NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread- Page 19
NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread
#450SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 11:58am
Ratings continue to decline:
"The news for Smash wasn't good though falling another half a point with adults 18-49 to a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating."
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/02/21/tv-ratings-monday-the-voice-down-slightly-but-leads-smash-alcatraz-continue-to-fall-most-cbs-shows-recover-castle-inches-up/120824/
Updated On: 2/21/12 at 11:58 AM
beautywickedlover
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
#452SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 12:35pm
I didn't think the episode was great. I also think that Eileen throwing wine at Jerry is too much like the teens on 'Glee' get slushies thrown at them. Most sources say that episodes 2 & 3 are not as great, but things really start to pick up in episode 4.
Ratings continue to decline:
"The news for Smash wasn't good though falling another half a point with adults 18-49 to a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating."
I think part of the problem was that some television stations like mine did not show previews for this week's episode. But it is unfortunate that the show is now going down the path that 'Pan Am' went with ratings.
However, like I said earlier, it might end up like 'Parks & Recreation' and '30 Rock'. Neither of those shows were hits with ratings yet critics really liked them. The former got mixed reviews in its first season because most people compared it to 'The Office' and Amy Poehler thought it could've been better. Fortunately, the show improved over its next seasons.
ace33
Stand-by Joined: 8/9/10
beautywickedlover
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
#455SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 12:59pm
Hopefully and I cannot believe I am saying this but, having Nick Jonas on the show next week and if people are saying the episode is as good as people are saying it is, Ratings will got back up.
I thought those words would never come out of my mouth.....
"I think lying to children is really important, it sets them off on the right track" -Sherie Rene Scott-
#456SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 1:38pmAlso, I do find it a little skeevy that Messing and Chase are playing cheaters on the show when in essence they replicated that in real life by leaving their current relationships for each other. Bad timing kids.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#458SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 1:56pm
Bettyboy, that's all I thought of when Will Chase was on last night. Just makes me not care for him one bit.
Oh and there is one uptight ninny on the Smash Facebook page who has her panties in a tizzy over the sex scene at the beginning of last night's episode.
Updated On: 2/21/12 at 01:56 PM
#459SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 2:32pm
Love the HUff Post summary:
'Smash' Recap: 39 Eyerolls From Episode 3, 'Enter Mr. DiMaggio,' In Chronological Order
#460SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 2:42pm
However, like I said earlier, it might end up like 'Parks & Recreation' and '30 Rock'. Neither of those shows were hits with ratings yet critics really liked them.
The thing about those two shows is that they're much cheaper to produce than SMASH, and 30 ROCK always had the advantage of having Lorne Michaels and Alec Baldwin, two people that NBC has a long standing relationship with. I certainly hope that NBC at least trusts the show enough to give it a second season.
I want to love the show and I really do love certain parts of it (basically, whenever Debra Messing shows up on screen, or when Hilty gets material that is as good as her acting/singing), but the writing on the last two episodes has been incredibly mediocre. I don't really mind the inaccuracies regarding the business, if I want to watch a documentary about the making of a musical from the ground up, there's a couple good ones out. What I mind are the cliched storylines involving Karen (and I really wish they got rid of McPhee, she's as bland as it gets and can't really act), the could-be-more-interesting-than-it-is director sleeps with young actress plot (though Hilty really sells some of those moments), and Christian Borle's incredibly uninspired take on being a gay man.
GLEE was never good, but it had characters like Sue Sylvester, and some inspired musical moments that made it a phenomenon. This show is filled with too many character types that aren't unique enough to make it stand out, and it lacks the magic that you felt when popular network dramas like LOST and TWIN PEAKS were at their best.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#461SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 2:54pm
Critics cited this episode as the hardest one to get through and that next week is much better. I didn't think it was too bad but Ellis is awful and I am not sure if this is way to write him off or further his involvement. Latter is obviously the most problematic.
I do like that the show avoided the Madonna-Whore Complex that I've feared with any shows with multiple female characters, and most of them except Karen are in some very complex circumstances that hopefully are not too dragged out.
I think focusing on Will Chase's family is that both he and Julia know it might not be a good idea to rekindle the past and if you did not find Julia's family sympathetic then let's all look at his supportive, unsuspecting wife and very young son.
I know the drinks to the face have gotten stale but Angelica Huston plays it flawlessly. Though I feel like she totally has grounds against Jerry for stalking. The actor's constant exasperation is not helping matters.
beautywickedlover
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
#465SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:03pm
I believe the likes of Variety and Hollywood Reporter might have mentioned similar comments on their initial reviews of the show. My understanding is that--unlike most network pilots--NBC made a handful of episodes available to the critics, as opposed to just one or two.
