# Smash -- Season 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179 "2013-01-05T18:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/161 "2013-05-27T16:52:50Z")
Glad to see brat, asshole songwriter go off to prison - hopefully his cell mate will be a 6’7", 280 pound guy named “Bubba” who has a 10" dick and is always horny. Otherwise, I have to admit this was a decent end - and if I am not wrong, the writers had some time to tweak these episodes, knowing the writing was on the wall and this was going to be the very end. Looks like they might have actually spent some time editing the final script - which would be a first for this series. I think this thread has shown how a show with such promise continued to sink lower and lower until it was almost impossible to salvage. Truly a shame, and this has most likely killed any future show centered around Broadway…we can only hope GLEE kills off all the kids in Lima, Ohio and now centers their show more around the NYC theater district. Smash is now officially Smush. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/162 "2013-05-27T17:07:08Z")
The finale was basically the show’s love letter to… itself. “We won ALL the Tonys! We’re so awesome!” I felt like I was watching some 10th grade drama geek’s wet dream. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/163 "2013-05-28T03:41:58Z")
What did Devin do to the mean girl to keep her from going on, lock her in a dressing room? And how do you arrange for the orchestra, lighting, camera people and director (if not the announcer) to know what to do when you change the song you’re going to do seconds before air time? It’s hard not to be distracted when one feels like the writers have absolutely no knowledge of their subject matter, or worse, no respect for their audience. Also, cheapest looking Tony Awards ceremony ever. Still, I’ll miss these talented people on my TV, just not this show they were all stuck in. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/164 "2013-05-28T06:36:30Z")
> [@YWalker](#): > > I thought it was hilarious that they ended it with a song saying “Give them a big finish, and they’ll forget what came before” as if to acknowledge that it really sort of stunk up the place this season. > > I’m sad to see it go, though. It was so good in concept and talent — it just got waylaid somewhere (many places) along the way. > Eh, I thought that they had established that Michael’s wife had taken the kids and left him, and Frank had left her. If that’s the case, they’re both free to pursue their twoo wuv. She was still dating a married man, while she was married, and broke up two families. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/165 "2013-05-28T06:37:58Z")
Oh, hey - refresh my memory. Was this the first time we’d heard Derek sing? Good voice on him. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/167 "2013-05-28T16:12:48Z")
Just want to go on record and say I loved the show, every minute. I’ve been a big Broadway geek forever, and I feel like this was a great homage to the industry. Idealized, fantasized, but so much anchored in real stories I’ve heard over the years. I will miss it, but it’s a glorious thing unto itself. And now I get to go back and see Christian Borle and Megan Hilty and Jessie L Martin and Will Chase all on stage again! And Derek in his BBC miniseries. And Debra Messing in hell. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/168 "2013-05-28T17:35:23Z")
I watched a video of the musical _Bonnie & Clyde_ that’s on YouTube. It stars Jeremy Jordan and the character of Clyde reminds me a lot of Jimmy. I know he’s a big star on stage at the moment, but I think he owes a lot of it to being cute; he’s just not a very good actor. To say something positive, I thought Megan Hilty was by far the standout performance in _Smash_, with Christian Borle and Jack Davenport also more than holding their own with what they were given. Andy Mientus wasn’t given much of a chance to shine but I think the exposure will really help him. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/169 "2013-05-28T18:17:21Z")
I think the best actor was whoever played Derek, because I never even for a moment felt that Derek was anything other than a real person. He was just totally and completely convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/170 "2013-05-28T18:26:48Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I think the best actor was whoever played Derek, because I never even for a moment felt that Derek was anything other than a real person. He was just totally and completely convincing. Whether it was the writing or the actor, he was a good “villain” without being totally evil. