RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Season finale tonight!
Predictable as it might be, this was a beautifully produced finale, and honestly, a well-produced show. I dug it. Will offer more in depth thoughts later.
Robert Bianco said:Ending the season on a high note is great, but now Smash has to sustain it.
Still, if you had any doubts during the show's prolonged midseason slump whether NBC was right to renew this ambitious but undisciplined weekly musical, Monday's season finale must have erased them. This was the show Smash promised to be in its pilot and should be in its second season: smart, focused, suspenseful, musically on target and almost completely beguiling.
Almost. There were a few things that didn't work: Ivy threatening to take pills, Julia's family being pills, and anything having to do with Ellis. But what the show has proved in its last three outings, which focused on the efforts to open the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell on the road, is that it does have a compelling story to tell when it gets the debris out of the way and tells it.
Luckily, Smash is getting a new show-runner next season and a new chance to get back on track. How? A few suggestions:
1. Dump Ellis. Designed as a character you love to hate, Ellis became one you'd love to hit, a victim of terrible writing and, in Jaime Cepero, a young actor not equipped for the heavy lifting the character required. Intentionally or not, his badly played confession that he fed Rebecca peanuts to provoke an allergic reaction gives an easy out: At the very least, that's an assault. While many are rooting for a firing squad, imprisonment will do.
2. Save Ivy. Start by taking those pills out of her hands; the whole Monroe symmetry is too Valley of the Dolls cheesy. Then find a way to make better use of Megan Hilty, who has a great voice and showed flashes of being able to create a sympathetic character, but was neither a believable Marilyn nor a particularly entertaining villain. So free Ivy from Bombshell, where her usefulness has come to an end, and let us watch her pursue a separate star track.
3. Help Katharine. What Derek said about Karen on Monday goes for Katharine McPhee: She's a star. Performing the show's final number, Smash's best original song since the pilot, she glowed, and not just because of the lighting. As an actor, though, she's often getting by on charm, natural talent and low expectations alone — and those falter when scenes require her to stretch. She doesn't need a lot of help, but a little coaching couldn't hurt.
4. More Broadway, less pop. Last we looked, this was a show about Broadway. So let the characters express themselves through numbers written for musicals (which are better designed to carry plot and develop character anyway) and leave the pop covers to Glee, which does them better. And never, ever stage a number in a bowling alley again.
5. Better personal stories. Smash's mistake wasn't delving into the lives of its characters; it was making those lives so deadly dull. Leave Julia's deadweight of a family at home (and if that was a pregnancy they were hinting at, drop the hint); send Dev to D.C.; put some heat into Tom's love life; and give us a better reason to believe Eileen is entranced by the bar owner. And no one is allowed to visit Ellis in prison.
More Broadway, less pop. Last we looked, this was a show about Broadway. So let the characters express themselves through numbers written for musicals (which are better designed to carry plot and develop character anyway) and leave the pop covers to Glee, which does them better. And never, ever stage a number in a bowling alley again.
If you're just interested in the original songs, don't pickup the soundtrack it's missing several of the original numbers. Off the top of my head the finale song, Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn't Love To Howl, and Second Hand White Baby Grand are all missing from the soundtrack and only available as singles.YES. A thousand times yes. The original songs are genuinely good and I want more of them. I'm actually tempted to buy the soundtrack, which is something I usually never do. That final song was especially good. Bravo to the composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
If you're just interested in the original songs, don't pickup the soundtrack it's missing several of the original numbers. Off the top of my head the finale song, Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn't Love To Howl, and Second Hand White Baby Grand are all missing from the soundtrack and only available as singles.
Karen’s fine for the chorus. She’s maybe even fine singing in orange juice commercials. But the only time in this entire season that she’s appeared remotely sexy is for a few seconds in this episode, when she storms exasperatedly onto the stage in her underthings to complain about the rushed costume change. It’s such a disarmingly human moment, and there haven’t been enough of those involving Karen Cartwright. She’s just hasn’t shown enough nuance.
And she’s not Marilyn Monroe. If she’s Derek’s “vision” of Marilyn, then he’s in the process of neutralizing the enduring power of an American icon. The creators of Bombshell wanted to mount a show about a woman. Instead, they’re fading in on a girl.
I will say what I mentioned very early in this thread -- they're both Marilyn.
