Primetimer May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 Fade in on a girl with a passion for fame and a boy who won't stop nitpicking theater business. Read the story 1 Link to comment
ferretrick May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 To me, first, last, and always, the biggest, most fundamental problem Smash had was that it asked viewers to believe that any Broadway casting director worth their salt would see Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee perform, and conclude that Katharine McPhee was the one with star power. 6 Link to comment
swtrgrl May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 I love that you're doing this. I will catch up to you guys this weekend. Much like Adam, I: I love Smash. Unironically, unapologetically, un-hate-watching-ly. SQUEEE!!! I didn't dislike Julia as much as you guys did. I think that I'd maybe have liked Karen more if it weren't Kat McPhee portraying her. I get the whole, "not paid her dues yet" and "had a good audition where the director connected with her" thing but McPhee didn't sell that, IMO. She has no business singing anywhere near someone with the talent of Megan Hilty. Like Hawaii to NYC distance would maybe be a stretch. 1 Link to comment
FozzyBear May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 To me, first, last, and always, the biggest, most fundamental problem Smash had was that it asked viewers to believe that any Broadway casting director worth their salt would see Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee perform, and conclude that Katharine McPhee was the one with star power. Yeah, my biggest problem with Smash was that I thought MH and KM were woefully miscast. Now I don't think they needed to take Karen and Ivy to an All About Eve place to begin with (why not just have parallel stories about someone's first starring role and someone's first professional job) but if you're going to go there switch the parts! I think MH is much more believable as someone who's natural charisma could mask a lack of training or experience. To me MH had much more of that "something special, can't look away when she's on stage" quality. Plus she's a better actress so I think she could have played a character suddenly swept up in a once in a lifetime opportunity who discovers her own ambition without coming across as such an entitled cry-baby. Conversely, I totally buy KM as the actress who has spent years in the chorus without a break. She has that technically solid, but oddly dull quality to her performance style where you could see her as someone who was cast in a show right out of college and everyone said she'd be a star in a few years...and then it never happens. She's so talented yet boring and unengaging. You could see how she could get trapped in the chorus as a technicaly proficient actress who just doesn't have it. But with the casting the way it was I spent most of the series wondering why everyone thought Katen had "it" and Ivy didn't. 8 Link to comment
Kat May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 The fact that you guys are doing this rewatch and discussion makes me so damn happy! I loved this show. I even loved the much maligned second season more than the first. I cried actual tears when it was cancelled. I want Christian Borle to be my baby-daddy. I have purchased every single song off of iTunes, and I listen to them regularly. Yeah, I'm THAT person. Anyway, thanks for this. ALL of this. Link to comment
Good Queen Jane May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 I have always wanted to see a series showing the behind the scenes of putting on a Broadway musical. Smash could have done that but veered into soap territory too fast. It would have worked better if they had focused more on Eileen, Julia and Tom in the beginning and showed Ivy and Karen pursuing their careers before the audition - Ivy getting more and more frustrated by being in the chorus, Karen trying to get auditions while juggling her waitress job. And leave out the family complications until we got to know the characters better. 2 Link to comment
kimberwatch May 28, 2015 Share May 28, 2015 It is good to be with my people - no use for Karen, wanted to love the show, ended up loving to loathe it. And yet, I keep a couple of songs (featuring MH, thankyouverymuch) in fairly regular rotation on my iPod. Love this. Link to comment
allonsyalice May 29, 2015 Share May 29, 2015 SMASH is like the show i love to hate. (I watched both seasons back to back shortly after it ended, thank you, Andrew McMahon.) So, i think I have different views on the series than most people who watched it weekly. like, i def believe everyone was way too hard on karen, and i never understood why there was this need to pit her and ivy against each other. it would have been so much nicer and less toxic if they were friends. also i didnt want to watch catty girls compete, i had enough of that in my high school thank you. even so, i enjoy it and yes while i clean i apartment i hardcore pretend to be marilyn thanks to the SMASH playlist on my phone. I'm looking forward to more of this recap! Link to comment
StatMom May 29, 2015 Share May 29, 2015 Rats, I wish this were on Amazon Prime or Netflix. Love the trip down memory lane with this show. Did it go past one season? I think I hung in there for the whole thing. Link to comment
