Smash (TV series)

Julia Houston (Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle), a Broadway writing team, came up with the idea of a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe titled Bombshell. Producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston), in the midst of divorce proceedings from her philandering husband, jumps on board and brings with her Derek Wills (Jack Davenport), a difficult but brilliant director. Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) is initially cast as Marilyn, but is forced to deal with competition from the talented, yet naive ensemble member Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee). Julia's former lover Michael Swift (Will Chase) is initially cast in the role of Joe DiMaggio. However, when Julia and Michael's reunion causes serious trouble in her marriage to Frank (Brian d'Arcy James), the decision is made to fire Michael. The role of Marilyn is recast with film star Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman), leaving Ivy devastated. After a somewhat disastrous out-of-town opening in Boston, Rebecca has fallen sick due to a peanut allergy and the actor playing Joe departs the production for a better gig. Derek subsequently casts Karen in the role of Marilyn and Michael is reinstated as Joe. Karen discovers Ivy has slept with her fiancé Dev (Raza Jaffrey), while Eileen finds out that her assistant Ellis (Jaime Cepero) was the one who poisoned Rebecca and fires him. Karen gets through her debut and the season ends with the closing number being applauded by the audience.

As Bombshell works to open on Broadway in New York City, the show runs into legal and creative troubles which threaten its future. Meanwhile, the cast and crew (featured in Season 1) attempt to find work. Karen meets two aspiring friends and partners (Kyle, a stage writer played by Andy Mientus, and Jimmy, a composer played by Jeremy Jordan) and tries to get their work noticed, especially by Derek. Derek works with Broadway star Veronica Moore (Jennifer Hudson), who becomes friends with Karen. Ivy gets the lead in Liaisons, a show based on the play Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Bombshell needs work in order to open on Broadway. First, Peter Gillman (Daniel Sunjata), a dramaturg with whom Julia had a rocky relationship is hired in order to help re-write the show. Second, Jerry (Michael Cristofer) replaces Eileen as the show's producer after she had to step down when the federal authorities found out (through Jerry's orchestration) that she had financed Bombshell with illegal money. Jimmy and Kyle's show, called Hit List, eventually goes to the New York Fringe Festival and then they meet a producer for an off-broadway theater called Manhattan Theatre Workshop. Karen quits Bombshell to be in Hit List because she has to choose one of them. Ivy takes Karen's role as Marilyn Monroe in Bombshell. Hit List starts rehearsals. Karen and Jimmy's relationship starts to develop but may cause some disturbance in the work place with Derek's secret feelings for Karen. Hit List goes to Broadway produced by Jerry and Bombshell and Hit List go head-to-head at the Tony Awards. Hit List wins 7 Tonys, which is more than Bombshell, however Bombshell wins Best Musical and Best Actress (Ivy Lynn) in a Leading Role.

Development began in 2009 at Showtime by then-Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt and Steven Spielberg, from an idea by Spielberg, who had been working on the concept for years;[44] Greenblatt, described as a "devoted theater geek", had also produced a musical adaptation of the film 9 to 5 in 2009.[45] The original concept was that each season would follow the production of a new musical; if any of them were "stage-worthy", Spielberg would help produce them as stage productions.[46] The series was inspired by successful TV Dramas The West Wing and Upstairs, Downstairs and used them as role models. Garson Kanin's novel Smash (New York: Viking, 1980) provided the title and setting, although the plots have little in common.[46] As a Showtime show, the script contained a lot of nudity. "It was definitely a cable show," Debra Messing said.[47]

In January 2011, Greenblatt brought the project with him to NBC when he was made NBC Entertainment president. Theresa Rebeck was brought on as showrunner and wrote the pilot script after Executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron suggested her to Spielberg and Greenblatt.[46] NBC ordered production of a pilot in January 2011 for the 2011–12 television season.[48]

Michael Mayer directed the pilot episode, with Spielberg serving as an executive producer.[49] It has been reported that the pilot cost $7.5 million to produce.[46][50] On May 11, 2011, NBC picked the project up to series. When the network announced its 2011–12 schedule on May 15, 2011, the series was slated to premiere in mid-season.[49] NBC opted to hold the show for mid-season in order to pair it up with the hit reality show The Voice on Monday nights.[51] On August 1, 2011, it was announced by the press that the show's series premiere date would be February 6, 2012, the night after Super Bowl XLVI, with heavy promotion through early winter on many of the network's properties before the premiere.[52][53] At the NBC Press Tour, Greenblatt announced that Smash would have 15 episodes produced for the first season to coincide with The Voice.[54]