Casting Karen as Norma Jean, fresh off the bus, "fade in on a girl" would have been okay.
But then have a transformative moment, when you switch from Karen to Ivy, as Norma Jean becomes Marilyn.
That last song would work as a duet between them.
I really thought that was where they were headed with this. Even in the finale, when Derek is envisioning them both in his head, I thought the writers would get it.
I also thought it would have made a better show -- why have one star when you can have two?
I will say what I mentioned very early in this thread -- they're both Marilyn.
Casting Karen as Norma Jean, fresh off the bus, "fade in on a girl" would have been okay.
But then have a transformative moment, when you switch from Karen to Ivy, as Norma Jean becomes Marilyn.
That last song would work as a duet between them.
I really thought that was where they were headed with this. Even in the finale, when Derek is envisioning them both in his head, I thought the writers would get it.
I also thought it would have made a better show -- why have one star when you can have two?
TVLine has confirmed that polarizing (and by polarizing, we mean absolutely intolerable) characters Ellis and Dev won’t be a regular presence when Smash returns to NBC for its second season sometime in 2013.
No decision has been made whether or not Ellis and Dev’s portrayers, Jaime Cepero and Raza Jaffrey, will return to wrap up their characters’ story arcs.
A show insider tells TVLine that two more actors — Brian D’Arcy James, a series regular as Frank, the hubby of Debra Messing’s Julia, and Will Chase, who recurred as Julia’s sometimes lover Michael Swift, are also exiting in Season 2.
Trying to find info on why Rebeck is gone.
From Deadline articles, a blog post from one of Theresa's friends on IndieWire, and "gossip" of the Internet kind, she was pushed out because NBC didn't like the direction the show was going in.
What, they want to make it Glee?
Smash is introducing you to another American Idol alum: Jennifer Hudson.
The Oscar and Grammy winner has signed on to appear in multiple episodes of the NBC musical dramas upcoming second season.
Shell play Veronica, a Tony-winning Broadway star who impacts the lives of Karen (Katharine McPhee) and Ivy (Megan Hilty).
Were thrilled to have Jennifer Hudson coming to Smash, said NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt. This series is a showcase for some of the best musical talent in the business and thats a fitting description for Jennifer Hudson. Her character will represent someone who reached their Broadway dream but also paid a price for it.
Added Smash EP (and Hudsons Dreamgirls boss) Steven Spielberg: I have no doubt Jennifer will continue to deliver even more inspiration to the audience responsible for giving us a second season on NBC.
Hudson will debut in Smashs second season premiere in early 2013.
Trying to find info on why Rebeck is gone.
Hayes will play Terrence Falls, a comedic television and film star who is making his Broadway debut in the musical Liaisons, based on the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Due to a series of comic circumstances, he becomes a major thorn in the side for Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) and other characters (one of whom, presumably, will be Messings Julia).
Tony nominee Sheryl Lee Ralph will play Jennifer Hudson’s mother Cynthia on the second season of Smash, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ralph was nominated for a 1982 Tony Award for creating the role of Deena Jones in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls, and Hudson won an Oscar for her portrayal of Effie White in the film adaptation of the musical. Filming for the second season of Smash is underway, but no premiere date has been announced.
Sheryl Lee Ralph joining the cast of season 2!
Source
I mean, as much of a Hot Ass Mess as last season was, I still planned to tune in. But this interesting casting have definitely got me excited for next season.
Liza Minnelli is the essence of a multi-talented, singular show business sensation, particularly for her extraordinary contributions to Broadway, entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said in a statement. So what could be more fitting than to have her legendary talent on a show that celebrates a world Liza has dazzled for decades? I had the pleasure of working with Liza when we restored her landmark television special Liza With a Z at Showtime, and to see her artistry up close and personal is a thing to behold.
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The first half. The show has DEFINITELY improved. I'm loving everything
I'm gonna cut someone if the new showrunner kills that too.I'm not watching until the official premiere, so spill the deets yo. What are the improvements? How many times does Anjelica Huston throw a martini in someone's face?
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The first half. The show has DEFINITELY improved. I'm loving everything
Jaime Cepero will reprise his polarizing role of Ellis, the ruthless and scheming former assistant to Tom and (later) Eileen, during the shows upcoming second season.
But wait the plot thickens.
New Smash showrunner Josh Safran cryptically tells TVLine that, Ellis may return, but not necessarily in the present.