dr pepper May 29, 2015 Share May 29, 2015 I personally thought the show was brilliant. Of course i know nothing about Broadway. In fact i'm not a big fan of musicals. I go in for fantasy and procedurals. But i enjoyed well over 90% of Smash which is more than i got from a lot of my favorite genre shows. I agree that Karen and Ivy should have been friends. After all, if a musical makes it big, it's going to have some alternating of performers. If it makes it really big it might even get multiple casts. So there was a good chance that they could both be Marilyn. And i liked that Karen was new and untried-- in effect, she's Norma Jean. And Ivy, the seasoned performer is like Marilyn after she hit her stride. Not to mention having the right figure for the part, but i digress. Another thing i liked, and i mentioned it at the time, was seeing the business at 3 levels, separated simultaneously by age, status, and wealth. First, the youngest, least recognized and poorest, the talent. Although, i find it hard to believe their stipends were that low, given that they have to be able to live in reasonable busing distance of the studio. Then you have direction and creative. And finally, production, financing and booking. Each level has different but parallel concerns. I'm in Southern California and haven't the time or money to take a weekend jaunt to the east. But if, say, a playhouse in Santa Barbara were to do Bombshell, i just might skip Penny Dreadful to go see it. 1 Link to comment
Good Queen Jane May 29, 2015 Share May 29, 2015 I liked the second season more than the first. I actually liked Karen in Hit List. Maybe that's the way they should have gone, showed the making of a big time Broadway musical in comparison with an Off Broadway production. They could have had the crossovers and really explore what is fundamental in both. Ivy and Karen could run into each other from time to time, not friends but both working actresses, comparing experiences. That would have been a great show! 2 Link to comment
Tara Ariano May 31, 2015 Share May 31, 2015 i liked that Karen was new and untried-- in effect, she's Norma Jean. And Ivy, the seasoned performer is like Marilyn after she hit her stride. When the season was airing, I was sure that was how they were going to let both performers star: that Karen would play Norma Jean in Act 1, and Ivy would play Marilyn in Act 2. 1 Link to comment
StatMom May 31, 2015 Share May 31, 2015 It is on Amazon Prime. By golly, it is! I swear it wasn't there a little while ago... I will blame searching on my phone. Stupid tiny screen. But yay! 1 Link to comment
SilverShadow June 5, 2015 Share June 5, 2015 Was inspired to start my own rewatch. Halfway through episode 2 my main thoughts are: Let Me Be Your Star is sill such a good sequence. Karen is not as bad as she'll get, but the seeds of terribleness are there. She's so affronted about the casting person taking the phone call, and she can't concentrate on her prep for five minutes without trying to segue-way into fucking her boyfriend. She also acts so annoyed at the dance practices, when she's the one messing up. UGH. Also Derek can shut up about "Marilyn never tried." The original plan for Ivy's background was clearly not famous mother, with the phone call about "Jimmy" getting into night school etc. But the retcon gave us Bernadette Peters, so I'll accept it. So far the show is rather vague on whether Derek actually expected Karen to like blow him or something during the late night 'work session.' The narrative seems to be trying to push Karen as the one who 'should' get the part, but they totally undermined themselves by giving Ivy two numbers in the pilot alone. And then by having Ivy initially get the part, she just builds up a lot more Marilyn cred and McPhee can't make up for it under her own power when she's the less seasoned performer to begin with. Leo and the adoption plot on the other hand are immediately terrible. They should have nixed the adoption the minute it went to series. 1 Link to comment
Tara Ariano June 6, 2015 Share June 6, 2015 The original plan for Ivy's background was clearly not famous mother, with the phone call about "Jimmy" getting into night school etc. But the retcon gave us Bernadette Peters, so I'll accept it. ha! Adam and I sidebarred on that when we were chatting and decided to skip it, but we absolutely agree. 2 Link to comment
adam807 June 6, 2015 Share June 6, 2015 (edited) When the season was airing, I was sure that was how they were going to let both performers star: that Karen would play Norma Jean in Act 1, and Ivy would play Marilyn in Act 2. I 100% thought that too. As the "Shadow Selves" progressed it seemed like they would morph into some sort of Past Marilyn instead. Both McPhee and Hilty are starring in Monday's Bombshell benefit concert, so hey, it could still happen! Of course, lots of people who weren't technically in Bombshell will be there, so I'm not sure accuracy is what they'll be going for. Surprise! The best Marilyn was Jimmy: Edited June 6, 2015 by adam807 2 Link to comment
swtrgrl June 25, 2015 Share June 25, 2015 I have purchased every single song off of iTunes, and I listen to them regularly. Yeah, I'm THAT person. DItto. If you see me belting in my car...9/10 it's Heart Shaped or Let Me Be Your Star. LOL When the season was airing, I was sure that was how they were going to let both performers star: that Karen would play Norma Jean in Act 1, and Ivy would play Marilyn in Act 2. Count me in as thinking this, too. It might have "played" better for McPhee. Link to comment
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