NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread- Page 14

[HBP]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:19pm

Wow, I'm genuinely surprised by everyone's reactions. I really enjoyed tonight's episode! They are setting up a lot of different plot points that could turn out to be pretty interesting. I think everyone's really acting their parts. On a related note, I didn't notice the cast change for Debra Messing's son, but he was the only weak link in this episode.

I'm excited to watch the show. I hope it maintains a decent viewership and lasts at least through the season.

Updated On: 2/13/12 at 11:19 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:19pm

I was mixed on the episode overall, but I think the music is fantastic. Also, Debra. Messing. I thought she was incredible. And I LOVED Ivy's last song.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:23pm

Hello you long shots
You dark horse runners
Hairbrush singers, dashboard drummers
Hello you wild magnolias
Just waiting to bloom

There's a little bit of all that inside of me and you
Thank God even crazy dreams come true

[defygravity24]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:24pm

I just think the show made you think that Karen is going to get the part so much that you know something's gonna happen and she will eventually get it.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:27pm

After all, it is only the workshop they are heading in to. Lots of things can change between the workshop and out of town tryouts that Anjelica Huston is pushing (I wonder what city they'll be going to).

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:28pm

Did Ivy's last song remind anyone else of Jason Robert Brown's style?

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:31pm

I mean, it sounded like just about any contemporary musical theatre composer. But yes, JRB has written many songs that sound similar.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:35pm

It is the same actor, he just got a haircut. Listen to the line delivery from the Pilot to tonight, same person and he is terrible. They should have recast him.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:38pm

Hello you long-shots, you dark horse runners,
Hair brush singers, dash-board drummers,
Hello you wild magnolias, just waiting to bloom.
There's a little bit of all that inside of me and you,
Thank God even crazy dreams come true.

I've stood at the bottom of some walls I thought I couldn't climb.
I felt like Cinderella at the ball, just running out of time.
So I know how it feels to be afraid, and think that it's all gonna slip away
Hold on, Hold on.

Here's to you free souls, you fire-fly chasers.
Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players.
Here's to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms
There's a lot of wonder left inside of me and you,
Thank God even crazy dreams come true

Never let a bad day be enough, to go and talk you into giving up.
Sometimes everybody feels like you, oh, feels like you, just like you, yeah.

I've met some go-getters, some difference makers.
Small town heros, and big chance takers.
I've met some young hearts with something to prove.
Oh yeah.

Here's to you long-shots, you dark horse runners
Hair brush singers, dash-board drummers
Here's to you wild magnolias, just waiting to bloom.
There's a little bit of all that inside of me and you.

Thank God even crazy dreams come true.
Thank God even crazy dreams come true.

-- written by Carrie Underwood

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:39pm

And he GAINED 20 lbs?

I really liked the first episode -- I found this one a bit boring, drawn out and predictable.

I'll hang on a few more episodes, but if there isn't improvement, I'll be going to bed a tad earlier.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:39pm

The son is awful. I was cringing throughout his entire scene. The lines are ultimate cheese but his delivery makes it unbearable. Other than that, I actually found this episode to be a bit more focused and engaging than the pilot though I still am not completely hooked. Regardless, it was good enough to convince me to come back next week.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:47pm

Ohh, so it is a real song. I was wondering!

Speaking of delivery, I thought Kat McPhee was kind of wooden during the fight with her boyfriend.

[Copperfield2]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:51pm

Obviously Karen is going to come back after Ivy and the director have some kind of bad thing in their relationship. Maybe Ivy will get pregnant. I wish I didn't harbor so much dislike of Katherine McPhee from American Idol. It was ridiculous that Karen didn't text the boyfriend that she wouldn't make it to dinner.

The whole Chinese adoption thing is lame. That letter than Messing had to read was embarrassing.

The show has its heart in the right place, Messing, Boyle, Hilty, Huston and the Brit are all good but the writing is so pedestrian.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 2/13/12 at 11:57pm

I'm surprised that there was no preview for next week's episode.

"I was mixed on the episode overall, but I think the music is fantastic."

That's what I felt as well. The writing could have been better, but I thought it was good. I really enjoyed the acting as well.



Updated On: 2/14/12 at 11:57 PM

Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:05am

It's nice to see a show about New York that's shot in New York. We played 'guess the location' for every scene tonight.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:07am

"I'm excited to watch the show. I hope it maintains a decent viewership and lasts at least through the season."

