TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Previews”

By CARL CORTEZ 05/08/2012
Katharine McPhee in SMASH - Season 1 - "Previews" | ©2012 NBC/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writer: David Marshall Grant Director: Robert Duncan McNeill Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: May 8, 2012 As SMASH nears next week’s Season 1 finale, one can’t help but scratch their head at how a once promising show sunk so low, so fast. While I still admit to being fascinated by a handful of characters and the backstage antics pertaining to the Broadway music itself, it’s the misguided decisions where the writers have forced their generally well-written characters to partake in that just strips the show of […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Publicity”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 04/24/2012
Katherine McPhee stars in SMASH Publicity on NBC | © 2012/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Theresa Rebeck Director: Michael Mayer Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: April 23, 2012 You can’t help wondering, sometimes, if SMASH creator Theresa Rebeck, who is also a playwright, has had more than one run-in with a movie actor. In “Publicity,” an episode she wrote, she’s got more fun and games going with Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman), the movie actress brought in to play Marilyn in order to attract investors and an audience. But once again, the story line moves away from the show and more into the […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “The Movie Star”

By CARL CORTEZ 04/17/2012
Uma Thurman in SMASH - Season 1 - "The Movie Star" | ©2012 NBC/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Julie Rottenberg & Elisa Zuritsky Director: Tricia Brock Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: April 17, 2012 SMASH course-corrects and gets a little bit on track with “The Movie Star” which brings Uma Thurman in as pampered Hollywood star Rebecca Duvall. There’s still tons of soapy irritants, but the ingredients that keep the show interesting is when the series focuses on putting on a show. The struggle this episode concerns Duvall, who proves to be flighty, unreliable, bossy and not a very good singer. In fact, […]Read On »


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Exclusive Interview: Gentlemen prefer SMASH star Megan Hilty

By CARL CORTEZ 04/16/2012
Megan Hilty in SMASH - Season 1 | ©2012 NBC/Patrick Randak

While Megan Hilty is best known for her Broadway turns in 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL and WICKED, moving to TV was much easier than expected when she landed the role of Ivy Lynn on NBC’s new hit series SMASH. It’s set in the world of Broadway, with Ivy being a long-time chorus girl on Broadway who is given the chance to workshop the role of Marilyn Monroe on the series’ fictitious play BOMBSHELL. Of course things don’t go as planned, with unexpected rivalry with newbie Karen (Katharine McPhee) and now, with a movie star (Uma Thurman) coming in to […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Understudy”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 04/10/2012
Uma Thurman in SMASH - Season 1 - "Understudy" | ©2012 NBC/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Jason Grote Director: Mimi Leder Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: April 9, 2012 Sometimes you just wish you could holler at the writers of SMASH “the play’s the thing.” This episode, “Understudy,” gets it, well, almost. We’ve still got lyricist Julia (Debra Messing) still dealing with her husband leaving her, which is sad and all, but we’re not seeing its affect on the show. Dev (Raza Jaffrey) is having a really, really bad day, being passed up for a much-wanted promotion to a scumbucket – but again, just […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Hell On Earth”

By CARL CORTEZ 04/04/2012
Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty in SMASH - Season 1 - "Hell On Earth" | ©2012 NBC/Craig Blankenhorn

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Anjelica Houston Writers: Scott Burkhardt Director: Paul McGuigan Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: April 4, 2012 After the nosedive SMASH took last week, the only place to go was up which is what “Hell on Earth” does, but only marginally. It’s another wading water episode until we get some movie star power with Uma Thurman next week. The big news this week is watching Ivy (Megan Hilty) go on a downward spiral into self-pity and heavy medication (shades of Marilyn?). It’s already been established she has adverse reaction […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “The Workshop”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 03/21/2012
Bernadette Peters in SMASH - Season 1 - "The Workshop" | ©2012 NBC/Eric Liebowitz

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Jason Grote Director: Mimi Leder Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: March 19, 2012 I have written repeatedly that it’s the singing and dancing that makes SMASH so fun to watch, and while “The Workshop” proves my point quite neatly, I think I am going to have to revise my thesis a little. When the show becomes about who is sleeping with whom and the petty in-fighting, well, then it loses what makes it special and unique – it becomes just like any other mildly soapy series […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Chemistry”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 03/13/2012
Katharine McPhee in SMASH - Season 1 - "Chemistry" | ©2012 NBC/Patrick Harbron

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Jacquelyn Reingold Director: Dan Attias Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: March 12, 2012 Oh, for crying out loud! If there was ever a storyline that would make me want to dump SMASH, the affair between lyricist/book writer Julia (Debra Messing) and actor Michael (Will Chase), now heating up in “Chemistry,” would make me do it. Because there isn’t any chemistry between Messing and Chase. Because it’s just too tiresome that the one married character has to have an affair. Because it’s just too creepy the […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “Let’s Be Bad”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 03/07/2012
Megan Hilty in SMASH - Season 1 - "Let's Be Bad" | ©2012 NBC/Will Hart

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: Julie Rotenberg & Elisa Zuritsky Director: Jamie Babbit Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: March 5, 2012 “Let’s Be Bad,” as an episode, is all over the place, but on the plus side, the SMASH writers have backed off on a couple cliches. They went hog wild on the others, though, including a final scene you could see coming from the back balcony far corner with restricted sight lines in that sound dead corner of the auditorium. We start out with Julia (Debra Messing) still behind on pages […]Read On »


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TV Review: SMASH – Season 1 – “The Cost of Art”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON 02/29/2012
Katharine McPhee as Karen Cartwright in SMASH - Season 1 - "The Cost of Art" | ©2012 NBC/Patrick Harbron

Stars: Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Angelica Houston Writers: David Marshall Grant Director: Michael Morris Network: NBC, airs Mondays Original Telecast: February 27, 2012 There is no getting around it that SMASH is a fun show to watch. The singing and dancing are wonderful fun. The original songs don’t suffer too much from Andrew Lloyd Webber syndrome (beating you over the head with soulful sappiness and the tendency to become insidious ear worms). In fact, the  featured production number in this episode “The Cost of Art,” I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl, […]Read On »


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