I was confused about Ivy’s motivation to leave the bar just before Liza’s song. It was clear to her that Tom wasn’t behind the publicists being present and that it was Eileen’s doing, which is what she was initially mad at him about. Why would she even consider walking away from their dinner date at that point, especially since she knew that Liza Minelli was there for her birthday?
They were really getting into “Glee”-level reality there.
I’m pretty frigging stubborn – I hung in with Glee until halfway through this season – but I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. The central love story of whiny boy and Karen just doesn’t work – there is absofuckinglutely not an iota of chemistry there – and that’s the pivot around which most of the other plot rotates, directly or indirectly.
There are 5 more episodes. I can grit my teeth and roll my eyes through them. Probably.
And sometimes, Liza Minelli shows up to sing.
It’s just so bad. And when you watch you wonder whether they realized how bad it was and didn’t care or couldn’t figure out how to steer out of it, or what.
So Bernadette Peters, then Liza- who’s next in their effort to keep the sinking ship afloat?
Not that Wikipedia is the most reliable source of info, but if you scroll down the Wikipedia Smash link to the Production section, it is very enlightening as to what has happened to this show and some of the backstory.
It at least explains what I have been asking - where in the hell were the writers of this mess and what was wrong with them?! Seems they might have been held hostage after all…
Celine Dion! 
Wow, seems like this thing was doomed from the start.
This sounds like a job for…
CHER!
I can’t believe I’m still thinking about this, but …
If Tom knows Liza well enough to call her up at the last moment to learn a song and come sing it, and if Ivy idolizes Liza so much, and if Tom and Ivy are such close friends – why had Ivy never met Liza before?
My guess: the night they open on Broadway Eileen decides to give the part to Kristen Chenoweth, and at the last minute they switch the focus of the show to Jayne Mansfield (“Quick, give JFK the muscle shirt and change the name to Mickey!”).
Watched The Talented Mr. Ripley last night, and did a double-take when Derek’s voice came out of a secondary character in the last act. I think he’s way more attractive now than he was in 1999.
My guess - actually, it involves a spoiler:
There are reports that the season (and, presumably, series, especially if the stories about Debra Messing starting a new show are true) finale will take place at the Tony Awards. If this is true, then the obvious showdown will be between Ivy for Bombshell and Karen for The Hit List. The only reason I don’t think it will end with “And the Tony (for Leading Actress in a Musical) goes to (cut to black screen)” is, they’ll probably want Bombshell to win for Best Musical and have the show end with Eileen throwing another drink into her ex-husband’s face.
(My current guess: Bombshell wins for musical; Derek for directing a musical; Ivy and Karen tie for leading actress in a musical - that’s two each.)
The solution to extending the intermission time backstage by starting Act II in the aisle doesn’t make sense. How can the actors be in seats in the house? Would those seats be empty during Act I?
I guess it’s pointless obsessing over details of a doomed show. Moving it to Saturdays was NBC saying, “We don’t give a crap.” Moving it to 8:00 PM on Saturdays was a big “fuck you” to the show and the viewers, if any.
I spent the entire number thinking about that as well.
Well, that and how much I hate whiny entitled boy.
And how anti-charismatic Karen is.
And whether we’ll hear Jesse Martin sing.
This show gives me way too much time to think, during those brief interludes between car commercials.
I, too, was bugged by the actors in the seats after intermission.
Petulant Songwriter and Karen just bog down the show whenever they are on. I hate them both.
But other than that, I thought this was the best episode of the season. All the troubleshooting of timing, sets, etc. felt “real.” I liked the will she/won’t she plot about Ivy getting naked on stage (BTW, I wouldn’t mind seeing Megan Hilty nude 
). The change-up to Hit List was actually kind of interesting, but that may be just because I was glad to see Karen and the Petulant Songwriter get brushed aside. And finally, the review praising Hit List at the expense of *Bombshell *was a nice twist. Julia’s situation–working on both shows–is even a decent plotline, and she was one of my least favorite characters.
Yes, do they plan on keeping those seats empty for every performance? And moving a number around, how do they do that and still have the book make any sense? And now they just have a gap where all of the cast is trying to do a costume change. It was a good problem, the kind of problem I wish they’d had more of during the show, but the resolution didn’t work.
I really would like to hear Jesse Martin sing. Maybe a duet with Christian Borle. I can’t see a way to fit it into a coherent narrative, but non-coherent narratives are this creative team’s forte, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
ETA: every time they show the “do it for your country” line from the JFK song, it makes me think of Grease 2. Grease 2 is not a high point of movie musicals and is not something you want your show compared to, especially when the comparison isn’t in your favor.
Question – is the problem with whiny boy the way the role is written, or the way it’s performed?
So that is why I got “The Voice” instead of “Smash” on my DVR?!
Well, I think I can watch it On Demand…but still, do they have to hide the show now?
Both. It’s both.