Is Smash really that bad?

[Theatre dweeb]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:12pm

I finally finished watching smash and I personally loved it. While some of the ransoms breaking out into song was awkward and the first season was only ok, I thought it was good and shouldn't have been cancelled. *SPOILER ALERT* I also thought Kyle's death in season 2 was the saddest tv death in a while, so why was that so hated too? *END OF SPOILER ALERT* Was it really that bad?

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:16pm

Season 1 is life
Season 2, sorta lame/overdramatic and drawn out

 

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:27pm

did you catch the name check to smash on SNL?  

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:33pm

It was worse than that bad. It might be the worst TV show I've ever seen (though I don't really watch all that much TV)

[Kad]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:36pm

It was so bad that people were only hate watching it. It pretty much set the bar for hate-watching.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:37pm

It was bad, but damn did it try.

 

It's certainly not the worst TV show I've ever seen though, bad as it was. At least it made an attempt to bring something relatively original and unique to network TV, a place known for its boring homogeny.

[c0113g3b0y]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 11:58pm

not as horrendous as Glee post S2.5, but bad enough

[brdway411]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 12:03am

Was so glad it only lasted 2 seasons. I live around the corner from NYTW. The constant filming in the area and production vehicles parked out side our apt was annoying. Doors on trailers slamming all night/early morning, smells from the craft service trucks invading our apt. Could not get to my bodega, or bank easily while they were filming. 

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 2:03am

Season one wasn't awful but the second season was borderline absurdism. I did a rewatch recently since it's all on Amazon Prime and it's kind of hilarious but for all the wrong reasons.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 2:24am

people still watched at the first episode aired?

[Showface]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 6:31am

Yeah, so a lot of people hated it

But I was faithful to it from the beginning! Was it flawed? Yes.

But I appreciate what Smash did, which was bring Broadway to my TV screen every week. I loved the plot of Season 1, but I must admit the saving grace of season 2 was 

****SPOILERS****

When Ivy got cast and won a Tony and had a happy ending (while Karen got nothing but a convict boyfriend)

[mamaleh]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 7:10am

Vernon, I got a chuckle out of that mini-Kate McKinnon in the iconic Marilyn dress "Ivy" wore in SMASH -- and was that Cecily Strong as the McPhee persona?--as the in-the-corner ad in that 30 ROCK throwback bit on SNL. Very clever.

Updated On: 10/20/15 at 07:10 AM

[MVintheheartland]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 9:04am

I hate-watched season 1. I really can't stand Katherine McPhee, the fact that it turned into her showcase really turned me off. But at least there were some hilarious soapy plots.

Season 2 was just bad. Watched 2 episodes, couldn't go on after that.

[newintown]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:02am

It had absolutely nothing to do with how commercial theatre actually works, which wouldn't really be much of a problem if it were imaginative instead of just a dusty sequined grab bag of ancient entertainment clichés.

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:11am

MVintheheartland said: "I really can't stand Katherine McPhee, the fact that it turned into her showcase really turned me off. "

 

Wasn't she positioned as the lead before it even aired? Not really a surprise.

 

[JRybka]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:36am

I think one of the major issues was that Katherine McPhee was supposed to be the lead but Megan Hilty was so amazingly good in it that she got the sympathy and people liked her more. 

 

I would not say that it is HATE watching in my case. I own the two seasons and do love the music (some of the best in a while) and thought that the theater people did a good job.  It wasn't as bad as people say it was. It was like watching Valley of the Dolls in the sense that it was campy but still entertaining. (At least that is my opinion)

I always wish they had done it more like a soap to begin with and then it would have been more successful probably. 

[serene_embers]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 10:55am

I think that the show started off with the best of intentions but a lot of behind the scenes drama just ruined it when all was said and done.

I did think that the music did a good job at showcasing some of the talent they had on the show. I think Megan Hilty and Jeremy Jordan got a good amount of time to show what they could do with their vocals. But others who deserved more (or at least I think did) didn't get as much. Leslie Odom Jr, Andy Mientus, and Brian d'Arcy James should have been given more.

I still enjoy the music. The Bombshell concert and the Hit List reading are things I still listen to regularly.