This past weekend Smash came to end, bringing to an end a two-year saga that chronicled what it takes to get a musical to Broadway.
I myself am a big Broadway lover. Each year, I make several trips from DC to New York and binge-view three shows over a weekend. I'm able to do this thanks to an old student I.D. or a general rush policy. I don't make the kind of money it takes to see these shows full price.
All this to say, I was likely the target audience for the show; beyond my love for the great Great White Way, I'm also in the highly coveted 18-34 demographic.
Unlike many, I never hate-watched Smash. Sure, some episodes were better than others, but overall I was entertained every week. The big question many journalists and pop culture bloggers are asking themselves is "What went wrong?" How did a show with one of the strongest pilots in history, a plum time slot after The Voice, and great buzz thanks to a Stephen Spielberg producing credit crash and burn in a little watched Saturday time slot?
There are many theories out there and I want to throw my two cents in on the issue.
Casting
I know I'm going to put myself at the risk of some hate messages, but casting Katharine McPhee as Karen was a mistake. Sure she can sing and dance (somewhat), but her acting remained one-note regardless of her circumstances, whether that be awkwardly declining a marriage proposal ("I'm in tech!") or hanging out at her apartment. Her face rarely changed. This was a big problem as a central premise of most of the show was who should play Marilyn Monroe in the show within the show Bombshell. Megan Hilty as Ivy killed it every week (her performance of "Let's Be Bad" was a watershed TV moment in my opinion) and it was ludicrous to me that this question spanned almost two seasons.The show also seemed to severely struggle with casting love interests for its characters. Tom (Christian Borle) never got a love interest he had an ounce of sexual chemistry with until Patrick Dillon (Luke Macfarlane) and he didn't show until the last episode. Same goes for many of the men they paired with Julia (Debra Messing).
