NBC is moving *Smash *to “Saturdays at 9 p.m. beginning April 6 and will air its entire season of 17 episodes.”
The show has been a little better in some regards this season, but it doesn’t really matter now–they had their chance last season and blew it.
I wonder how much closure we’ll get at the end of the season. Filming for season 2 just ended a few days ago, apparently.
Well, glad to hear we get to at least see the entire season.
And the fact that they just ended filming a few days ago might mean they were “sort of” able to give it a decent wrap up and send off. It has been no secret for several weeks that this show was never going to make it to season three, so hopefully they at least wrap it up with a few of those “she goes on to win a Tony” and “she goes on to bomb in her next production and moves to Tuscon and starts a dance school for kindergarteners” or whatever.
And moody, broody, frown-a-lot, pain-in-the-butt, angry, spoiled brat, young songwriter gets run over by a bus 12 seconds before his show is finally produced - and nobody cares.
You know, I’m pretty easily entertained and I have a healthy ability to suspend my disbelief, but I’m really struggling with this kid – and with Karen’s reactions to his temper tantrums. How does he possibly seriously not get that she can’t risk having an actual career by disobeyeing a Broadway producer (and that he shouldn’t ask her to)? And how does she possibly seriously not smack him upside the head and say, “Of course Bombshell is more important than you, dumbass!”?
It’s the only part of the show that repeatedly takes me completely out of the story.
Well, I sort-of saw this coming, but I was surprised by how it happened. I didn’t expect the “payoff Ellis” subplot to come to a head so soon, nor see it get slapped down. I liked the conclusion via rights to the material, but it kind of came out of left field.
I’m glad Ivy will be back.
I’m going to watch this to the end, because I know it will be over soon. But I find myself hating it more and more each week.
I don’t hate the show, but I’m hating the whiny punk with sharply escalating hatred.
Karen and Deputy Mayor split up and her show is in rehearsals with no due date so her wages have to be negligible, yet meager as they are she walks out of it for a fringe show playing an 80 seater. How is she going to pay rent and eat?
And did Ahole Moodyboy’s partner the writer-lyricist’s script suddenly improve (did he go off to the dramaturg’s cabin?) because the script sucking seems to have been dropped as well.
But will also say it’s a better season and a tad more realistic in other ways than last season, and I think Ivy is the better Marilyn.
Really liked the discussion last week when Jerry & Eileen took the crowd pleaser version over the heady one. It was for the best of reasons, I thought: if I was going to NYC to see some plays I’d rather see the revamped version with Marilyn and her mom and the men in her life, but if I were going to invest my life savings I’d say bring the bling and do whatever’s gonna pay me back with a lot of interest; we can always revamp it grittier and headier ala CABARET in a later revival or regional productions.
BTW, the Broadway show with Sean Hayes (Jack from Will and Grace) that is closed now - so does Sean Hayes go away and that was that?
Why, exactly, was this even included in the TV show? Just to prove how bad a Broadway show can be if a movie star tries to switch to legit theater?
That, and give Megan Hilty something to do for a few episodes while waiting for Ivy to get Marilyn back.
Also, the song that he sang - I don’t see how that ever went into a serious production. (There was a line about motorboating, for goodness sakes). It was a charming song, but it doesn’t fit the tone that they seemed to be saying the play had. So, there’s another book out there in the SMASH world that doesn’t make any sense - Bombshell doesn’t, Hitlist doesn’t, does anyone involved with the show know there’s usually more to a musical than a bunch of nice songs?
Also, for a last minute change, it was extraordinarily well choreographed, costumed, and lit.
I keep feeling like they want me to see the young composer as an underdog and root for him - but instead, I want him to get hit by a taxi and go off my screen. They’ve misread the audience reaction to him the same way last year’s writers misread the audience reaction to Ellis. When an obnoxious ass gets every break and still whines, it’s not endearing.
I did like Karen running into Ellis’s girlfriend, with the “he turned out to be gay”/“you didn’t know?” exchange.
My loathing of the punk is starting to interfere with my enjoyment of the show. I don’t buy him as an artiste, and I don’t buy him as someone Karen would lust after – I don’t buy him as anything other than a whiny brat I’d like to slap silly and never see again.
I agree. Unfortunately, it looks like he’ll be the focus of next week’s ridiculous-looking episode.
The writers haven’t figured out the subtle difference between a character we love to hate and a character we hate.
Subtlety has never been a strength of this show 
And yet I have to watch anyway, since Bernadette Peters is coming back.
Bingo. Though – do you think they think we love to hate him? Or are we supposed to admire his “integrity” and be intrigued by his “mystery”?
True dat.
::sigh:: I broke a vow last night.
I really, really liked that closing dream song. I bought it on ITunes.
I feel dirty.
When I saw that Tom was being Mr. Friendly Director, I knew EXACTLY how that was going to play out. I knew that Tom’s old boyfriend (his song and dance number was great) wasn’t going to make it into the show. At the end, I knew that was Mr. Cranky Pants at Karen’s door. I know it’s just American network television, so it’s not allowed to be very adventurous, but does everything have to be so obvious? I mean Steven frickin’ Spielberg is a producer. I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes at some of this stuff. Doesn’t he have any input? C’mon “Smash”, surprise me once and a while.
The only upswing to last night’s episode is that I am no longer quite as sad to know this is the final season.
This show is making the old Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney “Let’s put on a show in the barn!” plots seem edgy and relevant in comparison. Smash is pulling out every cliche in the history of musical theater/films and not even bothering to put an interesting twist on it.
If you were teaching a course in screenwriting, would any of you even give a passing grade to these writers?
Will be nice to see Bernadette Peters return - although wasn’t that a bit odd they didn’t even mention this little fact to the daughter/star of the show?! And I could have sworn I read somewhere that Ms. Liza Minnelli is going to be popping up somewhere this season - so as long as we are watching a series that is a train wreck, we might as well get to see the queen of train wrecks appear.
Last season, this was known as the show fans loved to hate.
This season I think it is fair to say it has become the show fans sadly have to admit they no longer even have the love to hate it anymore.
Too bad - such promise, so many good names behind and in front of the camera and such talent gone to waste. Who knows - perhaps Mr. Broody, Grumpy, Asshole, Brat really is writing this mess after all?
I will watch til the very bitter end, but I suspect I will not miss it after it is gone. I just think it is a shame it has ruined the chance of any other Broadway based show to ever appear again on TV for at least another generation.
So much talent, so completely wasted … esp. in the stars and guest stars. Will we get to hear Jesse Martin sing, d’ya think?