Jump to content

Smash (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kinetique (talk | contribs) at 13:14, 19 March 2012 (→‎International distribution). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Smash
GenreMusical
Drama
Created byTheresa Rebeck
Garson Kanin (novel)
Developed byRobert Greenblatt (uncredited)
Written byTheresa Rebeck
David Marshall Grant
Rolin Jones
Julie Rottenberg
Elisa Zuritsky
Jacquelyn Reingold
Jerome Hairston
Scott Burkhardt
Jason Grote
Lakshmi Sundaram
StarringDebra Messing
Jack Davenport
Katharine McPhee
Christian Borle
Megan Hilty
Raza Jaffrey
Brian d'Arcy James
Jaime Cepero
Anjelica Huston
ComposersMarc Shaiman
Scott Wittman
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersCraig Zadan
Neil Meron
Darryl Frank
Justin Falvey
Marc Shaiman
Scott Wittman
Steven Spielberg
Theresa Rebeck
David Marshall Grant
ProducerJim Chory
Production locationBrooklyn, New York
CinematographyShelly Johnson (pilot)
M. David Mullen
EditorsAndy Weisblum (pilot)
Bill Henry
Camilla Toniolo
Allyson Johnson
Running time44 minutes
Production companiesMadwoman in the Attic, Inc.
DreamWorks Television
Universal Television
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseFebruary 6, 2012 (2012-02-06) –
present

Smash is an American musical drama series created by Theresa Rebeck and produced by Steven Spielberg. The show revolves around the creation of a new Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

The series is broadcast in the United States on NBC, and is a production of DreamWorks Television. It premiered on February 6, 2012.[1][2][3]

Synopsis

Main article: List of Smash episodes

The show revolves around the creation of a new Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. As the production takes shape, everyone involved in it must balance their often chaotic personal lives with the all-consuming demands of a life in the theatre. The series features original music by composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Cast and characters

  • Debra Messing as Julia Houston,[4] a songwriter/lyricist and the musical's co-writer. She is married with a son, but is having an affair with Michael.
  • Jack Davenport as Derek Wills,[4] the brilliant (and womanizing) director of the musical, who is hoping for a breakout with the musical even if it means putting the lead in a compromising position. He is sleeping with Ivy.
  • Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright,[4] an Iowan who lands a successful audition and becomes the favorite for the role of Monroe, though eventually she is put in the chorus.
  • Christian Borle as Tom Levitt,[4] Julia's co-writing partner on the project.
  • Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn,[4] a veteran actress who was favored to land the Monroe lead until Karen came into the picture, and finds herself competing with the newcomer. She eventually receives the role of Marilyn and is in a romantic relationship with Derek.
  • Raza Jaffrey as Dev Sundaram,[4] Karen's live-in boyfriend, who works at the Mayor's office.
  • Brian d'Arcy James as Frank Houston,[4] Julia's husband, who dislikes theater and whenever Julia works on something new with Tom. He is a teacher.
  • Jaime Cepero as Ellis Tancharoen,[4][5] Tom's personal assistant who is attempting to receive credit for Marilyn. Julia dislikes him greatly.
  • Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand,[4] the musical's tenacious producer, who is dealing with divorce proceedings from her husband, which could threaten the musical.

Recurring

  • Ann Harada as Linda, the stage manager of the musical.[6]
  • Becky Ann Baker as Karen's mother.
  • Bernadette Peters as Leigh Conroy, Ivy's overbearing mother and a legendary Broadway star herself.
  • Dylan Baker as Roger Cartwright, Karen's father.
  • Grace Gummer as Katie Rand, the daughter of Eileen and Jerry.[7]
  • Maddie Corman as Rene Walters, a woman who works at an adoption agency working with the Houstons to adopt a baby from China.
  • Michael Cristofer as Jerry, Eileen's soon-to-be ex-husband and former producing partner. A running gag on the show involves Eileen throwing drinks in Jerry's face.
  • Nick Jonas as Lyle West, a hot sitcom star who started his career as a child actor on Broadway
  • Thorsten Kaye as Nick, a bartender who flirts with Eileen.[8]
  • Uma Thurman in an upcoming five-episode arc as Rebecca Duvall,[9] a big movie star who wants to star in Marilyn.[10]
  • Wesley Taylor as Bobby, an ensemble member who is not afraid to say what is on his mind.[11]
  • Will Chase as Michael Swift, a musical theatre star and Julia's old flame,[12] cast in Marilyn in the role of Joe DiMaggio.[13]
  • Eisa Davis as Abigial, Eileen's lawyer in the divorce proceedings.
  • Emory Cohen as Leo Houston, the son of Julia and Frank.
  • Finnerty Steeves as Moira, a woman working on Marilyn.
  • Jennifer Ikeda as Lianne, a waitress who works at the same restaurant where Karen works.
  • Joshua Bergasse as Josh, the assistant choreographer of Marilyn.
  • Leslie Odom, Jr. as Sam Strickland, an ensemble member, a good friend of Ivy who is gay but very into sports.
  • Neal Bledsoe as John Goodwin, a lawyer who got Julia's son, Leo out of jail.
  • Phillip Spaeth as Dennis, an ensemble member and Ivy's friend.
  • Savannah Wise as Jessica, a dancer who befriends Karen.[14]
  • Scott Burkhardt as Scott, Eileen's first assistant.

