Hilty is hot. 🙂
I’m a sucker for musicals, too (there’s literally nothing in the world that’s better than a great musical number) but even I have no interest in this show. The pilot was reasonably entertaining, but the second and third episodes bored me silly, so I stopped watching at that point. It was just a bunch of uninteresting and not particularly likeable characters engaging in silly soap opera material while putting on a show that, if it were actually on Broadway, I would have no interest in seeing (Marilyn Monroe? Really?).
It was obviously meant to compete with Glee (every show NBC puts out nowadays is either an emulation of a hit show or a revamp of a former hit NBC show, it seems). Glee has Kristin Chenoweth in a recurring role, Smash has Megan Hilty… what’s the difference? But at the same time it’s trying to distance itself from Glee by eschewing comedy and satire and slowing down the pace. But I think they went too far in the other direction, and made it a dull melodrama that takes itself too seriously. Which wouldn’t be that much of a problem, if the drama was actually interesting. But when they began devoting large portions of each episode to Debra Messing’s quest to adopt a Chinese baby, I knew it was a show without ideas.
Glee is a very uneven show, and the musical numbers are only occasionally well done, but I’m still enjoying it for the most part, because I love the characters and I’m invested in them. I just can’t imagine ever feeling that way about the characters in Smash.
It’s also interesting, and a bit telling, that Glee, a show primarily about pop music, cast a Broadway actress in the lead role, while Smash, a show about Broadway, cast a pop singer in the lead role.
Being a Gleek, myself, I haven’t seen an episode of Smash. But, I have pondered a couple of questions about the two shows in relation to one another.
1) Did the green lighting of Smash play any part in Fox deciding not to do the rumored “Kurt and Rachel in New York” spin-off?
2) Is Smash the show that Jonathan Groff was supposedly on the short list to star in that was being talked about roughly a year ago?
–Daryl
I don’t know the answer to either question. I hadn’t heard about a Kurt and Rachel spin-off, but it’s my understanding that they’ll still be on Glee next season, so presumably it will follow them in New York.
I don’t figure anyone outside Fox or Ryan Murphy’s offices knows the answer to that first question. But, about a year ago, Murphy was fairly vocal saying that the seniors graduating this season would be off the show next season. Talk started circulating about a spin-off focusing on Kurt and Rachel chasing their Broadway dreams in New York. Then, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan were then just as vocal saying that, just because the characters were graduating, it didn’t mean they’d be off the show. The whole thing came full circle when Murphy stated that there would be no spin-off, but that they’d found a unique way to keep this year’s graduates around next season.
–Daryl
While I haven’t seen the show, the SMASH soundtrack is pretty good, ranging from “traditional” Broadway numbers to pop songs (it opens with “Touch Me,” which could easily be played on Top 40 radio — or a strip club), and the covers PAD mentioned. It’s also worth noting that the deluxe Target exclusive (disclaimer: I work for Target) has five bonus songs — including former AMERICAN IDOL performer Katharine McPhee singing “Breakaway,” a song by former AMERICAN IDOL winner Kelly Clarkson.
I’ve been enjoying it, but wondering what the future holds for it. With the show now in “out-of-town” mode, it’s almost time for Broadway. So then what?
I do like the other Broadway actors who show up. Besides Brian James (who I got to see in Shrek) and Peters, Ann Harada (Avenue Q) plays the stage manager, Terrence Mann (Cats, Les Miz, etc) is the shows current investor, as well as others including Norbert Leo Butz as the star of Ivy’s old show.
“The ratings for the Tonys indicate that the vast majority of America doesn’t give a dámņ about real Broadway, so why in the world would they be captivated by a TV series about made-up Broadway?”
Two things-
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1. I think if the whole country consisted of NY, the Tonys might get better ratings. The vast majority of the country doesn’t have the opportunity to see anything other than community theater.
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2. Just because an award show fails to grab ratings doesn’t mean that people don’t care for the medium. The Oscars have shown some real slippage in ratings even when the movies do well at the box office. This is mainly because the academy tends to nominate art house films that no saw or cares to see. And even when a major film gets nominated, the obscure film about transgendered Finnish ice-fishermen still gets the award. It’s not that people don’t go to movies anymore, it’s that no one wants to watch an awards show covering subjects they know nothing about and have no connection to.
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That said, I hear great things about Smash. I’ll probably check it out if comes to Netflix.
Come now, true art house films rarely win a major Oscar. The Academy tends to reward two types of movies: sweeping historical epics and “touching” contemporary dramas (and occasionaly some movies that are both, such as FORREST GUMP).
If you read the list of Best Picture winners, you’ll see the Academy has a very consistent “taste”. Most of the films are historical epics or contemporary dramas, this holds true for the 30s, the 60s, for now, it’s remarkable.
(Once upon a time, a third kind of movies that were often rewarded were the musicals, but the genre has dwindled a little)
I think what happened is that the public taste changed, while the Academy’s stayed the same. The rise of the modern action film, the modern sci-film, has rarely been rewarded by the Academy (THE FRENCH CONNECTION aside).
Silly comedies and lightweight romance, two other genres favored by the public, also rarely win a major Oscar. Once in a long while a suspense or gangster movie will win, but that is it.
You have to check out this blog
http://www.sharonwheatley.com/2012/05/09/smash-fact-or-fiction-episode-14-previews/
This woman has been involved in Broadway for years and she asks and answers the questions about the plot as to whether or not that is the way Broadway really works. A lot of fact on the show and a lot of fiction (for dramatic effect I assume).
Well worth reading.
PAD, hope you’ve had a chance to read M.A.C. and Barbara Collins’ novel “Bombshell” about the meeting of Marilyn Monroe and Nikita Krushchev (sp?)and their adventure in Disneyland. It came out a few years ago. Not sure how readily available it may be, but it was a fun read.
Hope you all watched it.
I pretty much nailed it. Only the angle with the boyfriend was missing, and even that might be revealed next season.
PAD
Haven’t watched the latest episode yet. Anyway, I’m watching it mainly for the musical numbers.
It’s funny, with stuff like Glee and Smash, it seems like TV shows with stories that are set around music and musicians are some big new thing. However, kids’ TV has been doing that kind of thing for ages. Heck, “music cartoon” is practically a subgenre all its own.
Yeah you called it. It was very obvious from the beginning with the way they were continually pumping up Katherine McPhee’s character. That did not stop me from screaming obscenities at the tv. My bf suggested that it’s a good thing “Smash” got moved to mid-season because I might need to invest in some therapy before it starts.
This is how out of touch I am with TV today. I thought this post was going to talk about the Hulk.
Bah.
I LOVE this show. I love musicals and I have been hoping that they would actually stage this on Broadway to give me an excuse to come to NYC and see it.
Everything you said PAD is true but I’m a sucker for an underdog and I was glad they gave Karen the chance.
I don’t care that I have to wait till mid-season…I’ll line up to buy the Bluray and watch every behind the piece scene they come up with, and will spend some time with my keyboard trying to hammer out the tunes and sing along in my spare time.
Can’t wait for Season 2!