NBC's SMASH, Season 2 -- Discussion- Page 99

[beensince1987]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 9:34pm

For your trained ears (whoever are trained musically), songs from Hit List sound like auto-tuned?
I studied singing (not any instruments) and to my ears they sound like SO auto-tuned. And that's why I often fast-forward them.
Bombshell songs....not so much...

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 9:48pm

Phyliss - Thanks for the info you and others have provided but even still not much of acting resume before SMASH. Like I said, they did not cast her for her acting talent and IMO her ability as a actress is not "killing" the show.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 9:52pm

I just want to add for a show that supposedly is so "terrible" it sure gets a lot of interest here. This thread is aleady 98 pages and believe Season 1 was close to 100. Obviously this is a Broadway site but even that should not make this thread so long with responses if it is so awful. Cmon people, admit that SMASH is your guilty pleasure and that you are going to miss it when it is gone - lol

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 9:57pm

I'm hate-watching at this point.

By the way, your pretentious explanation of a singer's voice being sharp or flat combined with your defense of Katharine McPhee, whose voice along her break is so nasal that half the time she goes flat, shows how little you truly know about musical theory.

Yes! That's it! That's what bothers me about her voice! Thank you for articulating it. :)

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 10:33pm

>>In re autotuning; it is not allowed on American Idol. I can attest to the number of pitchy performances I have endured on that show.

Absolutely. McPhee CAN sing in tune, as we all saw on Idol.

IMHO she's gotten bad advice from her team. They wanted her on a show with singing, but didn't want her to seem "too Broadway". So they over-produce her to sound "pop" when she would otherwise be just fine.

Bet your bottom dollar that she has some representative sitting in on all the recording and mixing sessions. They are doing her a disservice. Isn't her husband also her manager?

I found her to be a derivative singer on Idol, and the same applies here (just listen to her "Beautiful"), but the well-intentioned people behind her seem to be hurting her by insisting on a pop sound.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 11:07pm

"For all I know, these so-called critics could just be some hungover, bathrobe wearing drones plunking the keyboard of their laptops in their grandmosthers' basements."

So you don't know very much, then.

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 5/1/13 at 11:14pm

^^^^^^

....and for all you know, the posters here could be any number of recognizable Broadway pros who post here on a regular basis.

Some do it under their real names, but most prefer to be anonymous. Doesn't mean they're not credible.

It's usually pretty easy to tell who's credible and who's just blowing smoke. Not brain surgery if you know how to read between the lines.

[Talulah]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 1:28am

I didn't realize this thread consists exclusively of Hilty fans. I think it would be more aptly titled The We Hate Katharine McPhee thread. I will quietly back out the same way I came in.

I would thank you for your gracious welcome but you would surely know it was expressed with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Pardon my dust.

[elphaba.scares.me]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:02am

Byeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Lol.

[Patronus]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 6:04am

So, no more details on your musical training?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 6:11am

I just want to know how and why Tallulah joined this board....JUST to disucss Smash???? I'm sure there are gads of discussion boards all over the place JUST for that, or at least just for tv shows.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 6:32am

Guess she just couldn't resist our snobbery...

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:34am

Talulah - This thread does not contain all "I Hate McPhee" fans. I think she has a good voice but is better suited for "Pop" than for something like "Bombshell" which is right up Hilty's alley. I will also say the songs for "Hit List" that McPhee gets to sing are not even close to the quality of songs from "Bombshell". McPhee is not a great actress but show's writers have not helped her either.

As for this board, there are some people with strong opinions and if you want to discuss things you need to be prepared for that on this site. Some will say they are in the "business" and that may or may not be true, do we really know for sure. Anyway, you are entitled to your opinion and there is no right or wrong, it is opinion. Even a recent show that got universal praise from the critics like "Matilda" got "trashed" on this site by quite a few people. Once again, it is their opinion but just shows you that even things most people think are good, others will "hate".

[Patash]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 8:07am

Maybe it's the ghost of my mother in me, but I just want to grab McPhee by the shoulders, put my foot firmly in her back and pull her shoulders back and say "straighten up, girl".

