NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread- Page 41

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 1:06pm

I think a lot of it has to do with her makeup/eyebrows and her haircut.

[Jane2]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 1:39pm

^ you don't think it's the cosmetic surgery?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 1:47pm

Well, I know she had a facelift a couple of years ago, but I don't think her face looks anywhere near as severe as Jessica Lange's did when she had hers done.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 1:59pm

I think Angelica could soften her look. In her youth she was striking, in her twilight she is looking like a man in drag. Has she ever worn her hair any other way?

I thought last night's episode was a bore. I'm getting so disinterested in everyone. They are all so unlikeable besides Eileen. Eileeen's daughter was so irritating.

On a side note, I am IN LOVE with GCB!

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 2:31pm

Last night was indeed a disappointing episode. Entertainment Weekly agrees with everyone.

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2012/03/26/smash-coup-katharine-mcphee/

The stuff they made McPhee do last night reminded me of the wrong direction she took with her music career after 'Idol' and when she released that music video for her song, "Love Story". None of it was working.

Next week looks interesting, but they cannot continue with this inconsistent script writing.

Entertainment Weekly also posted five ways to make the show better.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/27/five-ways-to-fix-smash/

Updated On: 3/27/12 at 02:31 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 2:32pm

CGB storywise is at least as much of a mess--but they pad it with clever (and often "well that sounds funny even if it's not") dialogue, and don't try to take themselves seriously, which maybe Smash should just go all out and do as well.

I worked at a bowling alley for all of a month, and ages back, but I'm pretty sure our pins were reset with strings like that...

At this point I'm convinced the whole Ellis acts so, well, gay is on purpose--obviously every single person who has watched a second of the show, and liked it or loathed it, has commented on it, so someone involved must have as well. I have no idea if it's meant to be ironic (see, middle America, some gay seeming people who love and work in the theatre really are straight!), or is meant to be an act he puts on in his little vests to try to seem even more innocent when he's sneaking behind everyone else's back (though he seems to act the same with his girlfriend, who in her two or so scenes, despite being in bed with him, doesn't seem all that impressed).

Thanks for whoever found out Touch Me was a Ryan Tedder production--it sounded like a reject he would have done for Rhianna in real life so. I guess that explains his lifeless cameo and justifies it.

"What really gets me is that there is so much real life Broadway drama that could be mixed into the show. It's as if none of the writers have ever worked in theater before.

I'm currently watching the tv series Slings & Arrows which is such a better show about the theater."

Slings and Arrows is one of my favorite shows, though I haven't seen it since it first aired here in Canada (and I admit so much Canadian scripted tv here is poor, it took a bit of convincing to get me to watch it). But in this case I think the comparison isn't really fair--it was done for a tiny niche audience on a tiny cable station here in Canada, and got on the air partly only because of an imposed force by the government here to make the station air some original Canadian dramas and not just American stuff...

It also was only 18 episodes or so. I mean, in Showtime maybe Smash could have been a bit more like it, at least in term of a mnore marked focus on theatre, but network tv is all about getting as broad and huge a demo as possible. I know Greenblatt developed the show, considers it his baby, and brought it with him from Showtime to NBC, but I'm sure even he has had to make huge compromises to what he wanted to do.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 4:14pm

They oughta give Wesley Taylor a solo.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 4:30pm

God I hope this show takes EW's advice, especially #5:

"5. For the love of Sondheim, give Terrible Ellis the boot.
A recap commenter notes passionately that the preppy, eavesdropping assistant should be “eaten by a wild boar.” Though I can’t condone violence, I wouldn’t exactly be sad if, say, he suddenly moved to Alaska to spy on a bunch of wild salmon."

[lizzieshername]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 4:42pm

Could they also send Leo to boarding school as well as giving Ellis the boot? Two of the worst characters on the show (followed in third by Michael Swift, who scrunches his face every time he sings and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever).

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 4:56pm

Did they change the actor playing Angeloca's husband last episode, or was it that he was clean shaven that I thought it was a totally different actor?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:07pm

"Entertainment Weekly also posted five ways to make the show better."

They must have read my post because I had some of the same ways they did.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:24pm

"Slings and Arrows is one of my favorite shows, though I haven't seen it since it first aired here in Canada (and I admit so much Canadian scripted tv here is poor, it took a bit of convincing to get me to watch it). But in this case I think the comparison isn't really fair--it was done for a tiny niche audience on a tiny cable station here in Canada, and got on the air partly only because of an imposed force by the government here to make the station air some original Canadian dramas and not just American stuff..."

I admit to only seeing Series 1 for S&A (waiting for Netflix to send me Series 2 and 3). But I think it would hold up on American tv.

What I like about it is that, even though it borders on fantasy with the Blithe Spirit-like quality, I immediately invested into the reality of the characters. The actor turned artistic director (a perfectly cast Paul Gross - Brian from Tales of the City), the leading lady, the bit players, the put-upon stage manager, the financial guy, the board of directors, the wry secretary. All are well written, well acted characters. This is the main thing that Smash is missing.

