Smash: "The Movie Star" & "Publicity"
Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 6:24PM So much to discuss to catch up. Smash is playing up the movie angles with Actors Studio & sequel jokes, Uma guest starring, Bollywood numbers, multiple Monroes, and the general lame practice of stunt casting when movie stars hit the stage. The show feels more than a little keyed up all of a sudden with the unstable presence of Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman) in the mix.
1.11 "The Movie Star"
The episode begins as the dancers greet Karen (Katharine McPhee) who is uncharacteristically dressed up for a sweaty rehearsal to impress Rebecca (Uma Thurman)
Bobby: Oh you reallly bumped it up a notch, didn't you?
Jessica: Ah, she dressed up for the movie star."
This could also double as an introduction to a show that seems to be trying a little harder now that they've got some genuine starlight in the mix with Uma flouncing about being a pain in the ass. Of course the big problem with Smash is not that Uma's character can't sing (we know she'll eventually quit the show, don't we?) but that TV show itself still wants to convince us that Marilyn should be played by Karen within the show. But Katharine McPhee is such a poor excuse for a Marilyn when Megan Hilty is standing right there deserving the part. Argh. McPhee isn't even convincing as Marilyn when she's handed those full makeup fantasies because she feels and looks nothing like her in face, physique or temperament.
Her Day Will Come?Brando & Dean jokes,
Brando and Dean jokes and Bollywood strangeness after the jump... It's the biggest SMASH post ever.
Overall this was a solid episode, with a very strong first ten minutes setting up new tensions or reestablishing old dynamics (Ivy returns to the chorus). Rebecca complains that her scenes are too shot and why is she always breaking out into song? In other words, Rebecca isn't as big of a fan of musicals as she first seemed. Karen keeps insisting that she likes Rebecca and her frenemy Ivy serves up this tart funny retort.
Don't lie. She's annoying. We hate her."
Set List: Originals - "Let Me Be Your Star" (Thurman singing badly), "Dig Deep" (Thurman singing as well as movie actors usually do which is to say competent and no more); Contemporary - "Our Day Will Come" (McPhee)
Gay Gay Gay: "Oh gurrrrrrrl. Oh no she di't"...Sam chastises Tom for flaming out at rehearsal and then in a later sequence gets all religious and judgy about Tom's sexual behavior. "Trust me, my way is better." Ick. I'm not liking this internalized homophobia on the show.
Anjelica Awesomeness: "There's power in proximity as I think you already know." The only good thing about having the evil Ellis on the show is that Anjelica Huston is always entertaining when she's instructing him, dissing him, or generally bossing him around. But at this point, Debra Messing is sucking up all the awesomeness. She is loose and funny in the opening minutes, teasing Tom and his dancer-crush and amusingly blunt and self-deprecating in her at-home moments trying to fix her broken family. Debra for the Emmy.
Curtain Call: Rebecca works at it (offscreen. closed set) and finally manages a decent number with the Actors Studio set "Dig Deep" and then ends the episode with the cheerful threat
I've got lots more ideas."
Uh-oh!
Grade: B
P.S. I'm adding a new category to my rundowns because I just heart them so.
B♡bby and/or Dennis (Wesley Taylor and Phillip Spaeth): In this episode the chorus boys get to flank Uma in the big number and throw in a little James Dean and Marlon Brando.
Fun.
Moving on...
1.12 "Publicity"
We'll do this one quick because there's only one moment anyone talks about from it. The plot as it was... Rebecca continues to be a nightmare wanting to cut numbers and making ordering at an Indian restaurant an ordeal. She also befriends Karen for somewhat inexplicable reasons (this show isn't anything like Glee-level incompetent with consistent characterizations but there are a couple of erratic characters). Meanwhile, Ivy schemes to get a solo.
Set List: Contemporary "Run" (McPhee), "A Thousand and One Nights" (Raza Jaffrey & Katharine McPhee); Originals "Second Hand White Baby Grand" (Borle then McPhee then Hilty) I love when they let a song work its way through the entire episode. It makes the show about what it's supposed to be about: the creation of another show.
Gay Gay Gay: This.
B♡BBY: Karen gets everything. Recording contracts, national commercials, easy breaks.
Now she even gets to play with Bobby's hair. I hate her.
Anjelica Awesomeness: Control your movie star, Eileen. "I did that last week." Hee! I literally LOL'ed.
Best Worst Craziest Stupidest Awesomest Weirdest Most inexplicable Moment: A full Bollywood production number in Karen's mind, somehow prompted by her new friend and her boyfriend bickering about fame.
The silliest and best thing about the number is the cutaways to each of the characters that somehow comment on their current story, like this family portrait where the smiles fade a second too soon...
Or a great beat where Eileen is suddenly demure with her new lover, and Ellis pops into frame to steal some jewelry. Or Derek feeding Ivy grapes and being shewed away; Or Tom rubbing a genie lamp.
It's all extremely fussy and excessively theatrical and completely insane. This is what's called "gilding the lily". But usually when your lily is this gloriously eye-catching
...there's precious little reason to gild!