The series is a production of Universal Television in association with DreamWorks.[49] Theresa Rebeck is the creator of the series, as well as the writer of the pilot episode[49] and five of the first season's episodes, including the season finale. The series has a large number of executive producers, including Steven Spielberg, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, David Marshall Grant, Rebeck, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.[49] Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman serve as the composers and executive producers.[49] In March 2012, Rebeck stepped down as showrunner of the musical drama.[55] On April 24, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Gossip Girl executive producer Joshua Safran would take the lead for the second season, while Rebeck would remain a writer and an executive producer.[6] However, on May 2, 2012, Rebeck stated in an interview that she would not be returning to the show in any capacity.[56]

Many of those behind Smash began the series with high hopes. Rebeck was a large part of that. As one early hire later described her to BuzzFeed: "She was this kick-ass woman showrunner who wasn't taking shit from the network. Someone who had a very clear vision who was going to stand up to the network. They were all good things in the beginning."[45]

Despite her experience writing and producing in television, Rebeck had never been a showrunner, responsible for the day-to-day operations of a series, before. David Marshall Grant, a playwright and actor who had served in that capacity during Brothers & Sisters' final seasons, was hired as executive producer to help her with it. Rebeck was reportedly resentful, and worried that she was being set up to fail and Grant positioned to replace her. Very quickly she began shutting him out of key decisions.[45]

Rebeck also decided she would not run a "writers' room," i.e., a regular meeting with the entire writing staff to discuss and perfect episodes and plotlines. "[They] really are not my thing, because I can only stand being in a room with people so many hours a day," she told New York. "And I feel like early drafts should be speedy because everyone changes their mind, so why spend a lot of time up front parsing sentences?"[57] Instead she would follow the example of showrunners like Matthew Weiner and Aaron Sorkin and have writers submit a first draft, which she then revised.[45]

Very quickly, the writers recalled, the show became a "dictatorship". Rebeck's opinion was the only one that mattered. She insisted on writing the second and third episodes herself, and writers said that the drop in quality was evident during pre-air screenings. During this time Rebeck was often fighting with Spielberg, who wanted Hilty, Greenblatt, or Grant replaced. As a result of these distractions, plotlines like Julia's adoption dilemma (mirroring Rebeck's real life) began to assume unusual prominence, and along with them secondary characters like Leo and Ellis became almost main characters—the latter because Spielberg reportedly liked him.[45]

Since the writers never met as a group, they found that finished episodes often repeated the same character moments instead of advancing those characters, and that strange out-of-context moments, usually musical numbers set away from the stage, had been inserted. They were particularly frustrated in trying to write for Julia, whom Rebeck had based on herself and consequently would not allow to have any difficulties. Later in the season, they were hoping that Greenblatt would win some of their fights. "You know it's bad when our last hope was the network," one told BuzzFeed. However, many of them said the show's own problems were not entirely Rebeck's fault, since Greenblatt also intervened in things like costume design and Spielberg was not informed of the conflicts until near the end.[45]

After she left the show, Rebeck, who, citing confidentiality requirements, did not respond to the BuzzFeed story at first other than to say she "was treated quite badly",[45] spoke at some length to The New York Observer about Smash:

One of the points of contention last year was that the network thinks they have the right to say to the writer of the show, "We don't want her to do this. We want her to do this ... And I would sometimes say back to them, "She would never do that." And they'd look at me like I was crazy, and I'd be like, "Nope, it's not crazy, it's just who the character is." You have to respect who the character is. It has its own internal truth and you can't betray that. And if you don't betray that, it will not betray you. There is this sort of sense that if you don't fuck with the muse—if you don't fuck with the muse, the muse will stand by you ... It turns into bigger questions about power and art, power and storytelling. Is power itself bigger than storytelling? And I would say no.[58]

Following the show's cancellation, Kate Aurthur, the writer of the BuzzFeed story, reposted an email exchange she had with Rebeck. Pointing to the show's decline in ratings during its second season, Rebeck asked, "If in fact [I] was the problem with [the show], wouldn't things have gotten better—rather than dramatically worse—once [I] left?" She accused Aurthur of relying on a single unnamed source and asked that the story, which she called "wildly untrue", be taken down.[59]

NBC announced on June 9, 2011, that they had signed a deal with Columbia Records for a soundtrack of the series. The deal gives Columbia worldwide digital and physical rights to the first season, with options to subsequent seasons. The deal includes both original songs written for the series and any covers of songs featured on the show.[60]

The series soundtrack for Season 1, The Music of Smash, was released on May 1, 2012.[60][61] The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at #9, with 40,000 copies sold in its first week.[62]

A Bombshell cast recording, featuring original songs from the first and second season of the show, was released on February 12, 2013, selling 16,000 copies in its first week.[63] It contains all 22 songs written for the fictional Bombshell musical and features lead vocals by Katharine McPhee (Karen Cartwright) and Megan Hilty (Ivy Lynn) as Marilyn Monroe.[64]

In addition to songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the show's second season featured songs by up-and-coming composers Drew Gasparini, Joe Iconis, and writing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Several songs were written and performed for the series' Season 2 fictional musical, Hit List.

