User reviews

NBC takes it head-on in its ongoing battle with the cable channels with Smash, an edgy take on the inner workings of Broadway. With production values you would expect more from AMC or Starz, Smash is sure to light up broadcast television like nothing has in years.

The plot is simple in premise: thanks to the observations of an eager intern, a couple of Broadway producers decide to work on a musical featuring the life of Marilyn Monroe -- despite the fact that the last attempt on that subject matter failed abysmally. But, as spectacular as the potential subject matter might be, it is the inter-relationships between the characters involved in that production that inevitably make the show 'work' -- just as it is in a great musical.

There is the blonde 'born to play' Marilyn, and the brunette who just does it oh-so-much-better. There is the conflict between a producer and a director who just cannot stand each other. There are the money problems faced by an executive producer cutting it just a wee bit fine. There's the difficulty producers face running a production 16 hours a day and maintaining any semblance of a home life.

Not only is there entertainment value in the acts that make up the musical themselves, but the eye-opening realism of the personal dynamics involved in mounting a musical on Broadway ensure that this program will not run out of steam any time soon.

Frankly, I'm just surprised this show didn't happen any sooner. Congratulations, NBC -- you've got a great one in 'Smash'.

I'm a huge Broadway fan, but not a big TV fan. I go twice a year to NYC and try and see everything that might win a Tony. I thought I wouldn't like this show because simply, I thought it would be lame. But a director friend of mine recommended it to me and told me to read the NY Times review of it. I did both and now I'm hooked. I find the story line a bit too Dallas for my liking but the cast is awesome and totally full of A-listers. Lots of appearances by Tony award-winning actors. Great talent everywhere. The musical numbers are authentic. And the behind the scenes drama feels real-ish. No homophobia, real producers, ideas based on fact - what's not to like?! I don't think the show is perfect but I want to give it my support. I appreciate singing with believable lip synching and that the actors in the show can actually sing and dance! More! More! More!

I was reluctant to watch this show as I thought it was going to be a failed attempt at another glee type show, however when I found out Katherine Mcphee in it I was immediately intrigued so I gave it a chance and I am so glad that I did, I like how a lot of the music is new songs written for the show, however they are not the main focus, it is about the process of making a Broadway show with a lot of musical scenes to make it even better, and the singers and actors are all incredible.

I have really enjoyed learning more about the behind the scenes of Broadway, but its not too much that you get confused or sick of it, you really fall in love/hate with the characters. The characters are also very complex which I love, you never know what one of them is going to do next

I never realised before how amazing Debra Messing is until this show, her acting is fantastic, and Megan Hilty is such a star. Any comparisons to Glee are simply because they both involve music, however they focus on entirely different things, SMASH is very mature and will easily appeal to an older audience, glee however is for teens and kids (like me, I love glee!) but this show is much more dramatic.

I watched the whole of series 1 in 2 days and as soon as I finished it I wanted to watch it again, which is exactly what I did!

Was surprised at how much I loved this. Can't really compare it to GLEE, it isn't anything similar. although i do love GLEE, it is just a cutsie little teenage show.

I did see one review that said there was too much singing and dancing, and that is what i loved about it. Love the story, Love the acting, Loved everything about it. I think the plot will carry it along.

Was totally surprised at how great job Katharine McPhee did. I wasn't too impressed with her in House Bunny, but WOW, I believe what they say in the show. She IS a star.

I was left at the end of the hour wanting more...

This new show is a breath of fresh air. It has a simple plot with many complicated sub plots. It entertains you with great music and gives you a realistic look at what goes on during the casting, rehearsals and collaboration that is required to produce a Broadway musical. This is a high energy and fast paced piece of entertainment with a few twists to keep you wanting more. The interactions among cast members is so real you don't feel like you are watching television. I hope this show makes it because it is like nothing a regular network has done before. It has brought Broadway to television with a great cast, original music and a break from the many cookie cutter shows on television lately.

The cast, level of vocal ability and performance, choreography, and dialogue were all excellent. The juxtaposition and occasional pairing of the two lead singers in competition for the lead in Bombshell really played up the suspense and excitement while highlighting what each brought to the part. It helped that we saw it through the director's eyes - the difficulty in choosing between them.

I like that it showed the conflict between making decisions for the good of the show and for the good of existing relationships. The only unnecessary character / conflict, in my opinion, was the ladder climbing Ellis. His character had no real development or arc. The obstacles he put in the way of success could have been shown by different means than this villain who we were not made to care about strongly either way.

I would not have taken it in a different direction the 2nd season; it didn't jive with what seemed to be the original premise of the show (i.e., a musical about putting on a musical). The struggle to mount the show and bring it to major success was interesting in itself. Especially when showing the inner struggles of the various teams, groups and individuals. Very unique - nothing like has come before it - and authentic. I miss it!

