Image Credit: Will Hart/NBC
Smash should have been a singular sensation. When the show launched last February, it seemed to have everything going for it — an innovative concept, a killer cast of established screen stars (Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston) and beloved Broadway actors (Christian Borle, Megan Hilty), fabulous original songs from Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, high production values, and the stewardship of producer Steven Spielberg. And early on, ratings indicated that this potent mixture had indeed resulted in a hit — the show’s heavily-hyped premiere drew 11.44 million pairs of eyeballs and healthy demographic numbers.
Then, of course, came Smash‘s crash. As the series’s onscreen antics got increasingly absurd — Ivy’s hooked on pills! Terrible Ellis has poisoned Uma Thurman’s smoothie! Julia’s mumbly son Leo is a “straight-A student”! — viewers began tuning out in droves. By the end of season 1, Smash had been demoted from promising newcomer to a singing, dancing mascot of the hate-watching movement.
Even then, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It came in the form of Josh Safran — a new showrunner who promised to reinvigorate Smash by ditching unpopular characters, broadening the show’s scope, and severely cutting down on its number of scarves per capita. Those who saw a diamond in the rough that was Smash’s first season were hopeful — maybe, just maybe, the show could become the hit it was always meant to be in season 2.
Or… maybe not. READ FULL STORY »