Beautywickedlover, I imagine PARENTHOOD with its solid ensemble of mainly no-name actors and its improvisation-heavy style is cheaper to shoot than SMASH, which films on location in NY, has to deal with musical numbers and it has an Oscar winner and an Emmy winner as principals. Some of the people here can probably give a more accurate answer, but I imagine NBC spends more on this show than it does on a run of the mill drama. However, I do agree that they've been very patient with PARENTHOOD from the beginning, so perhaps that's a good sign for this show.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
beautywickedlover
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/07
#466SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:06pm
TV by the Numbers said it was too soon to think that the show is going to be cancelled. They said that there is still a chance it can be renewed for another season:
"Smash is falling hard and fast, with the third episode down 40% from the premiere two weeks ago based on preliminary ratings. Some critics and anti-fans are calling it a colossal failure for NBC (due to how heavily NBC promoted it), but make no mistake it could fall a ways further and still be renewed. It's still too soon to know if and where Smash will stabilize, but for now it's still on the bubble."
Bubble Watch NBC: 'Smash' Falls Far Fast, But Isn't Dead Yet
#467SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:11pm
Another clever recap from Broadway abridged :
SMASH Abridged: Episode 3
#468SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:21pm
This is one of the dullest shows I've ever watched on series TV. Where is the audience for this? Certainly not theatre queens like me! Watching a straight couple screwing every week ain't gonna do, guys. It's not dishy or trashy enough for me, and if poor Anjelica Huston, in her Cleopatra wig, had to throw that drink one more time, it would have put me over the edge.
And who out there believed for a second that the "assistant" was straight? Was that supposed to be a surprise??
I keep watching it because I can't believe that it's not going to get better. A series about the making of a Broadway show?? I am so there! But aside from the great voice of Katherine McPhee, this show has nothing to recommend it. Just hot air...
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#470SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:38pm
...PARENTHOOD with its solid ensemble of mainly no-name actors....
I realize that being a "name" in show business is a relative concept, but Lauren Graham, Peter Krause and Craig T. Nelson all starred in hit series before PARENTHOOD. For those of us of a certain age, Bonnie Bedelia was the queen of serious TV movies from the late 1970s through the 1990s and at least one, critically praised feature film, HEART LIKE A WHEEL (which earned her a Golden Globe nomination); she has worked steadily ever since. I'll grant you Erica Christensen, but even she has starred in a dozen films over the past decade.
Okay, nobody is Barbra Streisand. But to me, PARENTHOOD pairs an all-star cast with a group of extremely talented newcomers who play the grandchildren of Craig T. Nelson. I absolutely agree that the ensemble is solid.
Updated On: 2/21/12 at 04:38 PM
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#471SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 4:49pm
Tom's statements in the first episode "After all, this was your idea" and "I'm interested in your input" are enough to establish a claim. Ellis could easily hire a copyright lawyer who could ask for a not-insubstantial amount of the authors' 6% weekly royalties.
paljoey, what do you understand to be the legal basis for such a claim?
I'm not a lawyer, but the Dramatist's Guild keeps reminding its members that an idea ("a musical about Marilyn Monroe") isn't copyrightable. And in the cases I've followed, plaintiffs who sued for copyright infringement had a burden of proving that something substantial and unique about their treatment of the subject was appropriated for the work of art at issue.
"A musical about Marilyn Monroe" isn't even a new idea. I realize anyone can sue anyone for any reason. Draw the right judge and survive a motion for summary judgment and the defendant may offer money to make the matter go away. I also understand that such an action might be bad press for the writing team and maybe they would pay to avoid the publicity.
Do you see another, more legitimate cause of action here?
(ETA or are we just supposed to suspend our disbelief so the show can avoid getting into the boring details of copyright infringement? I can understand why such details would drag if the show is trying to become a larger-than-life soap opera.)
Updated On: 2/21/12 at 04:49 PM
#472SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 5:05pmDidn't Tom and Julia say in the Pilot that they'd already had the idea of "Marilyn the Musical?" I feel like they said something like they'd tried it, but couldn't make it work. If that's the case, how would Ellis have any claim to the idea at all, other than bringing the team's attention back to the subject?
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#473SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 5:11pm
^^^^That does sound familiar, Optimist, though I admit that thus far, I blank out and think about other things during long sections of the show.
In fairness, they did show Debra Messing's surprise and indignation when Ellis claimed the idea was "his". So maybe the show is just using Ellis' resentment at what he perceives to be theft to motivate his villainy. Perhaps they'll spare us an actual trial on the subject.
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#474SMASH
Posted: 2/21/12 at 5:59pm
I think what Borle and Messing were discussing was a Marilyn musical that was already a flop.
I think Ellis knows he is on shakey ground taking credit and that's why he took her notebooks. But now he can blackmail Messing with telling her husband she had an affair.
At least we know Ivy likes to be on top in the (well-placed) sheets. The show needs more sex.