I like it ,but McPhee ,though pleasant enough to look at ,an an adequate singer,doesn't have the pipes for live theatre and has the stage presence of a potted plant. Hilty,who they positioned for the audience not to like,stole the show. But the real problem is they underestimated the stupidity of American audiences. They might have just as well done a show about classical pianists. The American audience has been dumbed down with reality TV ,and a dwindling PBS type presence ,as well as the republican party putting forth a distrust of anyone or anything that is smart ,or intellectual. This show could have succeeded on HBO or Showtime,a few sex scenes and a Sex in the City meets The Great White Way angle. They would have found their audience. But don't compare this to Glee. It resonated because everyone has been in high school,even stupid people, and they use pop music. Few people have ever performed live to a paying audience. This show couldn't draw on the sheer commonality that Glee can. In all,I'm sad to see it go. It could have been wonderful.

It is so good to have the option to see an upbeat musical instead of being limited to all of the police, vampire, garish and reality shows that have been taking over the networks these days. Katherine McPhee's performance is excellent. She is quite a refreshing actress and singer. The show is nicely geared towards the crowd that is over 16. Glee is much too young for me. I am 61. The show is very well done. The storyline is interesting and kind of reminiscent of the movie Fame. I am eager to tune into the next episode. I will be a loyal fan and hope that Smash becomes a long running show. It makes me smile and sing. We need more shows that can do that.

I love musicals and grew up loving all the great Broadway hits like Phantom, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Jeckyl and Hyde....It is so refreshing to watch a show that provides us with a kind of behind the scenes and making of the next big production! The cast members in this show are outstanding and the music is spectacular! I hope, hope, hope that this gets the ratings to stay on the air! Although I'm a fan of Glee, I feel that it is less story driven and more theme oriented around certain artists or genres. If you are looking for something fresh, if you love a good drama, if you like excellent writing, and if you enjoy listening to people sing songs that make you feel good then you owe it to yourself to check out SMASH!

First of all, Tom didn't really show a need for a PA. All the PA ever did was to make tea. Right from the start, Tom and Julia caught him leaking their songs and he walked out with Julia's notebook and yet Tom not only kept him on, but started taking him to events. Soon the PA became the Svengali that was running things from behind the scenes. This character detracted from the show's premise and sapped it's strength. Smash is still pretty good, but it could have been better if it stuck to the things that made it popular to begin with. It has become Glee for grownups. That is not necessarily a good thing. Still, it is nice to see a network take such a risk.

After a stunning premiere episode, and a couple good ones that followed, the series has taken a dive as it's become ever more wrapped up in lame and awkward soap opera plot points that only detract from the theme. The casting is excellent: McPhee (Karen) and Hilty (Ivy) have a genuine rivalry and oodles of singing talent, you can feel a genuine backstory to Messing (Julia) and Borle (Tom)'s songwriting relationship, and Jack Davenport (Derek) is delicious as the egomaniacal director. Even other, less central cast members are well selected: the grinch you love to hate Ellis, Karen's love interest Jaffray (Dev), and of course Angelica Huston all fit like a glove.

So why is the show going downhill? Cheap writing, unrealistic plot developments, and everything is toooooo fast. Remember "Cheers"? Sam & Diane had a sexual tension for five *years* before getting together. On "West Wing" it was Josh and Donna tussling for seven. Here, by episode four, Julia has wrecked her marriage, it takes Ellis mere weeks to climb from "house sitter" to "almost co-producer", and only a month or two to get from one song to a full workshop, and soon to Boston with a new leading lady. Whiplash, anyone?

The writing is often just silly: Julia starts making out on the street in front of her own house with a paramour? The bartender keeps a basketball size stack of cash right under the bar, not even in a lockbox? Dev can't bring himself to tell his live-in that he didn't get a promotion, so he's going to split with her? This is the very definition of ham-fisted plot development.

More? Karen gets a lucky break when a mogul sees her at a bar-mitzvah, records a great demo, nothing is ever heard of it again. OK, it was an excuse to watch her sing, but that's it? Dropped plot point much? Ivy freaks out at Karen. Wait! Now Karen & Ivy are singing together in Times Square! Wait! Ivy is a bitch again! Wait! Now they're having drinks at the bar! We like Julia. No, we hate Julia! Oh wait, Julia's remorseful, we like her again. No wait ...

The music - or most of it, at least - is excellent. McPhee and Hilty each bring something very different to the table. Hilty is a bit "big" for the small screen, but then McPhee would likely be a bit "small" for the Broadway stage, so neither is "just perfect" but both are great here. The songs are catchy, memorable, and there have been (with only one or two exceptions) no attempt to jam Glee- ish material into corners where it doesn't not comfortably fit. And no, nobody thinks Wittman and Shaiman should be producing four original songs per episode, although by some reports they could.

