Why would they have a baby shower in a smoke filled karaoke bar?
That’s a good question.
I’m not knocking Iowa (I don’t recall ever having gone there in fact) or Iowans (I’m sure I’ve known some but can’t recall them at the moment), but I love how Iowa is almost a mystical place on TV. Everybody there lives in a big old sturdy house, the parents are well groomed and in shape but dress sensibly and plainly, and while they might be (and probably are) wholesome to the point of squaresville goll dange if they aren’t every one salt-o-the-Earth in their family values and their common sense. (There was a time that some could be so by God stubborn they could stand touchin’ noses for a week at a time and they’d never see eye to eye, but that was a long time ago.) Nebraska is similar, almost a TV Shangri-La you wonder why people would ever leave OTHER than to be show biz stars.
Yes, McPheever is hot.
Under 40, and not really a Broadway fan, I decided to give McPheever and Debra Messing’s little show a shot. The characterization of it as “Glee for grownups” worried me, but I eventually watched the pilot after the second episode aired. I’m not sick of it yet, and I can’t reasonably take out bets on when I will be, but past experience tells me 5 episodes is a good over-under.
I think the nits have been well and truly picked in this thread.
This should happen.
Respectively, just to make them play against type? 
Half way through that number I turned to my wife and said “and at this point, everyone in the audience has fallen asleep”.
It’s Glee for grownups, because grownups throw martinis, not slushies.
Hee! Hadn’t even thought of that.
Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly on why “Smash” isn’t a smash.
Gotta say, the kids of the chorus – ensemble – taking Karen to their hearts after one two-minute conversation seemed a bit convenient.
Like his take on why the weasely assistant isn’t gay.
This week they really strayed into “Glee” fantasy world style with the ensemble being so suddenly eager to help Karen and the number performed at the party.
I am enjoying it–it’s silly and soapy and the music isn’t terrific, but there is enough good to keep me happy. Loved Karen’s new chorine pals, Tom’s new boyfriend (is Tom the composer?)–“yay, Mom!”–and the bitchy Ivy/Karen hate.
I hope it at least makes it through a whole season.
It’s definitely not as good as it could be, and frankly not as good as I thought it would be after watching the pilot, but I continue to enjoy it. I wish there was a bit more nuts-and-bolts of the kind of stuff that really goes on in the production of a broadway musical, but I can see how that might not really be commercial.
I saw that part of the pilot twice where the assistant said “You should make a musical about Marilyn” and I seem to recall the composers saying they actually had talked about it before, maybe even worked on a song at one point, but they didn’t think it would work. And then they started talking about her current popularity and brainstorming.
In my mind that’s not really a “it was his idea” moment.
Yep, I’m done watching.
I’ve totally lost interest in this show, and have un-Tivo’d it.
Thirded.
Ratings are down 40% from the opener, although they stabilized this week. NBC spent too much on promotion and has nothing to replace it with, so it’ll last the season. I’ll be very surprised if it gets renewed. Remember, this was supposed to be the series that NBC built its comeback around. They can’t have it dragging down Monday night in third place week after week and claim victory.
Anyone else still watching?
If so, could you explain the significance of Karen getting the DC rival’s name? Didn’t the BF already know – or be able to find out from the NYT reporter who’s hitting on him – what his name was? And what does he need the name for anyway?
Still watching, and I didn’t get that either. Unless it’s so she can ask RJ to dig up some dirt on him to help Dev bypass him, although that has ‘backfire’ written all over it. And the contrivance of having her sit at the periphery table while Dev sat next to RJ was stupid.
I find I’m hating more of the characters as the weeks go on- Ellis is slimy, Ivy is acting like an entitled c*nt, and now Mickey Mantle is a horndog that won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
Joe DiMaggio?
I think the point was that Dev (through RJ) knew that there was someone else who might get the job, but neither of them knew who it was… now he will be able to play office politics better.
There are still parts of this show I really really enjoy, and parts that are utterly groanworthy. I certainly haven’t given up yet… but I’m getting sick of thinking to myself “ok, now if this were a predictable and trite show, the camera would pan up and we’d see that her son can see them kissing out of his bedroom window… but surely they wouldn’t go there. Oh for the love of…!!!”
I am enjoying it, still, despite the anvilicious cheesiness. But I wanted to rip Piano Man’s head off–whatever his name is–when he kept doing that annoying “I am going to sing whatever the teenager says” routine. That was obnoxious when Oscar Levant and Donald O’Connor and Danny Kaye did it 60 years ago, and it is not any less annoying now.
I’m on the verge of giving up on Smash. They’re just a bunch of awful, petty people that I would hate to be around in real life. Karen is the only really sympathetic one, but I wish she wasn’t such a doormat.
Director = womanizing egomaniac
Ivy = conniving b*tch
the Ensemble = mean girls
the boyfriend = self-centered
Male writer = pretentious primadonna
Male writer’s assistant = sneaky little weasel
Female writer = wishy washy, paranoid, cheater
Producer = flighty, bitter, is she this show’s poor attempt at levity?