Curtain Call: Uma listens to her shadow self and Megan Hilty returns to the spotlight for a new ballad. Just glorious. Damn, Hilty! That voice.
Grade: B
Bollywood, Marilyn Monroe, Smash, TV, TV at the Movies, Uma Thurman, musicals
Reader Comments (20)
"Second Hand White Baby Grand" might be my favorite song of the show so far, but I find myself agreeing with Uma that Marilyn should be the one to sing it. I kind of really want to see the show finished and real, because I'm really curious what kind of story they're telling since it seems to encompass like her entire life.
"Wesley Taylor and Phillip Spaeth"
These two actors were good finds and they're fun to follow on twitter.
Karen & Dev do the Bollywood number and it's the most fantastic number all season! They are BOTH AMAZING!! Katharine is a triple threat -- and this number proves it!
hilty can't dance!
The episodes are getting a little bit better, I think. I really didn't like that Dig Deep number, the only original I haven't liked. Bollywood and Second Hand White Baby Grand were great though!
And I actually think that Kat McPhee is convincing a Marilyn! Especially when she is all dressed up.
Karen looks, sounds and feels nothing like Marilyn. I just don't get it. Broadway doesn't *do* vanilla pretty, does it?
ok. Loved these 2 episodes. It's becoming consistently good, which we are thankful for. I have to admit that I totally lolled the second the Bollywood number started, because I find it laughable how musical numbers are inserted into the narrative these days (damn you, Glee!). But then, I literally started dancing in my seat without even knowing it, and I instantly knew this needed a second and third viewing before I even got halfway through the number. You're spot on Nathaniel in that what makes the number work, besides the technical, are the hilarious cast cutaways. The expression on every face is worth a freeze frame.
Anyways, Uma is really annoying so far, which probably means she's doing a great job at playing the movie star.
Not much has been said about jack Davenport, but i think he's consistently bringing it and giving the show an edge that otherwise wouldn't be there.
Nathaniel, can you elaborate on the internalized homophobia comment? I'm definitely not getting a good feel from these relationships either, but i wouldn't go as far as labelling it as you do. I can't put my finger on it quite yet, but I think it may actually be a reflection of a new, larger gay identity crisis which hasn't necessarily been projected on TV just yet, rather than the good ol' internalized homophobia, if that makes sense. Thoughts?
G.Shaq -- i do mean internalized homophobia. the same kind that makes some members of the gay community consider "straight-acting" as a compliment. Note that other than the dancing on Broadway Sam is characterized as being the opposite of urban gay: straight acting, religious, chaste (sort of) and he's also characterized as Mr Right for Tom all of which sends the message that "passing" as straight is Good.
i'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now though and say that it maybe you're right about a larger gay identity crisis. Once assimilated gay culture is no longer a culture at all.
Glenn -- not really, no. The personality is what has to be huge.
"Best Worst Craziest Stupidest Awesomest Weirdest Most inexplicable Moment" YES. All my feelings wrapped up into one neat little category. I was horrified yet smiling like a complete moron. Pretty colors! I re-watched the number and if you look close enough behind Raza and Kat, far away in the back, there's Christian Borle totally doing the "dancing fool". I don't know what he's doing, but it's awesome.
and I see it Rebecca's peanut allergy taking her out right before opening night and then Kat stepping in as the understudy and a "star is born". *massive sigh*. All this show did was make me love Megan Hilty so the show gets a pass even if it is outright robbery.
Sidenote: Anjelica Huston looked SO MUCH better with that different, relaxed hairstyle when she went out with her bartender. (Nick?)
I couldn't stop saying how much I hated this show when the Bollywood number was going on, loving every minute of it of course. I still think the biggest problem the is inexplicable Karen love the show tries to force. It's like McPhee's agent was the person that got the show on the air and whatever else it's trying to do, it's main reason for being is to make her a star. I will say that I appreciate that they've seemed to figured out that the Ellis character should only exist if he's being reprimanded or bossed around, and ditto to everything you said about Messing. MVPs for me are Davenport and Hilty. Along with Messing and (sadly) few others, Davenport just seems know to that the show is walking a very fine line on the ridiculous. He knows it, plays to it, but is still giving more than it may deserve and elevates it in the process. And while I think the show's love of "Auto-Tune" McPhee/Karen is a major problem, Hilty may actually be the bigger problem. She's so obviously the star of this thing (that voice!) and the part should so obviously be hers that it makes the all the drama around casting Marilyn so obviously ridiculous. Let's just hope that the rumored return of Bernadette Peters at season's end means that the right thing is done.
I have no problem with McPhee but I can't take this show seriously if they continue to try to force the ridiculous notion that Karen is a better Marilyn down our throats. She's had moments that have made me stop and think that maybe she'd be good, but Megan Hilty proves that she'd be GREAT every single time she opens her mouth. There's no contest between these two and I hate that they're making Ivy a villain for knowing that she deserves the part. If they wanted to do that they should've just made her the central villain of the entire show because Ellis is not cutting it.
my comment is not for these episodes but for the one with bernadette peters on it. it just occured to me WHO should have really played ivys mom: Bette Midler!
