Is Smash really that bad?

Theatre dweeb
#1Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:12pm

I finally finished watching smash and I personally loved it. While some of the ransoms breaking out into song was awkward and the first season was only ok, I thought it was good and shouldn't have been cancelled. *SPOILER ALERT* I also thought Kyle's death in season 2 was the saddest tv death in a while, so why was that so hated too? *END OF SPOILER ALERT* Was it really that bad?

TerrenceIsTheMann
#2Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:16pm

Season 1 is life
Season 2, sorta lame/overdramatic and drawn out

 

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VernonGersch
#3Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:27pm

did you catch the name check to smash on SNL?  

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Fantod
#4Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:33pm

It was worse than that bad. It might be the worst TV show I've ever seen (though I don't really watch all that much TV)

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Kad
#5Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:36pm

It was so bad that people were only hate watching it. It pretty much set the bar for hate-watching.


"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."

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Mr. Nowack
#6Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:37pm

It was bad, but damn did it try.

 

It's certainly not the worst TV show I've ever seen though, bad as it was. At least it made an attempt to bring something relatively original and unique to network TV, a place known for its boring homogeny.


Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated

c0113g3b0y
#7Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:58pm

not as horrendous as Glee post S2.5, but bad enough


The thing is, besides being an utter toad of a human being, Riedel usually has the least knowledge of the topic in the room. He doesn't usually understand the content or approach of a show, and is always completely and unfailingly socially ignorant, which makes it really infuriating when Susan can't get a word in edgewise. A definitive mansplainer; it's always painful when he has female guests. I watch the show sporadically when I really want to see a guest, because it's the only theatre talkshow we have, but it would be so much better without this hateful clown in a dadcoat. (thanks ScaryWarhol)

brdway411
#8Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 12:03am

Was so glad it only lasted 2 seasons. I live around the corner from NYTW. The constant filming in the area and production vehicles parked out side our apt was annoying. Doors on trailers slamming all night/early morning, smells from the craft service trucks invading our apt. Could not get to my bodega, or bank easily while they were filming. 

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perfectlymarvelous
#9Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 2:03am

Season one wasn't awful but the second season was borderline absurdism. I did a rewatch recently since it's all on Amazon Prime and it's kind of hilarious but for all the wrong reasons.

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rosscoe(au)
#10Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 2:24am

people still watched at the first episode aired?


Well I didn't want to get into it, but he's a Satanist. Every full moon he sacrifices 4 puppies to the Dark Lord and smears their blood on his paino. This should help you understand the score for Wicked a little bit more. Tazber's: Reply to Is Stephen Schwartz a Practicing Christian

Showface
#11Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 6:31am

Yeah, so a lot of people hated it

But I was faithful to it from the beginning! Was it flawed? Yes.

But I appreciate what Smash did, which was bring Broadway to my TV screen every week. I loved the plot of Season 1, but I must admit the saving grace of season 2 was 

****SPOILERS****

When Ivy got cast and won a Tony and had a happy ending (while Karen got nothing but a convict boyfriend)

mamaleh
#12Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 7:10am

Vernon, I got a chuckle out of that mini-Kate McKinnon in the iconic Marilyn dress "Ivy" wore in SMASH -- and was that Cecily Strong as the McPhee persona?--as the in-the-corner ad in that 30 ROCK throwback bit on SNL. Very clever.





Updated On: 10/20/15 at 07:10 AM

MVintheheartland
#13Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:04am

I hate-watched season 1. I really can't stand Katherine McPhee, the fact that it turned into her showcase really turned me off. But at least there were some hilarious soapy plots.

Season 2 was just bad. Watched 2 episodes, couldn't go on after that.

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newintown
#14Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:02am

It had absolutely nothing to do with how commercial theatre actually works, which wouldn't really be much of a problem if it were imaginative instead of just a dusty sequined grab bag of ancient entertainment clichés.

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haterobics
#15Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:11am

MVintheheartland said: "I really can't stand Katherine McPhee, the fact that it turned into her showcase really turned me off. "

 

Wasn't she positioned as the lead before it even aired? Not really a surprise.

 

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JRybka
#16Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:36am

I think one of the major issues was that Katherine McPhee was supposed to be the lead but Megan Hilty was so amazingly good in it that she got the sympathy and people liked her more. 

 

I would not say that it is HATE watching in my case. I own the two seasons and do love the music (some of the best in a while) and thought that the theater people did a good job.  It wasn't as bad as people say it was. It was like watching Valley of the Dolls in the sense that it was campy but still entertaining. (At least that is my opinion)

I always wish they had done it more like a soap to begin with and then it would have been more successful probably. 


"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

serene_embers
#17Is Smash really that bad?
Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:55am

I think that the show started off with the best of intentions but a lot of behind the scenes drama just ruined it when all was said and done.

I did think that the music did a good job at showcasing some of the talent they had on the show. I think Megan Hilty and Jeremy Jordan got a good amount of time to show what they could do with their vocals. But others who deserved more (or at least I think did) didn't get as much. Leslie Odom Jr, Andy Mientus, and Brian d'Arcy James should have been given more.

I still enjoy the music. The Bombshell concert and the Hit List reading are things I still listen to regularly.