# "Smash" on NBC



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Robert Greenblatt has been Chairman of NBC Entertainment since Comcast took control. From 2003 to 2010, Greenblatt was President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks. So far we haven't had much opportunity to see what he can do for do for NBC. But we'll see next Monday at 10:00.

"Smash" is likely to be a well-written drama with the musical theater sense of "A Chorus Line." Theresa Rebeck, creator, writer, and executive producer has a solid reputation. Steven Spielberg has put significant money into the show.

"Smash" was first presented to Greenblatt when he was at Showtime. It's a natural for a premium network - a showcase series. Greenblatt was responsible for Showtime airing "Dexter", "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie."

The kicker line for the show describes it as "There is more drama behind the scenes than on stage, as the team prepares an ambitious Broadway musical on the life of Marilyn Monroe." Actors in key roles are Anjelica Huston, Debra Messing, and Jack Davenport. But the talented singer and actress Katharine McPhee, yes the "American Idol" runner-up, is the centerpiece and I'm sure will be working her heart out on this one.

But on Showtime a show's survival depends on whether it attracts viewers who will pay for the Showtime premium package, viewers who frequently record things for later viewing, a habit that doesn't matter as long as they pay.

"Smash" is on a broadcast network. Advertising still covers most of the budget. Advertisers still focus on ratings - *live* viewers with an emphasis on demos, age 18-49, with an extra emphasis on 18-34.

"Smash" follows "The Voice" which hasn't been the typical live viewer ratings dud for NBC, but it is a competition show that almost has to be viewed live. "Smash" is going to be recruiting for live viewers ages 18-49 at 10:00 on Monday against "Hawaii Five-0" and "Castle." Over-50 or use a DVR, you need not apply.

I will, of course, be recording it and I wish Greenblatt well. We're over-50 and go to bed between 10:00 and 10:30, so even if we were a Nielsen family, nobody would care. But we do pay for Showtime....


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

The first episode of SMASH has been available on several of the video services for a while. We watched it via Amazon Video last week. Not a bad show - certainly better than Glee which has gone over the top. McPhee does a fair acting job. Interesting to see how the Idol runner-ups do better than the winners often...


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

When I first heard about this show I was intrigued. Then I was excited. Unfortunately NBC has been promoting it so hard that I am already tired of it. I'll give it a sampling, but it already seems stale, like I've seen the best parts. I also wonder, given NBC's track record, if they will be able to keep quality production values throughout the first season.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Dang! Also over 50 and prone to DVR use. Miss McPhee looks amazing in the promos/


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## bobsupra (Jul 12, 2002)

I am interested in this series....especially Megan Hilty 'cause she is the one with talent. McPhee looks good and has a decent voice, but Hilty has the creds. Be interesting to see (on my dvr).


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Mrs. and I watched it via NBC on demand and thought it was pretty good. We'll definitely continue to watch it.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

How much is singing compared to story?


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> How much is singing compared to story?


IIRC, about 2/3 story. Maybe 40/60 (story).


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## pfp (Apr 28, 2009)

If it's another Viva Laughlin I'm out.


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## celticpride (Sep 6, 2006)

this shows how stupid NBC is ,why on earth didn't they put this show on right after the superbowl???? they dont know how to promote programs properly!, it dont matter to me anyway as i hate musicals,and i watch hawaii 5 o and record castle.:nono2:


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I'm looking forward to this show though I'll be recording it to watch tomorrow.

But I can't help but wonder if this from TV Week NBC's High-Priced Series Gamble Premieres Tonight. Word in Hollywood Is That Marketing for the Show Has Already Hit $20 Million to $25 Million; NBC Says It's Less Than $10 Million reflects a waste of money. The NY Times article they quote says these numbers do not include "the value of all the promotional mentions that have appeared elsewhere -- between shows, in the middle of shows, on the bottom of the screen during shows -- on NBC and its sister channels (USA, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, etc.) over the last month."

Comcast said they were going to dump money into NBC, but does the paid marketing really help?


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

celticpride said:


> this shows how stupid NBC is ,why on earth didn't they put this show on right after the superbowl???? they dont know how to promote programs properly!, it dont matter to me anyway as i hate musicals,and i watch hawaii 5 o and record castle.:nono2:


Well, they caught me! I was writing some e-mails, and along comes The Voice, and before I knew it, I was hooked! Up to now I've avoided those shows. Perhaps the judges are more interesting. (I didn't consider Cowell so much interesting as merely contentious)

Perhaps the competitive aspect of the show blends somewhat with the competitive nature of the program preceding?


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## mreposter (Jul 29, 2006)

It looks like NBC is stripping the pilot across many of it's cable networks Thursday at midnight. (technically friday morning.) It's on Style, E, Bravo, USA and Oxygen.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

My wife and I enjoyed it significantly...

We will see what it is like after 13 episodes (That they have supposidly already fillmed), and thus the tinkering started by the network and other influences.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Don't know if this is considered a spoiler or not, as it's pure conjecture on my part, but:
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[spoiler spacing]

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Isn't it likely that both women get key roles in the "Play", McPhee as Norma Jean, and Hilty as MM??


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

I haven't watched it yet, but my cousin was in NY the night they were filming scenes for an episode in Times Square. I let her know about it, but she was going to be at a Broadway show that night, so she couldn't go to the filming. That would have been cool...

I'm a big McPhee fan though, so I'll be watching the whole first season regardless. I'm kind of surprised whoever the production company is that they didn't put songs out on iTunes ala "Glee."

~Alan


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I had no idea there were McPhee fans. She hasn't done anything yet, has she?


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

spartanstew said:


> I had no idea there were McPhee fans. She hasn't done anything yet, has she?


