Smash (TV series)
Smash is an American musical drama television series created by playwright Theresa Rebeck and developed by Robert Greenblatt for NBC. Steven Spielberg served as one of the executive producers. The series was broadcast in the US by NBC and produced by DreamWorks Television and Universal Television. The series revolves around a fictional New York City theater community and specifically the creation of a new Broadway musical. It features a large ensemble cast, led by Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, and Anjelica Huston. The show debuted on February 6, 2012, and its first  season ended on May 14, 2012. Its second season premiered on February 5, 2013, and ended on May 26, 2013. NBC announced a change in their lineup in March 2013 and moved the show to Saturdays starting April 6, 2013. The series was cancelled on May 10, 2013. Second-season executive producer-show runner Josh Safran said the final episode of Season 2 worked as a series finale. The series, especially the pilot episode, enjoyed critical success. The first season received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography among four nominations. The series was also nominated for a Golden Globe  Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media ("Let Me Be Your Star"). Premise. The show revolves around a group of characters creating new Broadway musicals, where everyone must balance their often chaotic personal life with the all-consuming demands of life in the theater. The series features original music by composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman Episodes. Season 1 (2012). Julia Houston (Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle), a Broadway writing team, came up with the idea of a new musical based on the life of Marilyn  Monroe titled "Bombshell". Producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston), in the midst of divorce proceedings from her philandering husband, jumps on board and brings with her Derek Wills (Jack Davenport), a difficult but brilliant director. Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) is initially cast as Marilyn, but is forced to deal with competition from the talented, yet naive ensemble member Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee). Julia's former lover Michael Swift (Will Chase) is initially cast in the role of Joe DiMaggio. However, when Julia and Michael's reunion causes serious trouble in her marriage to Frank (Brian d'Arcy James), the decision is made  to fire Michael. The role of Marilyn is recast with film star Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman), leaving Ivy devastated. After a somewhat disastrous out-of-town opening in Boston, Rebecca has fallen sick due to a peanut allergy and the actor playing Joe departs the production for a better gig. Derek subsequently casts Karen in the role of Marilyn and Michael is reinstated as Joe. Karen discovers Ivy has slept with her fiancé Dev (Raza Jaffrey), while Eileen finds out that her assistant Ellis (Jaime Cepero) was the one who poisoned Rebecca and fires him. Karen gets through her debut  and the season ends with the closing number being applauded by the audience. Season 2 (2013). As "Bombshell" works to open on Broadway in New York City, the show runs into legal and creative troubles which threaten its future. Meanwhile, the cast and crew (featured in Season 1) attempt to find work. Karen meets two aspiring friends and partners (Kyle, a stage writer played by Andy Mientus, and Jimmy, a composer played by Jeremy Jordan) and tries to get their work noticed, especially by Derek. Derek works with Broadway star Veronica Moore (Jennifer Hudson), who becomes friends with Karen. Ivy  gets the lead in "Liaisons", a show based on the play "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". "Bombshell" needs work in order to open on Broadway. First, Peter Gillman (Daniel Sunjata), a dramaturg with whom Julia had a rocky relationship is hired in order to help re-write the show. Second, Jerry (Michael Cristofer) replaces Eileen as the show's producer after she had to step down when the federal authorities found out (through Jerry's orchestration) that she had financed "Bombshell" with illegal money. Jimmy and Kyle's show, called "Hit List", eventually goes to the New York Fringe Festival and then  they meet a producer for an off-broadway theater called Manhattan Theatre Workshop. Karen quits "Bombshell" to be in "Hit List" because she has to choose one of them. Ivy takes Karen's role as Marilyn Monroe in "Bombshell". "Hit List" starts rehearsals. Karen and Jimmy's relationship starts to develop but may cause some disturbance in the work place with Derek's secret feelings for Karen. "Hit List" goes to Broadway produced by Jerry and "Bombshell" and "Hit List" go head-to-head at the Tony Awards. "Hit List" wins 7 Tonys, which is more than "Bombshell", however "Bombshell  wins Best Musical and Best Actress (Ivy Lynn) in a Leading Role. Development and production. Conception. Development began in 2009 at Showtime by then-Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt and Steven Spielberg, from an idea by Spielberg, who had been working on the concept for years; Greenblatt, described as a devoted theater geek", had also produced a musical adaptation of the film "9 to 5" in 