I dont' think Sam is pretending to be anything, he's just being another kind of gay guy that may not fit some people's stereotype, but that's too bad. And where do you get homophobia internalized or otherwise from someone saying he prefers being in committed relationships to one night stands? Also don't understand why it's such a huge leap to figure out where the Bollywood number is coming from. The setting is coming from what she's watching on tv, the gist of the song is something like "will we be together forever or just 1001 nights?" which is reflecting Karen's growing uncertainty about her relationship with Dev. And since this post seems to be going all over the place, I liked the new Huston hair too. She should keep it. Maybe that was just her Date Hair and she prefers looking like the Queen of Egypt at the office.
groucho -- I didn't say that about Sam. The homophobia is not that he prefers commitment to promiscuity. It's that he is coded in all of these ways that read against stereotypes (which is fine) but THEN he is also shown as "better" which implies that stereotypical gay men are inferior to someone who is more traditional and could easily be straight. when you add all the things together like him being all "don't ever do that again. seriously" when Tom got all 'hey girllll' ish...
it sends a message that obviously gay is inferior to straight acting gay and that is internalized homophobia.
thefilmjunkie -- 100% with you there. I love the show, flaws and all except *this* flaw which routinely pisses me off.
I may be in the minority but I really like Ellis as a character. He's a soapy trashier version of Eve Harrington that adds tension and humor to otherwise sentimental storylines. Every time he is plotting some evil the show gets bitchier and more entertainning.
The second thing is that although I find Katherine McFee an inferior actress/singer to Megan Hilty, she is somehow closer to Monroe's looks circa Niagara. Megan is just curvy and blonde but it doesn't mean she resembles Marilyn at all. When Derek dreams Karen as Marilyn there's this magic that remins me of the real thing. Could be just the lighting though LOL.
Ps. Talking about the ensemble boys, have anyone notice Manuel Santos? He starred in West Side Story and is soooo hot! Unfortunately he doesn't have a twitt account!
I'm still watching, but I'm basically just holding on until it gets a new showrunner next season - I think it's pretty cringeworthy. And I understand the complaints about Karen/McPhee, but I actually don't really mind her or her character too much; my main gripes with this show are:
a) This is supposed to be a show about the production of a Broadway musical, but there is just too little focus on the production of a Broadway musical, and too much focus on each individual character's personal life, which pretty much means who each character is dating (except for Messing, in which case it might mean what her dopey son is doing - can they please replace that awful actor?). Even prime-time soap operas don't spend this time on romantic entanglements. The personal stuff sometimes even seems to have nothing to do to the central Broadway production conceit (Dev and his job).
b) The characterization is inconsistent. Remember when Ivy was the experienced actress looking for a break, but still someone the audience could root for? Remember when Derek was a villain? Remember when Eileen used to throw drinks and at her husband and seem hurt by her divorce? Granted, all great tv characters grow and change over time, but I don't think that's the case here - I think it's just poor planning.
c) Who is Eileen, exactly? Why haven't they done more with Anjelica Huston?
Sorry for the rant, but I think this show has so much potential - the cast is terrific, and they've obviously thrown a lot of money at it.
I always think of Karen and Ivy as the two sides of Mariyln, one innocent and demure, the other over the top and sexual, I love McPhee but if she was a bit of a better actress that would translate better.
Nathaniel, I may be giving them too much credit, and I have to admit, there's a lot of over-the-topness going on in general in the show, but I think it's generally good that they're showing a range of different gay "types" if you can call it that. Actually they're just trying to say there's no one gay type anymore than there's a straight type, if you can judge by what, 4 characters? I don't see Sam's attitude being any worse than Julia's, when she tries to point out to Tom that he's been doing the love 'em and leave 'em thing as long as she's known him and she wishes he'd...what, settle down into the kind of domestic bliss she has? Well, maybe not, but you see what I mean. Julia certainly isn't homophobic, she just believes in giving monogamy a chance. Obviously she isn't a perfect example, but she believes in it, which is why she's so tortured about her own problematic choices. Or maybe Sam is meant to be reflective of the fact that a lot of the Black community has traditionally not been supportive of gay rights because of the strrong influence of the Christian church and its historical role in holding black communities together. So he's developed a compromise trying to hold all his worlds together. Maybe John did that too. I want to see what happens when he introduces Tom to his family. Now that should be interesting and give us more insight into all the characters.
@Seisgrados - I wish I saw what you saw in Ellis. He's nowhere near as deliciously evil as he should be.
@Ramification - I see that, when the previews for the show first started I immediately thought they would end up casting McPhee as Norma Jean and Hilty as Marilyn, but now I'm not so sure.
Why does the wardrobe department hate Debra Messing? Everything she wears is awful and unflattering. The characters I'm finding most interesting lately are Derek and Tom, but I'm actually liking the whole show more and more.
Wesley Taylor charmed all of San Francisco when he appeared live on stage as Mouse in Tales of the City in 2011. Here's a little interview with him from one of our local drag divas, Juanita More, who "eats out" with various cuties and interviews them.
http://juanitamore.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/wesley-taylor-eats-out/