[jupiter63]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 9:34pm

So my sister has always been a Broadway junkie. She's in a theater program now so it's gotten rather OTT. I am more of a casual fan. We went to the NY Pops performance the other night and she had an interesting opinion on Megan Hilty. I was being a little gushy about her (it was my first time seeing her perform 'Diamonds' in person and she was awesome and ridic charismatic on stage) and she said that the others were the Broadway stars, Megan was only there to add some TV glamour. She acknowledges how talented she is but the comment still caught me off guard. So is she just being a jerk or is there any credence to that thought among the Broadway peeps?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 9:35pm

She's being a jerk.

[jupiter63]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 9:52pm

Score. Thanks! I told her that but I wanted something backing me if it was going to turn into a debate (which it will at some point- yay sisters).

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/2/13 at 10:12pm

Tell your sister the smart people at BWW tell her to SUCK IT!

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 1:45am

In defense of Katherine McPhee, her writing has been singularly wretched in both seasons of Smash. "I love church!" and "I'm in tech," are never going to be easy lines to sell. Her music in Hit List has also not been very good, and she's suffered from the inevitable comparisons to Hilty on the Bombshell material. She's a beautiful, talented performer, but I think her involvement with Smash was a disservice to her, largely due to showrunner(s) that couldn't recognize or capitalize on her unique talents. In that way, she's had almost the exact opposite trajectory as Megan Hilty over the last two seasons. I hope she finds a worthy vehicle in the near future.

Also, being flat or sharp is not a matter of "opinion". I mean, honestly, just what in the f***.

[jupiter63]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 2:51am

Honestly I think McPhee's biggest issue is that she was cast to be compared to and to constantly best Hilty. I don't think McPhee is good at all and she has no presence but she's not in a league of her own on TV. There are PLENTY of bad and flat actors who work regularly on TV. At least McPhee has her looks going for her. Even on Smash, Anjelica Huston's performances are regularly laughable. It's her presence that saves her. Debra Messing is awful on this show. Jeremy Jordan and Krysta Rodriguez are only touching okay levels.

So it's not that McPhee is just the only bad seed on an otherwise good show. It's that she was written to be measured up against Hilty in so many ways that I compare their every move now. Hilty is not always the greatest actress (she's uneven) but she's a lot better than McPhee. It's not that her voice is so much better, it's that her vocal skill is. She can't dance better than McPhee can but I would argue she's more fun to watch. But McPhee's biggest issue is that Hilty has a charm and charimsa on screen that McPhee can't touch. Hilty is a more commanding and enjoyable presence and in contrast, McPhee seems like a blank wall. If McPhee had just been cast as another actress on the show I don't think the negativity would be as strong. It isn't against the other weak actors. But because she's up against Hilty all the time and she's so bad in that comparison, she gets the brunt of the outcry.

[Idiot]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 3:29am

Of the things that bug me about the show, McPhee is not one of them. I think she's a fine choice for a television show set on today's Broadway, and she's fine in the role. Is she Hilty? Of course not -- narratively, she's not supposed to be. I really don't see the criticisms that so many are dishing out.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 5:25am

I don't mind her singing, but I have desire to listen to a cd of hers. But her acting is A-trocious. To be specific, she is unable to deliver any line with any feeling or subtext whatsoever. Her face never changes--no joy, no anger, no confusion, no thought -- just "dead". My HS actors picked up on that right at the begining of season one (where the writing was slightly better). They are just words, she just says them.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 2:33pm

Yeah, I don't think her writing is particularly worse than anyone else's. Look at what poor Julia has to slog through. It's that the majority of the other actors on the show are good enough that they can detract from the writing, whereas McPhee, like everyone has said, is just an expressionless void.

[Ham3]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 3:30pm

Here's a study that tends to confirm what the Times article said that so upset Eileen:

http://auditioningforcollege.wordpress.com/musical-theatre/the-truth-about-poprock-musicals/

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/3/13 at 3:33pm

Jupiter63 = Very good post at McPhee and SMASH. Yep, the only one I think has done a really good acting job is Davenport.