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.[15] The original concept was that each season would follow the production of a new musical; if any of them were "stage-worthy", Spielberg would make them into actual Broadway musicals.[16] The series was mainly inspired by The West Wing and Upstairs, Downstairs.[16] Greenblatt then brought the project with him to NBC when he was made NBC Entertainment president in January 2011. Theresa Rebeck wrote the pilot script and is series creator.[16] Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron suggested Rebeck for the series to Spielberg and Greenblatt.[16] NBC ordered production of a pilot in January 2011 for the 2011-12 television season.[17]

Michael Mayer directed the pilot episode, with Spielberg serving as an executive producer.[3] It has been reported that the pilot cost $7.5 million to produce.[16][18] 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.[3] 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.[19] On August 1, 2011, it was announced that 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.[20][21] At the NBC Press Tour, it was announced that Smash would have 15 episodes produced for the first season to coincide with The Voice.[22]

Crew

The series is a production of Universal Television in association with DreamWorks.[3] Theresa Rebeck is the creator of the series and she also wrote the pilot episode.[3] The series has a large number of executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Rebeck, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.[3] Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman serve as the composers and executive producers.[3]

Music

Main article: List of songs in Smash

It was announced on June 9, 2011, that NBC had signed a deal with Columbia Records for a soundtrack of the series. The deal gives Columbia world-wide, 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.[23]

Critical reception

Smash has received positive reviews from television critics. 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.[24] Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post called it one of the strongest new shows of the season.[25] Another Huffington Post writer Karen Ocamb praised the writing and the creativity of the series.[26] Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times called the show a "triumph" and also went on to say that the 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."[27] David Wiegand of The San Francisco Chronicle, gave the program a rave review and said that, "[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."[28] Tim Goodman from The Hollywood Reporter called the pilot episode "Excellent, a bar-raiser for broadcast networks" and called it superior to Glee.[29] He also praised writing and acting for the series, comparing it to the quality of a cable television series.[29] Matt Mitovich of TVLine called the cast "pretty damn perfect" and complimented the musical numbers.[30] 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."[31]

Ratings

The pilot episode was watched by 11.44 million viewers and had an 18-49 rating of 3.8/10.[32][33] It was also the third-highest rated new drama debut of the 2011-2012 television season (behind Once Upon a Time and Touch)[34] and delivered the biggest 10 p.m. rating of any drama in this television season.[35] The program also had the highest 18-49 rating and viewership for an NBC series in the time slot since November 2008,[36] but ratings have 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.[37] 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.[38]

Pre-release

In June 2011, Smash was one of eight honorees in the "Most Exciting New Series" category at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots.[39] 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 select flights of American Airlines. From January 16 through February 6, 2012, the full pilot was offered for free on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Xbox, Zune, PlayStation, Samsung MediaHub, and Vudu. On those same days, it was also offered through video on demand services such as Comcast's Xfinity. From January 23 to February 6, 2012, it was also streamed online at NBC.com and Hulu.[40]

International distribution

Country Channel Premiere date
India Diva Universal March 19, 2012
Singapore Diva Universal March 19, 2012
Australia W Channel February 21, 2012
Canada CTV February 6, 2012 [41]
France TF1 Early 2012
Iceland Stöð 2 March 5, 2012
Italy Mya February 19, 2012
Israel HOT3 February 23, 2012
Latin America Universal Channel March 28, 2012
The Netherlands RTL 5 April 2012
Philippines 2nd Avenue (RJTV) February 9, 2012 [42]
Portugal TV Séries February 15, 2012
South Korea FOX Channel Korea Mar, 2012
Sweden TV3 February 27, 2012[43]
United Kingdom Sky Atlantic TBA April 2012 [44]
Hungary m1 (TV channel) March 21, 2012

