Thoughts on the NBC show "Smash"?- Page 2

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/31/12 at 9:13pm

Well, to be technical, we didn't see Karen audition for the Broadway production of Bombshell, we saw her audition for a workshop

But yes, it is established that Karen has an agent, so her getting an appointment is not out of left field.

And for a more modern example of the starring role going to a Broadway newbie: Susan Egan made her Broadway debut as Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:40pm

Smash. I hate that show. All the men are cheating scumbags and all the women are devious, sneaky liars. The only character I liked on that show was Christian Borle's.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 3:29pm

BroadwayStar4 - Debra Messing's husband (Brian d'arcy James) was a good guy and so was Christian Borle's boyfriend.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 8/2/12 at 7:44pm

Eh, they were barely prominent in my mind. Plus, the husband is really stupid for giving that woman a second chance.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 3:50pm

BroadWayStar4 - I think the "husband" had a decent size role and was prominent in the story line (adoption, son's problems and Debra Messing having affair). I agree and I would have never taken her back either. I agree that Christian Borle's boyfriend was not a prominent role but he is nice guy.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 6:47pm

Life is long and people make mistakes. Yes, adultery breaks up a lot of marriages, but a lot of marriages survive it. When you love someone, you've invested a couple of decades and maybe raised children together, and the adulterer is truly remorseful, sometimes forgiveness is the preferred option.

I don't know that any of us can ever say for sure that we would "never" forgive. (For the record, I'm speaking from observation, not experience. And I'm not really worried about it, but I doubt I'd end my 35-year marriage over a sexual indiscretion. Of course, I can't know that for sure, either.)

If anything, SMASH handled the Messing character's adultery too realistically. It wasn't big enough to compete with the backstage soap opera that was the show at its best.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 8/3/12 at 10:58pm

Well, life is short. We always hear the line "Life is too short for blah blah blah". Adultery is one of the worst things you could do to someone who you're suppose to love, protect and care for.

Debra Messing's character was so despicable, and the man she had an affair with was even worse. They say that their family is "so important" to them, yet they took such a huge risk of loosing them by having this disgusting affair. They really didn't care about anyone but themselves. The baffling part is that they didn't seem to have any real problems within their marriages at all, so why would they seek comfort with someone else? I'll tell you why, because they are selfish, deceitful liars who wants to have the best of both worlds instead of appreciating the family they have now.

I honestly don't think Debra's character was remorseful at all. If anything she was just sorry for getting caught.

If I was married and cheated on, I would divorce. I'm not gonna spend the next few years feeling miserable and depressed while trying to repair the marriage that we've invested for so many years. Life is too short for that. Even if we try to work it out, I would never be able to trust that person the same way again.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 10:53am

BroadwayStar4- I agree with you that I did not see any problems with the marriages, think the affair was just a matter of physical lust IMO.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 7:23pm

I'm not exactly an expert on adultery, but I think there are a lot of worse things one person can do to another. And while adultery may be prompted by a problem in a marriage (separation, geographical or emotional, for example), I think it's more often triggered by a problem within the adulterer.

Most of us expect our spouses to solve more than they can; we have to learn to be responsible for our own happiness. An affair with a third party isn't going to do it.

[BroadwayStar4]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 10:53pm

Of course there are a lot of worse things, but infidelity is right up there. I have very low tolerance of someone breaking their vows, and putting their own marriage and family at risk for the sake of banging someone behind their spouse's back. I don't care what kind of issues the adulterer is going through, damaging your own marriage should never ever be the solution.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/4/12 at 11:18pm

We should at least be clear that there are all kinds of marriages. Not all are exclusive or based on mutual monogamy. Life isn't a Nora Ephron movie and there have been plenty of solid marriages where both partners slept with others or where one partner played around while the other pretended not to know.

That isn't my marriage, but I'm not going to judge what works for everyone else.

And of course you don't have to approve, but the Messing character's lapse into adultery and eventual reunion with her family is far more common than you seem to think.

Updated On: 8/4/12 at 11:18 PM

[Lohania]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 7:50am

How did Karen get an agent if she was just off the bus from Iowa?

As far as Debra Messing's adultery, her husband was a dullard she had almost nothing in common with and they had zero chemistry. Not to mention her annoying, immature son. Her marriage seemed finished long before she had the affair. She just wasn't into her husband and family at all and didn't spend much time with them, preferring to spend time at her office or the theater. Not that having an affair was the answer, but it seemed from the debut of the show that the Chinese baby adoption attempt was trying to keep a marriage together that was doomed.

Though, really, this poorly written, little potboiler soap opera of a show doesn't deserve to be over-thought. I'm not sure I'd project real-life moral values or motives onto characters that are so two-dimensional and cardboard.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 2:36pm

I didn't like the show, either. Singing, dancing, original songs, great. The storylines, not enjoyable to me. Skipped over them. Plots, characters--just made me sad. Songs were lovely.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/5/12 at 8:32pm

Well, "just off the bus from Iowa" is more metaphorical than literal. Obviously, Karen had been in NYC long enough to meet Dev, fall in love and move in together.

She could have paid to be in a showcase and been seen by an agent who started submitting her for shows. I'm not the biggest Kat McPhee fan in the world, but, vocally, she isn't the "average" girl off the bus from Iowa.

As for the adultery, working in the theater requires heightened emotions, vulnerability, playfulness and a willingness to live in one's imagination. Boundaries of appropriate behavior are overlooked or even deliberately violated in the name of the work.

I think sexual liaisons between co-workers are probably even more common than in other fields.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 2:19pm

I can't believe I know this, but Karen and Dev met in London.

There's no real background on Karen that isn't conveniently placed, so her path isn't really illustrated. BUT, based on her behavior, she is not only clueless but unprofessional. So she does seem right off the bus, and right into an agent's office, and therefore the saga of everything happening very easily for her seemed to begin the moment her feet touched Port Authority.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 5:12pm

What was Karen doing in London? Did she forget to get off the plane to New York?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/6/12 at 5:31pm

College internship? Vacation? Sheesh.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 1:23am

I was just curious, dramamama. They go to such great lengths to emphasize her naivete, Karen doesn't strike me as a world traveler.

[nygrl232]

Posted: 8/7/12 at 8:57am

Heh, but it is a pretty funny image--Karen still sitting on the plane while everyone else disembarks in NYC, caught up in some 1001 nights like thing, and winding up in London.

I'd watch THAT show.