★★★★★ 0/5

Airdate: Smash

Smash is one of my favourite new shows of 2012.

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It’s not often a drama that has premiered on Pay TV gets a run on Free to Air, let alone in the same year.

Smash is one of my favourite new shows of 2012.

Not only does it have some terrific musical numbers, including original songs that are true to music theatre style, but the characters embark on some clever story arcs that reflect the “show within a show.” Smash may not be for everyone, but it was constantly surprising.

And the two female leads are a knockout.

Smash celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theatre as it follows a cross-section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire – to be a “smash”. Evolving from an idea of executive producer and multiple Emmy and Oscar-award winner Steven Spielberg (ER, Schindler’s List), the series unites the hit-making Broadway writing team of Julia Houston (Debra Messing, Emmy winner, Will & Grace) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle, Legally Blonde: The Musical) with producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston, Oscar winner, Prizzi’s Honor) to create a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and seasoned chorus girl Ivy Lynn (Hilty, Wicked, 9 to 5: The Musical) vies with newcomer Karen Cartwright (McPhee, American Idol) for the role of a lifetime.

The cast also features Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean films), Raza Jaffrey (MI-5, Sex and the City 2), Brian d’Arcy James (Shrek the Musical) and Jaime Cepero (Porgy & Bess).

In addition to Spielberg, the executive producers include Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius), David Marshall Grant (Brothers & Sisters), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray), Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (United States of Tara, The Borgias) and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can).

9:30pm Tuesday August 28 on Seven.

17 Responses

  1. What I’m really enjoying about this show is that all the characters, the supports as well as the leads are so well fleshed out and have a part to play. All tv drama should be tis well written.

  3. So glad its coming to Seven. I can rewatch it again from the beginning. Still think Seven were silly to onsell this to Foxtel because this series is only going to get better. IMO though Seven should have put GCB on Tuesdays and Smash on Mondays behind The X Factor. Either way can’t wait to see it again.

  4. @belinda…..as a stereotypical Foxtel Subscriber – sports loving male – i must say i enjoyed this show immensely.Will be interesting to see how much is cut by 7 though.
    As for the Foxtel ratings i think you will that i like many others recorded this – as i do with all none sporting programs – or watched it at other times throughout the week.

  8. Yay! Can’t wait, this is fantastic news. Everyone who has seen Smash reports that it’s totally amazing. Thrilled it’s on free to air so now I can watch!

  10. I did love the series , but persoinally I thought that Debra Messing’s character and that of her son were really annoying….I so wanted one of the female Broadway statrs to murder her behind a stage curtain for added drama.

  11. I loved the first season of Smash, though when i first saw it advertised on tv, i noticed it had a G rated on it, i wasnt happy with the rating as it is clearly not a G rated show, it is not like glee in any way. The 2nd and many more episodes have sex related scenes, which at all is not appropriate for young children, so i think it should definately be at a later time slot, and it clearly does not deserve a PG rating either. It is a great show and cant wait for season 2 to air next year in the US.

  12. I love this show and believe it was one of the best new ones during the 2011-2012 US Television season.

    I think Seven made a disastrous mistake hyping it up from 2011, on selling it to Foxtel only to buy it back from them and are airing it in a not-so enviable timeslot.

    Only time will tell whether this is a success or not.

  13. It didn’t rate well on Foxtel, and isn’t the stereotypical Foxtel user more into watching sports over Broadway? Hopefully there is still enough of an audience for it on Seven to keep it on.

  14. It’s a brilliant TV series but seems though there are 1.68m Foxtel subscribers, and W (now SoHo) is in the Get Started pack, the majority of the target audience would have already seen it and will likely impact on Seven’s ratings. Look at Last Man Standing – brilliant series that done great on FOX8, then it started screening on TEN and the ratings were far from great. Networks need to fast track shows if they want ratings, and screening a series that has not only finished in the U.S. but also finished here is just a poor programming choice.
    But on a positive note, if you haven’t seen it then this is the perfect time!

  15. I can’t wait for this too.

    Debra Messing is one of my fave TV actresses – Will and Grace deserved to have been a success here – and I love shows that mix music, comedy and drama.

    But it’s airing at 9.30pm!!! Why so late?

  16. Yay! Can’t wait, this is fantastic news. Everyone who has seen Smash report that it’s totally amazing. Thrilled it’s on free to air so now I can watch!

  17. ITA this is a great show and it’s good that its coming to FTA but maybe it’s too little too late, much of the target audience will have seen this already either on Foxtel with friends or else where. The ratings will be interesting to see if this works for Seven..

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