Smash: Review

"Soon" I tell myself "Soon I will start watching arthouse films and write riveting essays about my opinions on the changing face of cinema like a good little film student.

However, today is not that day and I'm pretty sure I can be forgiven for postponing that day until my brain has the capacity to think beyond the uni work I need to do tomorrow. The time we are living in now is truly the golden age of wonderful, mindless entertainment and let's face it, it's keeping us all sane.

Saying that, there is a lot more to talk about with this show than I am giving it credit for. Smash may be perfect for the brain dead binge but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a brain itself.

This show knows what it's doing and it is sharp, funny, glamorous, sexy and just the right level of melodramatic. It has a way of making me care about plot points I would usually roll my eyes at in other shows. It's hyper-American, hyper-dramatised with a heavy dose of problematic and a sprinkle of addictiveness. This is Glee for grown ups and it's just a little bit awesome.

1. Plot

Famous broadway writing duo Julia Huston and Tom Levitt are looking for their next project but Julia is starting to think about slowing down. She's hoping to adopt a baby and doesn't want her time divided by a new show. For her to commit the show needs to be something special, something she's always wanted to do. When Tom's assistant Ellis finds their abandoned plans for a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, it just might be enough to convince her to write one last hit.

A Marilyn musical is not a new concept and the show explains how it's been tried (and failed) before. While researching into the American icon the two writers become obsessed by her story and trying to figure out who the "real" Marilyn was. This is in direct contrast with what might sell on stage.

Before the book and music is even finished the show is picked up for production by the recently divorced producer Eileen Rand who attaches Broadway veteran (and Tom's sworn enemy) Derek Wills to the project as Director.

To say this musical is "troubled" is putting it lightly. In-fighting in the creative team, a vicious fight to be cast as the lead role, a lecherous director and enough relationship drama to fill an episode of celebrity juice, it's a wonder anyone gets any work done at all!

The original concept for the show is that each season would focus on the creation of a new broadway musical which is why the second series diverts its attention from the Marilyn musical to show the production of a smaller show off the beaten tracks. It's in the creation of these fictional musicals where the show really excels. The songs for both Bombshell and Hit List are great and bound to be loved by any musical fans. The costumes, the glamour and the choreography is great to watch and made me want to see these shows on stage!

I wondered while watching if the creative team had originally wanted to create a Marilyn Monroe musical and the show was just a consequence of them not being able to make that happen. However, looking into the behind the scenes I was surprised to discover this was not the case and the show was always meant to focus on what was happening behind the curtain.

2. Drama Darling

The first season of Smash was written and created by first time showrunner Theresa Rebeck who is most well known for writing stage plays. Julia, one of the main characters is heavily based on her. Early on the production team was on-board with Theresa's vision of the show however creative differences between the producers (one of whom was Steven Spielberg) and Theresa started to arise midway through production of the first season.

Theresa didn't want a writers room for the show and instead required each writer to submit their script to her which she would then revise. This isn't a new technique or a particularly controversial one except that Theresa started making decisions the wider creative team weren't pleased with.

This led to Theresa forming a dictator like grip on her show and alienating a lot of her co-workers. Eventually the animosity between Theresa and the production got so tense that she stepped down as showrunner for season 2.

Whoever said that art minicked life was spot on!

This case is especially interesting to me because I can't help but wonder if Theresa would have been bad mouthed so much if she was a man. Most of the arguments had to do with the character arcs not progressing in a way the producers liked or thought would be popular. This is why a lot of the character arcs are inconsistent or even dropped half way through the show. Julia's wish to adopt a baby becomes Julia being caught up in a show-biz love triangle. Ellis (Apparently Steven Spielberg's favourite character) went from being barely relevant and mild mannered to being a major player later on, only to be dropped completely in the second season.

To paraphrase Theresa's words, if she was the problem, why did the show get dramatically worse after she left?

I can't help but believe Theresa's strong grip on her creative vision was treated differently because she was a woman. When male showrunners do this they are auteurs and geniuses. When women do it they're "not sharing". This behind the scenes drama leads to noticeable inconsistencies throughout the show.

Conclusion

In a post #MeToo world there is a lot in this show that doesn't hold up. The amount of likeability the show gives to a director who abuses his power makes some scenes especially difficult to watch especially when Derek's bad behaviour is glossed over by the rest of his production crew and never really reprimanded by the show. In-fact two of the actresses he makes advances towards want to be with him and the other forgives him far too easily.

Setting that aside there is a lot to like here and if you're a fan of musicals and TV musicals especially I'd recommend checking it out. While it's dated just as well as the shows that inspire it, it's very entertaining when taken with a pinch of salt. I also love how the show explores the creative process and the revisions that a show or a script go through before they're ready.

Tongue and cheek but perfect to watch with a bucket of ice cream on your lap.

6/10