Smash (NBC) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

The new NBC series ‘Smash’ premiered online on January 16th with an early release, but it won’t premiere on TV until February 6. ‘Smash’ revolves around a group of people who are putting together a Broadway musical based on Marilyn Monroe’s life. Julia Houston (Debra Messing, ‘Will & Grace’) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle, ‘Angels in America’) are co-writers of the musical and have difficulty choosing a girl to play Marilyn. Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee; ‘American Idol’) and Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty; ‘Wicked’) are in the running for the coveted role of Marilyn.

In the first episode we see Karen and Ivy auditioning for the role of Marilyn, while Julia and Tom struggle to get along with the Derek Wills (Jack Davenport; ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’), the director. And as if this isn’t enough, Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston; ‘The Addams Family’), who produces the musical, is going through a divorce which could threaten the future of the musical. We’ll have to wait till February 13, 10/9c, to see how this all will play out.The first episode, that is already available online, will be aired on February 6th.

The show is often said to be a grown-up version of ‘Glee’, which is correct in a way. ‘Smash’ also features a lot of music, and instead of the high school problems featured in ‘Glee’, this show deals with grown-up problems, like divorces and adoptions. However, ‘Smash’ has a different vibe than ‘Glee’ does; in ‘Smash’ it’s not all about the music. It shows the process of creating a musical, and with a musical comes music. This music is merely a by-product of the show. ‘Glee’ on the other hand features music mainly because of the music. In the end, ‘Smash’ is a good quality show, it is produced by prominent people in the business and it stars great actors, however I don’t think the story so far is really entertaining.