Smash received a number of awards and nominations. In 2012, it was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for Choreography.

In June 2011, Smash was one of eight honorees in the "Most Exciting New Series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots.[89] Due to the already positive buzz surrounding the show, NBC offered early viewings of the pilot on different platforms. From January 15 through January 30, 2012, it was screened on selected flights of American Airlines. From January 16 through February 6, 2012, the full pilot was offered for free on iTunes, Amazon Video, Xbox, and Zune.

The ratings for the Season 1 premiere were strong but ratings steadily dropped as the series progressed. The pilot episode was watched by 11.44 million viewers and had an 18–49 rating of 3.8/10.[90][91] It was also the third-highest-rated new drama debut of the 2011–2012 television season (behind Once Upon a Time and Touch)[92] and "delivered the biggest 10 p.m. rating of any drama in this television season", according to Entertainment Weekly.[93] The program also had the highest 18–49 rating and viewership for an NBC series in the time slot since November 2008,[94] but ratings declined in subsequent episodes. The fourth episode, aired on February 27, was seen by 6.6 million viewers and received a 2.3/6 rating in the 18–49 age group.[95] However, the show's fifth episode, aired on March 5, saw a 17% increase in ratings. It had an 18–49 rating of 2.7/7 and was seen by 7.76 million viewers.[96] But ratings for the show decreased in later episodes, with the eighth episode dropping to an 18–49 rating of 2.1/5 and viewership going down to 6.4 million viewers.[97] Nonetheless, it became NBC's #1 drama in adults 18–49 and total viewers.[98] The series was also up 160 percent in adults 18–49 versus NBC's season average in the time period prior to Smash (with a 2.6 rating vs. a 1.0, "live plus same day") and in total viewers, Smash has improved the time period by 100 percent (7.7 million vs. 3.9 million).[99]

For Season 2, Smash was scheduled for Tuesdays at 10 at mid-season starting February 5, behind the low-rated The New Normal and several weeks before the new season of The Voice premiered, and the ratings cratered, with the February 5, 2013 2-hour 2-episode season premiere getting a 1.2 rating in the 18–49 demo. The ratings slid further to 0.9 for the 3rd episode and stayed around that number through the sixth episode, when NBC announced it was moving Smash to Saturdays as of April 6, 2013 and changing up its Tuesday lineup to put its dating reality show Ready for Love behind The Voice.[100]

During production of the show, executive producer Craig Zadan said: "We stand on the set, watch the Bombshell numbers and say, "Wouldn't this be great on Broadway? And so far that's where we've left it. Our priority now is producing a great TV show".[107]

In June 2015, following a sold-out reunion performance at the Minskoff Theatre, it was announced that Bombshell would head to the Broadway stage. The executive producers of Smash and the Bombshell concert, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, were set to executive produce the Broadway production. No timeline for the show has been announced.[108]

On October 15, 2013, it was announced that Hit List would be staged in concert format at 54 Below on December 9. Smash stars Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, and Krysta Rodriguez were scheduled to perform.[109] Because of demand for tickets, an additional performance was scheduled for December 8.[110]

In May 2020, shortly after a virtual cast reunion during a live-streamed concert, it was announced that a musical based solely on the plot of the series was in the works for a Broadway production. Spielberg, Greenblatt, and Meron are all attached as producers, with Bob Martin and Rick Elice penning the book to Wittman and Shaiman's score, and Bergasse returning to choreograph.[111] Of the announcement, Spielberg stated, "Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it seems fitting that a new musical inspired by what we did on the show would eventually come to the stage. I'm beyond thrilled to be working with this incredible creative team and my producing partners, who began the Smash journey with me over 10 years ago."[112]

On May 20, 2022, a first reading followed by a week-long workshop occurred of "SMASH: The Musical," with a script by Martin and Elice, music and lyrics by Wittman and Shaiman, and produced by Spielberg, Greenblatt, and Meron. According to Shaiman, while there are no "concrete plans" to bring the musical to Broadway, he was hopeful it would premiere on Broadway "sooner than later." Among the performers were Hilty, Rodriguez, Brooks Ashmanskas, Beth Leavel, Bonnie Milligan, Daniel Breaker, Kristine Nielsen, Maddie Baillio, and Christian Thompson, with Stephen Oremus as musical director.[113][114][115]

On March 22, 2023, it was announced that Smash would officially open during the 2024-25 Broadway season with Susan Stroman directing and Bergasse choreographing, music and lyrics by Shaiman and Wittman, and a book by Elice and Martin.[116]