I think it will and maybe even further than that. There's still potential in the show.

Updated On: 2/14/12 at 12:07 AM

[willep]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:36am

Agreed that the new son is terrible, and the writing during that scene came off as terribly cheesy...I mean, a kid that age really believes that there is just a girl in China waiting for them to go get her? Wtf was that??

Enjoyed the Jordan Roth cameo though...haha

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 12:54am

Broadwaydevil - that was my only issue with tonights show as well. He was absolutely unbearable.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 4:27am

If you think they've already "given it away" by casting Ivy now only to usurp her with Karen later, don't be so sure. Remember that (SPOILER ALERT) Uma Thurman will appear in the last four episodes of the season as a movie star toying with the idea of doing the show when they run into financing issues, so it could be neither of them jockeying for the role. My guess is, leading into the out of town tryout, they'll drop Ivy for Thurman's character, only for her to walk away at the last minute and leave you wondering at the season's end who will play Marilyn yet again (with Karen obviously still being in the mix.) (/SPOILER ALERT)

I don't think most of the "unrealistic" aspects of the show are even worth bringing up, since middle America (their target demographic) would never know any different, but I did find it quite humorous that the Ivy Lynn character is acting like she's hit the jackpot by getting the lead in a workshop, especially one she had to jump through rings of fire for against a complete unknown. You'd think someone who's been working steadily for ten years would be well aware of how frequently actors who do the developmental work on a show are replaced in favor of a marquee name when the show actually goes into production, particularly something as high profile as the show they're working on within the series. Again, something 90% of the audience will never question, but amusing none the less, especially considering what looks to be in store. If that last song she sang at the very end isn't ominous, I don't know what is.

Updated On: 2/14/12 at 04:27 AM

[canmark]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 6:43am

It seemed like not very much happened in the second episode, and much of of the drama arised around characters acting 'out of character.' Brian d'Arcy James losing interest in the adoption, only to change his mind seemed a plot contrivance. As did Raza Jaffrey's anger at Katharine McPhee missing the dinner? Hello, he works in politics--he's never been late because of work?

While I mostly haven't been big on the original songs, I did like the one Megan Hilty sang at the end of the show (although I can't remember a thing about it now).

Love Debra Messing, may I say again. Dislike the eavesdropping assistant. And how old is Messing's son supposed to be? He looks like he should be in college, but his baby brother/sister speech sounded like something a 12 year old would say.

Updated On: 2/14/12 at 06:43 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 7:47am

I did find it quite humorous that the Ivy Lynn character is acting like she's hit the jackpot by getting the lead in a workshop

I believe that Ivy would feel that getting cast as a jackpot. It's a kind of vindication. And it's an opportunity to show you can do something big--to others and to yourself.

She has been in chorus roles for 10 years, so she would probably be thrilled with a leading role for featured role anywhere, let alone a workshop of a show aimed for Broadway, written by the songwriters of the current hit she's in, directed by a world-class director and produced by top-level producer.

Even if she were to end up replaced, as she has undoubtedly seen, she would still have been seen by people in the industry as having created the part and played the role. So she would no longer be seen as "just a chorus girl."

And, more to the point, she would have proven to herself that she could do it.

I think that's what they're going for, and I think that's true to what professional performers (and people in general) think of any kind of developmental work.

[wonkit]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 8:29am

I'm interested but not convinced. The acting by Debra Messing and Brian D'Arcy James was very good (covering up for some truly horrendous writing). The young man playing their son is guilty of some of the worst acting I've seen recently. Seems to be evolving into a soap opera with songs. I have more fun naming the restaurants (look, Bond 45) than watching the characters develop. I'll give it a couple more weeks.

My main issue is, if Brian is a science teacher, do we never get to hear him sing? That's a waste.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:07am

I do not mean to offend anyone but by the comment the son made about "a sister waiting for him in China" I was given the idea that he might be autistic. Also it is just the way he carries himself.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:45am

D'Arcy James has said that he will be singing at some point.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 2/14/12 at 11:48am

OUCH! Ratings dropped 28% from the premiere. It had an 18-49 rating of 2.8/7 and was seen by 8.09 million viewers. I do NOT want this show to end up like 'The Playboy Club' or have significant drops every week like 'Pan Am'.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/02/14/tv-ratings-monday-the-voice-smash-weaken-still-lead-nbc-win/119763/ Updated On: 2/14/12 at 11:48 AM