No, the series has gotten sidetracked into a cheesy soap opera world of secondary characters we don't really care that much about, and has lost credibility (and viewership) along the way. One hopes that with a new showrunner in Season Two there can be a reboot, that it can transcend the mistakes of the first season, that it can be a big (*a lot, actually) smarter, but the steady and continuing ratings decline presage a difficult restart next season. I'm hoping for a bit turnaround, and it can't happen fast enough for me, because I began the season with such high hopes.

The cast is great with beautiful voices all through the two seasons. Great acting but also great singing.

The songwriters did an exceptional job with real songs and lyrics, not the "chanted dialogs you often see in musicals". There are numerous versions of classic songs with new orchestration and the casts voices but a lot of new material that would easily play on charts.

I was so disappointed when the show wasn't renewed and I would fully support the return of the show.

I've binged this show over a week and kept thinking how sad it is for Catherine McPhee. In what could not be a more obvious attempt to showcase her, the powers-that-be made the mistake of surrounding her with people whose talents exceed hers by so much that they have achieved the opposite of their desired outcome. Beside Debra Messing, Angelica Huston and Uma Thurman it becomes painfully obvious that her acting talent is barely over community theater level. She has a voice suited to a Disney network teen comedy and is forced to stand embarrassingly beside Megan Hilty, Leslie Odom Jr and Jennifer Hudson has their voices soar. And maybe worst of all? They have this flat chested, dull as paint drying, sexless gal trying to play the most iconically sexy woman in American cinema. If you want to make someone look talented, folks, in the future surround them with people less talented than they are, although finding an entire cast of people more boring than McPhee would be challenging. Maybe try an accountants convention.

Last season, I would have given this program a much higher rating, but this season just keeps going from bad to worse. My favorite shows are always character driven. I become deeply involved with the characters in the story. I actually care what happens to them.

In this program the only character even worth watching is Ivy. The rest are all written as stereotypes. I say this with the deepest respect for the actors. You're only as good as you're written. I'm so tired of seeing great talent wasted on redundant story lines, predictable outcomes, and bad casting. I don't care about them any more. They have no depth, no ability to draw me in.

The stories are also all over the place. Instead of focusing in and giving us one or two great subplots, we now have at least five subplots going, and none of them are intriguing, much less relevant. It's just sad.

The music and dancing are fun, but that's not enough. Give us real characters to watch. Trust that your audience can deal with real people and real situations. This season the show is lacking in focus, devoid of any depth, and not humorous enough to support the cartoon characters it is giving us.

The production values alone are worth the price of admission, but this is also a show of clichés. You have the gay musical guy with his ever-grinning sycophant, who also came up with the idea for the musical, the harried wife/other musical person, the horny English director, who lives in apartment out of architectural digest, but is lonely and always on the look out for "fresh" faces and bodies to devour. On the other, we like the Indian boyfriend, we love the staging, the songs, the singing. As many have already indicated, it is the casting of McPhee that is the shows biggest issue. Having seen only one show, I only know that I felt she was out of her league, big time. This may be intentional, this may be the catch the producers are creating, and at some point McPhee becomes the smash. It's hard to imagine simply because McPhee doesn't really have the charisma to play the part. I like her, I like her voice, she just doesn't feel right for the part. That said, fun show and a worthy alternative to ever ballooning list of "singing" TV shows.

So all the overhype leading up to this show turned me off ahead of time. That and the thought that it was going to be a Glee-wannabe. I really hate when people cheapen original ideas by making knock-offs. I was sure I would not tune in. Then, I read a review that basically told me to discount this show as a Glee for adults b/c the music numbers are not the focus. So, I said, hmm, maybe I'll check it out. I am glad I did. The only relation this show has to Glee is it includes occasional singing and dancing (which all revolves around rehearsals/auditions for the musical). The show is not built around musical numbers. It is more a procedural that gives an insider perspective of Broadway and all the drama/reality of theater production. Also, not an American Idol fan so the idea of a runner-up being the star, also turned me off. Again, I have to stop assuming. Katherine McPhee was pretty good. Her chemistry with her boyfriend was very natural and their scenes were a big highlight for me. He's also a good unknown actor. I also am not a Debra Messing fan (ugh she drives me crazy) but she didn't annoy me either. My only favorite show of this season is Once Upon a Time which is very trippy and requires me to pay attention. This was a nice change from that. It was engaging and entertaining. I hope it gets stronger as the season goes on and I'm willing to give it a chance.