2009. The original concept was that each season would follow the production of a new musical; if any of them were "stage-worthy", Spielberg would help produce them as stage productions. The series was  inspired by successful TV Dramas "The West Wing" and "Upstairs, Downstairs" and used them as role models. Garson Kanin's novel "Smash" (New York: Viking, 1980) provided the title and setting, although the plots have little in common. As a Showtime show, the script contained a lot of nudity. "It was definitely a cable show," Debra Messing said. In January 2011, Greenblatt brought the project with him to NBC when he was made NBC Entertainment president. Theresa Rebeck was brought on as showrunner and wrote the pilot script after Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron suggested her to Spielberg  and Greenblatt. NBC ordered production of a pilot in January 2011 for the 2011–12 television season. Michael Mayer directed the pilot episode, with Spielberg serving as an executive producer. It has been reported that the pilot cost $7.5 million to produce. On May 11, 2011, NBC picked the project up to series. When the network announced its 2011–12 schedule on May 15, 2011, the series was slated to premiere in mid-season. NBC opted to hold the show for mid-season in order to pair it up with the hit reality show "The Voice" on Monday nights. On August  1, 2011, it was announced by the press that the show's series premiere date would be February 6, 2012, the night after Super Bowl XLVI, with heavy promotion through early winter on many of the network's properties before the premiere. At the NBC Press Tour, Greenblatt announced that "Smash" would have 15 episodes produced for the first season to coincide with "The Voice". Crew. The series is a production of Universal Television in association with DreamWorks. Theresa Rebeck is the creator of the series, as well as the writer of the pilot episode and five of the first  season's episodes, including the season finale. The series has a large number of executive producers, including Steven Spielberg, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, David Marshall Grant, Rebeck, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman serve as the composers and executive producers. In March 2012, Rebeck stepped down as showrunner of the musical drama. On April 24, 2012, "The Hollywood Reporter" reported that "Gossip Girl" executive producer Joshua Safran would take the lead for the second season, while Rebeck would remain a writer and an executive producer. However, on May 2, 2012, Rebeck stated in an interview that  she would not be returning to the show in any capacity. Production. Many of those behind "Smash" began the series with high hopes. Rebeck was a large part of that. As one early hire later described her to "BuzzFeed": "She was this kick-ass woman showrunner who wasn't taking shit from the network. Someone who had a very clear vision who was going to stand up to the network. They were all good things in the beginning." Despite her experience writing and producing in television, Rebeck had never been a showrunner, responsible for the day-to-day operations of  a series, before. David Marshall Grant, a playwright and actor who had served in that capacity during "Brothers & Sisters"' final seasons, was hired as executive producer to help her with it. Rebeck was reportedly resentful, and worried that she was being set up to fail and Grant positioned to replace her. Very quickly she began shutting him out of key decisions. Rebeck also decided she would not run a "writers' room," i.e., a regular meeting with the entire writing staff to discuss and perfect episodes and plotlines. "[They] really are not my thing, because I can only stand being in  a room with people so many hours a day," she told "New York". "And I feel like early drafts should be speedy because everyone changes their mind, so why spend a lot of time up front parsing sentences?" Instead she would follow the example of showrunners like Matthew Weiner and Aaron Sorkin and have writers submit a first draft, which she then revised. Very quickly, the writers recalled, the show became a "dictatorship". Rebeck's opinion was the only one that mattered. She insisted on writing the second and third episodes herself, and writers said that the drop in quality  was evident during pre-air screenings. During this time Rebeck was often fighting with Spielberg, who wanted Hilty, Greenblatt, or Grant replaced. As a result of these distractions, plotlines like Julia's adoption dilemma (mirroring Rebeck's real life) began to assume unusual prominence, and along with them secondary characters like Leo and Ellis became almost main characters—the latter because Spielberg reportedly liked him. Since the writers never met as a group, they found that finished episodes often repeated the same character moments instead of advancing those characters, and that strange out-of-context moments, usually musical numbers set  away from the stage, had been inserted. They were particularly frustrated in trying to write for Julia, whom Rebeck had based on herself and consequently would not allow to have any difficulties. Later in the season, they were hoping that Greenblatt would win some of their fights. "You know it's bad when "our last hope was the network"," one told "BuzzFeed". However, many of them said the show's own problems were not entirely Rebeck's fault, since Greenblatt also intervened in things like costume design and Spielberg was not informed of the conflicts until near the end. After  she left the show, Rebeck, who, citing confidentiality requirements, did not respond to the "BuzzFeed" story at first other than to say she "was treated quite badly", spoke at some length to "The New York Observer" about "Smash": Following the show's cancellation, Kate Aurthur, the writer of the "BuzzFeed" story, reposted an email exchange she had with Rebeck. Pointing to the show's decline in ratings during its second season, Rebeck asked, "If in fact [I] was the problem with [the show], wouldn't things have gotten better—rather than dramatically worse—once [I] left?" She accused Aurthur of  relying on a single unnamed source and asked that the story, which she called "wildly untrue", be taken down. Music. NBC announced on June 9, 2011, that they had signed a deal with Columbia Records for a soundtrack of the series. The deal gives Columbia worldwide digital and physical rights to the first season, with options to subsequent seasons. The deal includes both original songs written for the series and any covers of songs featured on the show. The series soundtrack for Season 1, "The Music of Smash", was released on May 1, 2012. The album debuted on the "Billboard  200 at #9, with 40,000 copies sold in its first week. A Bombshell" cast recording, featuring original songs from the first and second season of the show, was released on February 12, 2013, selling 16,000 copies in its first week. It contains all 22 songs written for the fictional "Bombshell" musical and features lead vocals by Katharine McPhee (Karen Cartwright) and Megan Hilty (Ivy Lynn) as Marilyn Monroe. In addition to songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the show's second season featured songs by up-and-coming composers Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, and writing duo Benj Pasek and  Justin Paul. Several songs were written and performed for the series' Season 2 fictional musical, "Hit List". On October 15, 2013, it was announced that "Hit List" would be staged in concert format at 54 Below on December 9. "Smash" stars Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, and Krysta Rodriguez were scheduled to perform. Because of demand for tickets, an additional performance was scheduled for December 8. Original Broadway production. During production of the show, executive producer Craig Zadan said: "We stand on the set, watch the "Bombshell" numbers and say, "Wouldn't this be great on Broadway? And so far that 's where we've left it. Our priority now is producing a great TV show". In June 2015, following a sold-out reunion performance at the Minskoff Theatre, it was announced that "Bombshell" would head to the Broadway stage. The executive producers of "Smash" and the "Bombshell" concert, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, were set to executive produce the Broadway production. No timeline for the show has been announced. In May 2020, shortly after a virtual cast reunion during a live-streamed concert, it was announced that a musical based solely on the plot of the series was in the  works for a Broadway production. Spielberg, Greenblatt, and Meron are all attached as producers, with Bob Martin and Rick Elice penning the book to Wittman and Shaiman's score, and Bergasse returning to choreograph. Of the announcement, Spielberg stated, ""Smash" is near and dear to my heart, and it seems fitting that a new musical inspired by what we did on the show would eventually come to the stage. I'm beyond thrilled to be working with this incredible creative team and my producing partners, who began the "Smash" journey with me over 10 years ago." Critical reception. The pilot  of "Smash" received positive reviews from television critics, but the critical response was less positive as the season progressed. Review aggregator "Metacritic", which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 of reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 79 based on 32 reviews. Maureen Ryan of "The Huffington Post" called it one of the strongest new shows of the season. "The Huffington Post" writer Karen Ocamb praised the writing and the creativity of the series. Mary McNamara of the "Los Angeles Times" called the show a "triumph" and said creator Theresa Rebeck as well as her team "have managed  to capture the grand and sweeping gesture that is musical theater and inject it with the immediate intimacy of television." David Wiegand of the "San Francisco Chronicle" gave the program a rave review: "[It's so] good you can't help wondering why no one thought of it before, a compelling mix of credible real-life melodrama with a fictionalized approximation of what it takes to get a Broadway show from the idea stage to opening night." Tim Goodman from "The Hollywood Reporter" called the pilot episode "Excellent, a bar-raiser for broadcast networks", and superior to "Glee". He also  praised writing and acting for the series, comparing it to the quality of a cable television series. Matt Mitovich of TVLine called the cast "pretty damn perfect" and complimented the musical numbers. Robert Bianco of "USA Today" gave the show three and a half