References

  1. ^ Seidman, Robert (August 1, 2011). "It's Official: NBC Premieres Second Season of 'The Voice' After Super Bowl; 'Smash' Premieres Next Day". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  2. ^ Morabito, Andrea (May 11, 2011). "NBC Orders Pilots 'Smash,' 'Whitney,' More". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved June 10, 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Andreeva, Nellie (May 15, 2011). "NBC Unveils 2011-2012 Primetime Schedule". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i SMASH BIOGRAPHIES
  5. ^ Dagger, Peter (April 26, 2011). "Exclusive interview with NBC's Jaime Cepero [getting smashed]". The Callboard. BroadwayBrands. Retrieved January 15, 2011.
  6. ^ Jones, Kenneth (February 27, 2012). "THE SMASH REPORT: Episode 4, Or, What a Swell Party This Is". Playbill.com. Playbill, Inc. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  7. ^ "Grace Gummer to Play Anjelica Huston's Daughter on TV's Smash". Broadway.com. Broadway.com. November 17,2011. Retrieved February 1, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.soapoperanetwork.com/news/2012/02/03/Latest on "Smash" Role for former "All My Children" Actor/
  9. ^ "'Smash' Stars Megan Hilty And Katharine McPhee Talk Uma Thurman, Future Musical Numbers And More". The Huffington Post. February 27, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  10. ^ "Golden Globe-Winning and Oscar-Nominated Film Star Uma Thurman to Guest-Star in Five-Episode Arc in NBC's New Musical Drama "Smash"". The Futon Critic. NBC. December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  11. ^ Gans, Andrew (December 2, 2011). "Addams Family Star Wesley Taylor Will Have Recurring Role on NBC's "Smash"". Playbill.com. Playbill, Inc. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  12. ^ Debra Messing Bio on NBC
  13. ^ Stack, Tim (January 27, 2012). "Smash". Entertainment Weekly (1191): 48–49.
  14. ^ http://www.broadway.com/buzz/157924/savannah-wise-and-wesley-taylor-join-the-cast-of-nbcs-smash/
  15. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (September 22, 2009). "Showtime, Spielberg team on series". Variety. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  16. ^ a b c d e Green, Jesse (January 2, 2012). "Will 'Smash' on NBC Be a Success? - New York Magazine". New York. Retrieved January 16, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (January 21, 2011). "NBC Orders Steven Spielberg Musical Pilot". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  18. ^ Masters, Kim; Guthries, Marisa (May 20, 2011). "Heard Inside the Upfront Parties and Presentations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  19. ^ Carter, Bill; Stelter, Brian (May 16, 2011). "For Fox and NBC, Let the Singing Begin". The New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  20. ^ "Smash" Drama Series Will Launch in February 2012 With Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing
  21. ^ NBC announces 'The Voice' return date
  22. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (August 1, 2011). "Press tour: NBC boss on 'Community,' 'Parks and Recreation,' 'Chuck' and more". HitFix. HitFix.com. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  23. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 9, 2011). "Columbia Records Teams With NBC For 'Smash' Music Albums, Inks Solo Recording Deal With Co-Star Katharine McPhee". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  24. ^ "Smash - Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  25. ^ "'Smash' Exclusive First Look: Is This the Show That Will Save NBC?". The Huffington Post. November 21, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2012. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Text "last-Ryan" ignored (help)
  26. ^ Ocamb, Karen (January 17, 2012). "Karen Ocamb: NBC's Smash Is a Musical About Creativity and the Drama of Big Dreams". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ McNamara, Mary (February 6, 2012). "Television review: 'Smash' on NBC NBC's new series featuring Debra Messing and 'American Idol' runner-up Katharine McPhee lovingly examines Broadway's travails and triumphs". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  28. ^ 'Smash' review: NBC series lives up to title
  29. ^ a b Goodman, Tim (February 2, 2012). "Smash: TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  30. ^ Mitovich, Matt (December 29, 2011). "Winter TV First Impression: Does NBC's Smash Hit All the Right Notes?". TVLine. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  31. ^ 'Smash' pulls out all the entertainment stops and succeeds
  32. ^ TV Ratings Monday: NBC Has a Big Voice the Day After Super Bowl; CBS Down, Not Out; 'Castle' Sees Lows; Big Drops for 'House,' 'Alcatraz'
  33. ^ Monday Final Ratings: 'The Voice,' 'Alcatraz,' 'House,' 'Two and a Half Men' Adjusted Up
  34. ^ TV Ratings: 'Smash' Sings for NBC, 'The Voice' Stays Strong After Super Bowl
  35. ^ 'Smash' starts solid; 'Voice' tops Monday ratings
  36. ^ "Smash" Ratings Are Solid; Musical TV Series Off to a Promising Start
  37. ^ Monday Final Ratings: '2 Broke Girls' Adjusted Up; 'Smash,' 'Castle' Adjusted Down + 'Daytona 500' Final Ratings
  38. ^ Bibel, Sara (March 6, 2012). "Monday Final Ratings: 'The Voice' Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Zap2It. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  39. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 9, 2011). "Critics' Choice Awards Honors 8 New Shows". Deadline.com. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  40. ^ "NBC LAUNCHES COMPREHENSIVE PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN TO PROVIDE POSITIVE SAMPLING PRIOR TO DEBUT OF 'SMASH'". NBCUniversal, Inc. NBC Entertainment Publicity. January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  41. ^ "SMASH to Premiere in on Canada's CTV on February 6". Broadwayworld.com. 2011-12-21. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  42. ^ "Smash Trailer on 2nd Avenue". 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  43. ^ "Smash TV 3". Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  44. ^ "Sky Atlantic to air hotly anticipated US show 'Smash'". SkyAtlantic.com. 2011-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Smash_(TV_series)&oldid=482718517"