[sephyr]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:28pm

There are ways to fix all the problems in the show if the writers really try.

Updated On: 3/27/12 at 05:28 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:34pm

Diva, I was wondering the same thing. He looked totally different and I couldn't figure out if it was because of the lack of beard or it was a different actor.

[luha]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:51pm

In this article, producers acknowledge that Ellis is a problematic character

http://tvline.com/2012/03/27/smash-season-1-backlash-season-2-showrunner/

[blueroses]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 5:55pm

"I can't stop watching it. I cannot stop. They even gave Grease 2 realness with a 'Score Tonight' redux!"

Yes! I'm kinda jonesing for "Girl for All Seasons" and "Cool Rider" now...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:01pm

Oh I wish there were some way, some machine, that could help us determine who played Anjelica's husband. Curse you 21st Century!
LMGTFY

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:06pm

Thanks, baby.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:17pm

I have 2 things: 1. Atleast producers admit they have problems and they are working to fix them. 2. They have a good point, some of the bad episodes were already created before the February start.

[mcdjustin]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:19pm

last night's episode was disappointing. fans are going to stop anticipating monday nights if ivy is no longer Marilyn. in my opinion, she's the most interesting character.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:24pm

and Ellis didn't look so good in his skivies either.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:29pm

I want to know what makes Derek think he can replace Marilyn's writing and composing team. Or Anjelica Huston's character, for that matter. It's not a work-for-hire...they created it themselves. There's even a reference at the end of the episode where they comment that they don't have to replace the writing team. Even someone with a law and Order legal education would know this! That's like Scholastic telling JK Rowling "You know, we love your book, but let's give Suzanne Collins a crack at it to make it 'pop.'" I mean, seriously??

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 6:34pm

Because, Fosse76, NOTHING ON THIS SHOW MAKES ONE WHIT OF SENSE. Literally nothing!

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 7:09pm

"Oh I wish there were some way, some machine, that could help us determine who played Angelica’s husband."

Yes, douche bag...

I was just asking, I wasn't holding my breath until someone looked it up for me. But, thanks.

Besides, that doesn't actually answer the question. It's just a list of what episodes the guy played on. I have no idea what each episode is named, an don't care.

Now go back to complaining about Republicans being mistreated.

Updated On: 3/27/12 at 07:09 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/27/12 at 7:34pm

Fosse, I assumed that what Derek was trying to do was he knew Ryan Tedder who was rehearsing int hat theatre space and saw the opportunity to show everyone involved how they could take the musical in a completely different direction. I assumed that he wasn't actually replacing the songwriting team, he just thought they wouldn't be open to him telling them to do something more contemporary/pop and darker, and thought that once they saw how brilliant the example was, they would go for it. And this would cause drama because he didn't want to tell people what he was doing till they say.

It's funny because I find that's a problem with the show writing wise--either every plot point seems telegraphed several episodes before, or else it's not really made clear enough and just seems bizarre (and sometimes is just bizarre).

BUT due to the clumsy writing, very little of that was clear at all (and I could be completely off base too). They had a few very short scenes where they basically said "We want you to work with this new band, DON"T TELL THE COMPOSERS" and then we saw them upset.

(Although Scholastic--with many of their YA book series do just that--suggest changes, hire other authors to help, etc--obviously not with something that was handed to them complete--and already a UK hit like Potter, but... But I'm just being anal--I get your point).

UCJR it is a fair point, but it is something nearly all tv shows have to deal with--the fact they can't really change the early episodes as they're usually completely finished (and maybe since critics went slightly too crazy for the pilot, they thought they were on the right path). I actually don't find the character writing itself all that inconsistent--it's not like Glee (sorry to bring Glee into this) where characters behave COMPLETELY different and completely contradict something they said from week to week, it's the so/so plots and even more so the lame way the plots are told I have issue with.

Gotham, sorry I didn't mean to say you were saying Smash should be Slings and Arrows-- It has done somewhat well in the US, the Sundance Channel bought it early into their creation, a few years after the Canuck premier, and I believe it was one of their few early shows that did decently. Of course that's saying very little--I have no idea what else they even show, but nonetheless, while I suspect it would do well on American cable TV, I don't think it would get an audience on network tv, and I suspect that's where at least some of Smash's lack of focus comes from--the network mantra that to be a hit by their standards you really have to appeal to the broadest fanbase possible (well as long as that fanbase is in the all important under 49 age range). Another reason I would have liked to have seen if this would be better on Showtime as planned--maybe not all that better, Rebeck seems ill equipped to work in the TV serialized format, but I suspect it would have had more focus and probably would be more accurate and based on the theatre aspects as cable would be happy to have a hugely devoted audience into that, who was half the size of the audience on network tv.