“Smash” is NBC’s newest effort to score ratings. With Steven Spielberg at the helm of the production, the show shadows all of the various people involved in making a Broadway musical possible. This season has started off with a production of a Marilyn Monroe musical that focuses on her life, loves and hidden vulnerability. The cast is pretty star-studded with people from all sorts of backgrounds-the two leading ladies vying for the role of Marilyn are played by Katharine McPhee of “American Idol” fame and Megan Hilty, a Broadway veteran. Other cast members include Debra Messing, Jack Davenport and Oscar winner Anjelica Huston.
When I first heard the premise for this show, my first instinct was “No one should ever make a television show about musicals…ever.” Musicals have already managed to infiltrate the movie industry, why is it necessary to have a television show about them? We’ve already got “Glee,” which is arguably more schmaltzy and cheesy than every other musical combined. While “Smash” highlights many of the elements of show business that the general public find annoying, there are also some pleasant surprises hidden under all the glitz and glamour. These surprises include likeable characters and decent plot lines that aren’t completely driven by musical numbers. Within the first two episodes, I’ve already been blindsided, which was something I was definitely not expecting from this show. That being said, there are some major qualms that the show has to deal with if it plans to stay fresh. Right off the bat, the show is in competition with “Glee.” What “Smash” has that “Glee” doesn’t is that it is purported to be a show about musicals rather than a musical show. As much as “Glee” claims to be a show about a glee club, I can count the dozens of times people have just randomly burst into song and no one around seems to notice or care. There have been a few of those moments on “Smash” and in order to curtail that cheesiness, it really should stick to just the songs that are involved in the Marilyn Monroe show because that’s what people have come to see. The show should continue to not only be about this specific musical, but also about the industry as a whole, and that’s going to be a problem if Katharine McPhee keeps daydreaming elaborate musical numbers in her head.
The plot has already progressed in only two episodes. Most of the songs for the musical have been written, and Marilyn has already been cast by the end of the second episode. “Smash” has set up an interesting dichotomy between the two leading ladies who fought for the role of Marilyn, and it will be interesting to see how they will keep both actresses involved in the plot now that one has been pushed to stardom and the other has begun her disintegration into nothing. Hopefully, the high ratings and endless publicity of “Smash” will detour NBC from its road to bankruptcy.
Tune in on Mondays at 9 p.m. to catch all the drama, the music, and maybe some more drama.
-Mackenzie Bronk