out of four stars and wrote, "Unless you're allergic to musicals in general and Broadway in particular, you should find that a compelling central story, a strong cast, an out-of-the-procedural-mold premise and some rousing, roof-raising numbers more than compensate for any lingering problems." Tanner Stransky of "Entertainment Weekly" ranked the  pilot episode as the 8th best television episode of 2012, saying, "After we watched the subsequent 14 episodes of "Smash" with a mixture of fascination and dismay (seriously, did Debra Messing's Julia wear a men's pajama top to meet her lover?), it was difficult to recall that the pilot was positively magical. But it was. In fact, that episode-ending performance of 'Let Me Be Your Star' (featuring dueling divas Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee) was among TV's most watchable and gleeful three minutes of the year. Rare is the series whose high-water mark is its  pilot, and "Smash" is a shining example." Chris Harnick of "The Huffington Post" wrote, "How has the rest of Season 1 been so far? Not so phenomenal. That's not to say it has been downright terrible—there have been some highly entertaining moments—but it certainly hasn't been goosebumps-inducing, like the final moments of Episode 1, set to 'Let Me Be Your Star.'" Kevin Fallon summed up the response in "The Atlantic", writing that "there's been an almost visceral reaction to how rapidly and sharply the show's quality has dipped, and just how much promise  Smash has thwarted...In other words: It's "bad."" Fallon cites other critics in demonstrating the general acceptance of this opinion. Awards and nominations. "Smash" received a number of awards and nominations. In 2012, it was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for Choreography. Pre-release. In June 2011, "Smash" was one of eight honorees in the "Most Exciting New Series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots. Due to the already positive buzz surrounding the show, NBC offered early viewings of the pilot on different platforms. From January  15 through January 30, 2012, it was screened on selected flights of American Airlines. From January 16 through February 6, 2012, the full pilot was offered for free on iTunes, Amazon Video, Xbox, and Zune. Ratings. The ratings for the Season 1 premiere were strong but ratings steadily dropped as the series progressed. The pilot episode was watched by 11.44 million viewers and had an 18–49 rating of 3.8/10. It was also the third-highest-rated new drama debut of the 2011–2012 television season (behind "Once Upon a Time" and "Touch") and "delivered the biggest 10 p.m. rating of any  drama in this television season", according to "Entertainment Weekly". The program also had the highest 18–49 rating and viewership for an NBC series in the time slot since November 2008, but ratings declined in subsequent episodes. The fourth episode, aired on February 27, was seen by 6.6 million viewers and received a 2.3/6 rating in the 18–49 age group. However, the show's fifth episode, aired on March 5, saw a 17% increase in ratings. It had an 18–49 rating of 2.7/7 and was seen by 7.76 million viewers. But ratings for the show decreased in later episodes, with the  eighth episode dropping to an 18–49 rating of 2.1/5 and viewership going down to 6.4 million viewers. Nonetheless, it became NBC's #1 drama in adults 18–49 and total viewers. The series was also up 160 percent in adults 18–49 versus NBC's season average in the time period prior to "Smash" (with a 2.6 rating vs. a 1.0, "live plus same day") and in total viewers, "Smash" has improved the time period by 100 percent (7.7 million vs. 3.9 million). For Season 2, "Smash" was scheduled for Tuesdays at 10 at mid-season starting February 5, behind the low -rated "The New Normal" and several weeks before the new season of "The Voice" premiered, and the ratings cratered, with the February 5, 2013 2-hour 2-episode season premiere getting a 1.2 rating in the 18–49 demo. The ratings slid further to 0.9 for the 3rd episode and stayed around that number through the sixth episode, when NBC announced it was moving "Smash" to Saturdays as of April 6, 2013 and changing up its Tuesday lineup to put its dating reality show "Ready for Love" behind "The Voice". Syndication. Ovation has picked up off-network rights to "Smash". The  first season debuted on July 19, 2013. Season 2 episodes, scheduled to begin airing in November 2013, were pushed back to January 2014. DVD releases. The first season of "Smash" was released under the title "Smash: Season One" as a widescreen four-disc DVD box set on October 29, 2012, formatted for Region 2. The DVD formatted for Region 1 was released on January 8, 2013. Distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, the set features every episode and includes several DVD extras including behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as extended and deleted scenes and a  blooper reel. Also included is an UltraViolet copy of each episode. The Target exclusive edition of the Season 1 set includes a fifth disc that includes the full-length music video for "Touch Me" performed by Katharine McPhee, as well as twenty minutes of additional interviews with Jack Davenport (Derek Wills) and Megan Hilty (Ivy Lynn). Season 2 was released on DVD on August 6, 2013.