Smash

Marilyn Monroe

Smash is a new NBC American musical original show produced by Steven Spielberg which is following the creation of the new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. It focuses on the behind the scene work of the creation including the audition, script writing processes and the family and home life of the characters involved.

Smash premiered February 6th and is currently on it's 4th episode (I have seen 2 so far and plan on getting through the rest during this break!) and IMDb suggests that there are 11 more set to be released (15 in total for the season).  It has stars from both the big screen such as Debra Messing (Will and Grace, The Wedding Date) and stars from Broadway such as Megan Hilty (known for Glinda in Wicked).  Katherine McPhee is also a lead in this show, playing the newcomer to Broadway. (McPhee broke into show business from being the runner up on American Idol).

Smash is shown Monday nights at 10pm Eastern time, right after NBC's hit show The Voice.  This may or may not be a good thing.  It shows right after The Voice, hoping to retain at least half of  The Voice's audience.  Smart idea considering that the audience that watches The Voice has overlap with Smash.  Smash  has also been heavily advertised and promoted but according to The Chicago Tribune, Smash is failing and The Voice is climbing.

My grandma (who shares my love of theatre) called me up the day after she watched it (surprising because it's on so late) gushing about how amazing Smash was and how I needed to check it out.  While watching, I was incredibly impressed by the vocal skills and I absolutely love the leading ladies and how the show is trying to bring in a touch of Broadway and call attention to the behind the scenes attributes.  However, it is such a slow start and seems to be missing something with the plot.  I can't exactly put my finger on it but the show seems to be just okay.  Disappointing because of the huge promotion and huge names involved in the making of Smash.  I am however, going to stick with it at least a few more episodes before I consider it a complete loss.

Watch Smash here or Monday nights at 10pm Eastern time (I sadly have to Hulu everything with my schedule).

What do you think of Smash?