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/171 "2013-05-28T19:05:25Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > The finale was basically the show’s love letter to… itself. “We won ALL the Tonys! We’re so awesome!” The two shows didn’t win all the Tonys (and I am not including the ones for plays); neither Derek nor Tom won for directing, and I don’t think either show won either of the two Tonys for male actors in a musical. I was expecting the show to end with Eileen tossing a martini into Jerry’s face, or maybe tossing it into the camera. However, apparently there were still plans for a Season 3, which involved… the series concentrating on the movie musical that Julia and Tom were now working on, and which would star Karen Oh, well…time to start listening for the calls that Bombshell and/or Hit List be made into actual musicals, especially by high school kids who want to be able to do them in their own schools. If they did make Bombshell into a stage musical and put it on a national tour, who would end up as Marilyn: (a) Megan, who has the stage experience (b) Katherine, who can probably get her fan base to guarantee sellouts in every city (c) the winner of an NBC reality show? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/172 "2013-05-28T19:41:27Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > The two shows didn’t win all the Tonys (and I am not including the ones for plays); neither Derek nor Tom won for directing, and I don’t think either show won either of the two Tonys for male actors in a musical. Yes, I know. I was exaggerating for effect. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/173 "2013-05-28T19:47:28Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > The two shows didn’t win all the Tonys (and I am not including the ones for plays); neither Derek nor Tom won for directing, and I don’t think either show won either of the two Tonys for male actors in a musical. I’m pretty sure that Tom won for directing. When Derek meets him the bar after the show, doesn’t he congratulate him on his three awards, and list score, director, and best musical? ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/174 "2013-05-28T19:51:32Z")
In case anyone was wondering what _Hit List_ is/was actually about, I came across this [great article](http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/smash-hit-list-plot-revealed.html) describing the plot and how the songs fit. I won’t miss this show. It was just revoltingly bad by the end of it. I mourn what it could have been, though! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/175 "2013-05-28T21:02:42Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > In case anyone was wondering what _Hit List_ is/was actually about, I came across this [great article](http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/smash-hit-list-plot-revealed.html) describing the plot and how the songs fit. Wow, that’s exceptionally bad. Like, worse-than-the-plots-they-put-in-the-tv-show bad. I haven’t seen the finale hours yet. But I onder if the people who were working on SMASH know how bad it was and just couldn’t figure out how to work/write their way out of it, or if they actually couldn’t see the myriad issues with the show? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/176 "2013-05-29T20:24:24Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > In case anyone was wondering what _Hit List_ is/was actually about, I came across this [great article](http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/smash-hit-list-plot-revealed.html) describing the plot and how the songs fit. > > I won’t miss this show. It was just revoltingly bad by the end of it. I mourn what it could have been, though! I believe it was said best on _Very Bad Theater_: [QUOTE=Leonard Pinth Garnell] That wasn’t very good, was it? [/QUOTE] Of course I suppose it all counts on the music. A plot about a blind-deaf-dumb-by choice pinball wizard, an overblown play featuring cats singing songs based on Eliot poems, and a fictional son of Charlemagne trying to find his purpose with the help of a chorus of dancing clowns don’t sound promising either, but they were all hits. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/177 "2013-05-29T20:26:21Z")
nm/dup ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/178 "2013-05-29T20:58:31Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Of course I suppose it all counts on the music. A plot about a blind-deaf-dumb-by choice pinball wizard, an overblown play featuring cats singing songs based on Eliot poems, and a fictional son of Charlemagne trying to find his purpose with the help of a chorus of dancing clowns don’t sound promising either, but they were all hits. But two of those can be explained by “It was the 70s, those types of things happened” and CATS, at least, was a spectacle. Hit List, as we heard and saw, doesn’t have the music or the staging. It does require that the audience leave on their phone and tweet during the show. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179/179 "2013-05-29T21:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] Hit List, as we heard and saw, doesn’t have the music or the staging. It does require that the audience leave on their phone and tweet during the show. [/QUOTE] True. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t The Dramaturg who ran over Kyle just to send a message. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smash-season-2/646179.md?page=8)