I own her first album. She has multiple other ones that I didn't know about until last year. I'll most likely pick them up eventually.

She's also done some movies and TV shows prior to this.

Basically, I'm a fan of her voice. I think she's very talented, but for multiple reasons, has yet achieve success musically.

~Alan


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Excellent pilot, portends to be an excellent show. Of course, that's only if NBC doesn't screw it up somehow. But it's Greenblatt's baby so I assume he won't allow that to happen.

On the other hand, I cannot see why 2.5 million people, including 0.8 million in the 18-49 demo quit watching by 10:30.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

And can someone please remind me why those 18-49s are so important? Don't we older folk have and spend more money? Which makes advertisers happier?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I watched this last night and I was both pleased and disappointed.

I liked the music and certainly the performances by Ms. Hilty were fabulous. But then again, she can do no wrong in my book; I've seen her career rising for a long time and this is a great part for her. It's ironic that she is a lot like the character she plays; she is a longtime Broadway player who is threatened with upstaging from someone with little or no experience.

As for Ms. McPhee, I think she did well considering that she's really not terribly well known for this sort of thing. It's a shame that someone felt there was a need to "over-produce" her songs, with echo and plenty of electronic trickery. I have a feeling that she could do just fine without that sort of nonsense.

The writing was... fair. Not terribly earth-shattering but that's ok, it certainly wasn't any worse than any of the _Broadway Melody_ films, _Singin' in the Rain_, or _All That Jazz_. I think there was probably an attempt to keep it on that level.

It's hard to criticize the acting because the actors didn't have a lot to play with. I've liked Debra Messing and Jack Davenport in other projects but they aren't known for drama. We'll see how they do. Anjelica Huston is Anjelica Huston; she could probably make you cry just reading the side of a cereal box.

The one thing I really didn't like was the way the outdoor scenes were shot. It may seem like a little thing but it was enough to take me out of the story. I suspect a lot of them were greenscreen; that the actors weren't really in those locations. Shutting down Times Square for the pilot probably wasn't in the budget. That being said, the lighting was too flat and all the outdoor scenes almost looked like black and white. If that was intentional... great, they did it right. But I still didn't go for it.

I'll be back for episode 2, but it wasn't a smash for me. It was NBC's best hourlong in a long time, but honestly that's not saying much. It needs to lighten up a little, get real people not just characters, and lay off the Pro Tools. Let the goodness of the actors and singers come through... isn't that the point of the story?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Laxguy said:


> And can someone please remind me why those 18-49s are so important? Don't we older folk have and spend more money? Which makes advertisers happier?


...and laxguy, the problem is that 50+ers are too smart to fall for stupid advertisements and product placements, while 18-34s are happy to oblige in that regard.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Ah, ok, that must be it, then. 

I, too, want more from Smash! But it's ok for now....(two Marilyns? Or, rather, one Norma Jean and one MM??)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Laxguy said:


> And can someone please remind me why those 18-49s are so important? Don't we older folk have and spend more money? Which makes advertisers happier?


I can tell you why...

The vast majority of that demo... Have Kid's that they need to get to bed, things to finish up before they themselves need to get done.

While they may like the show, the 9/10pm timeslot is a terrible one for LIVE TV viewing.

We watched it off the DVR, after the kids were put to bed, we wrapped up what we needed to get done.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Out of the pilot... two things I wish were done differently...

1) I wish the ad's didn't reveal the "punchline" of the you won't get to sleep with me, sceene.

2) I really wish they didn't bring in the over protective parents questioning the acting thing. Obviously she has a good relationship, is doing well enough to live in NY... Did we really need that over played dynamic... in the pilot?


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Well, as I said before it _portends_ to be an excellent show, meaning five or six episodes in, it should hit its stride.

All I hope is that the show can keep over 80% of the ratings it had at 10:30. If not, then things are going to be very discouraging at NBC.


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## Ira Lacher (Apr 24, 2002)

The worst thing the writers could do is overdistort reality. Anytime you get into "profession" shows this happens. Things really don't function in schools, newspaper city rooms, courtrooms, police stations, etc., the way they seem to be depicted in TV series. And there were a few notable things that stood out in the _Smah_ pilot as well. (No way a stage manager would permit an actor to miss an entrance because he or she was chatting with a friend backstage!)

If the writers and producers really want to do a good series about New York theater, they have plenty to choose from: union corruption, ticket scalping, "angel" interference in the creative process, and a bunch of other stuff that doesn't necessarily involve far easier-to-write melodrama between competing actors or between actors and directors. I'll keep an open mind, for a while.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Ira Lacher said:


> If the writers and producers really want to do a good series about New York theater, they have plenty to choose from: union corruption, ticket scalping, "angel" interference in the creative process, and a bunch of other stuff that doesn't necessarily involve far easier-to-write melodrama between competing actors or between actors and directors. I'll keep an open mind, for a while.


Excellent points! I'm pretty sure the try-outs are exactly on form, either!


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

Great eye candy. Hope the series sticks around a while.

_Mc Feever_, anyone?


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Supramom2000 said:


> I am LOVING Smash. I think it is amazing so far!!!





RasputinAXP said:


> The wife and I are loving Smash.


After watching the second episode I really don't know why anyone is watching something else live at 10:00 Monday. Really, "Hawaii Five-0" or "Castle"????

Yeah, if you're recording it or all 3 like we do, that's one thing.

But this may be one of the best productions to hit TV in many years. I hope NBC sticks with it. Right now the ratings are good.


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

phrelin said:


> [...] But this may be one of the best productions to hit TV in many years. I hope NBC sticks with it. Right now the ratings are good.


Ditto.


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## Ira Lacher (Apr 24, 2002)

I'll give it a few more tries. But it still hasn't grabbed me. And I'm a theater nut.


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