Smash

Smash – Season One

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Smash – The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

smash-season-one-dvdNBC’s attempt to cash-in on the success of Glee and American Idol produced an up-and-down first season of the soapy backstage goings on behind the scenes of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

Katharine McPhee stars as Broadway newbie Karen Cartwright, the most talented member of the cast eventually chosen by the show’s director (Jack Davenport) as the show’s lead, even if he is dating her main competition (Megan Hilty). Other storylines involve the various love lives of the musical’s writers (Christian Borle, Debra Messing), bedhopping, drug problems, and the struggles of the show’s producer (Anjelica Huston) in both her personal and professional life.

The addition of Uma Thurman late in the season as a Hollywood celebrity who lacks the singing and dancing chops necessary to pull off the lead of a musical offered the role of Marilyn to keep the flagging production afloat, is, like everything else about the First Season, only partially successful.

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Smash – The Coup

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Smash – The Coup
  • tv.com: link

smash-the-coup"

In light of the mixed success of the workshop Derek (Jack Davenport) recruits an unsuspecting Karen (Katharine McPhee) to help him steal the musical from Tom (Christian Borle) and Julia (Debra Messing) by offering the Broadway newbie her own musical number in the show. The fallout from which leaves the show with a director at war with the writers and a play without a Marilyn Monroe.

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Smash – The Workshop

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Smash – The Workshop
  • tv.com: link

smash-the-workshop

A week has past and yet the cast of “Marilyn” will still need another half an episode in preparation for their all important workshop where they will present a rough version of the show to potential investors. Bernadette Peters makes a guest-appearance as Ivy’s (Megan Hilty) famous Broadway mother, and Karen (Katharine McPhee) is forced to choose between attending the workshop or meeting with an influential music producer.

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Smash – Chemistry

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Smash – Chemistry
  • tv.com: link

smash-chemistry

With only a week to go before the show’s first workshop, which will be attended by potential investitors, tensions start to fray. Julia (Debra Messing) struggles to finish writing the play – while staying far away from Michael (Will Chase) especially now that her husband (Brian d’Arcy James) has returned, Ivy (Megan Hilty) starts to panic as she looses her voice during rehearsals, and Karen (Katharine McPhee) deals with the real possibility she might be asked to step into the starring role.

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Smash – The Cost of Art / Let’s Be Bad

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Smash – The Cost of Art
  • tv.com: link

smash-the-cost-of-art

Honestly I’d forgotten this show even existed. Sure, I remember the big campaign NBC put out hyping its premiere after the Super Bowl, but I missed the pilot and hadn’t really given the show a second thought. With several of the shows I usually write about taking late Winter breaks I decided to tape a couple episodes of Smash and give it a shot.

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