Smash (TV series)
Smash is an American musical drama television series created by playwright Theresa Rebeck and developed by Robert Greenblatt for NBC. Steven Spielberg served as one of the executive producers. The series was broadcast in the US by NBC and produced by DreamWorks Television and Universal Television. The series revolves around a fictional New York City theater community and specifically the creation of a new Broadway musical. It features a large ensemble cast, led by Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, and Anjelica Huston.
For the 1990 Swedish comedy miniseries, see Smash (miniseries).Smash
the novel Smash by Garson Kanin
Robert Greenblatt (uncredited)
"5, 6, 7, 8" (Season 2)
- Marc Shaiman
- Scott Wittman
- Chris Bacon (score, episodes 7–32)
United States
English
2
32 (list of episodes)
- Craig Zadan
- Neil Meron
- Darryl Frank
- Justin Falvey
- Marc Shaiman
- Scott Wittman
- Steven Spielberg
- Theresa Rebeck
- David Marshall Grant
- Joshua Safran
- Jordon Nardino
- Jim Chory
- Shelly Johnson (pilot only)
- M. David Mullen
- Andy Weisblum (pilot only)
- Bill Henry
- Camilla Toniolo
- Allyson Johnson
40–45 minutes
- Madwoman in the Attic, Inc.
(2012)
(season 1) - DreamWorks Television
- Universal Television
February 6, 2012 –
May 26, 2013
The show debuted on February 6, 2012, and its first season ended on May 14, 2012. Its second season premiered on February 5, 2013, and ended on May 26, 2013. NBC announced a change in their lineup in March 2013 and moved the show to Saturdays starting April 6, 2013.[1] The series was cancelled on May 10, 2013.[2][3] Second season executive producer-showrunner Josh Safran said the final episode of season 2 worked as a series finale.[4]
The series, especially the pilot episode, enjoyed critical success. The first season received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography among four nominations. The series was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media ("Let Me Be Your Star").
Premise[edit]
The show revolves around a group of characters creating new Broadway musicals, where everyone must balance their often chaotic personal life with the all-consuming demands of life in the theater. The series features original music by composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
Development and production[edit]
Conception[edit]
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 Lab 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]
Crew[edit]
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]
Production[edit]
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:
DVD releases[edit]
The first season of Smash was released under the title Smash: Season One as a widescreen four-disc DVD box set on October 29, 2012, formatted for Region 2. The DVD formatted for Region 1 was released on January 8, 2013. Distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment, the set features every episode and includes several DVD extras including behind-the-scenes footage and making-of features as well as extended and deleted scenes and a blooper reel. Also included is an UltraViolet copy of each episode.[105]
The Target exclusive edition of the Season 1 set includes a fifth disc that includes the full-length music video for "Touch Me" performed by Katharine McPhee, as well as twenty minutes of additional interviews with Jack Davenport (Derek Wills) and Megan Hilty (Ivy Lynn).
Season 2 was released on DVD on August 6, 2013.[106]
