NBC's 'Smash'

Have you guys seen the preview for NBC's new fall series Smash? Check it out:



My initial reaction to that five minutes of fun is that it might make a better movie than TV series, even though it looks like they've packed the pilot with plenty of long-term potential. I always get a little nervous watching pilots with expiration date concepts (see: Prison Break). Granted, I'm pretty sure a Broadway musical takes a lot longer to produce from the ground up than any of us can fully understand, but I'm just wondering how long in TV time they'll take to get the show on its feet. Debra Messing's character tells us lowly non-theatre folk "it takes years to develop a musical". Still, it can often get quite annoying to watch a show build towards a singular goal that you know they're not going to reach until the show is finally canceled (just tell us who the Mother is on How I Met Your Mother, already! My patience has worn rather thin). Smash looks like a really interesting concept, though, and it could perhaps find an audience with the same kind of people who liked Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, that is, people who get a kick out of metatelevision/theatre for grownups. (For the record, I'm definitely one of those people.) Conceptual worries aside, I like the stark contrasts with Glee (no disrespect to Glee, y'all!) and the slightly more cynical, yet American dream-like tone that I gleaned from that preview. Yeah, it looks a little predictable, but it's a story I'm happy to hear again from these people. In a word, it's interesting.

I also like the cast. Katharine McPhee (who lost to Taylor freaking Hicks) appears to make a believable lead, and, in spite of her pretentious or possibly ironic "And Introducing" credit at the end of the trailer, it's not her first time to the acting rodeo. Anyone see The House Bunny? (If not, you need to Netflix that junk. It's comic gold!) Obviously, her voice is fantastic, too.** I also appreciated the tongue-in-cheek tag to one of McPhee's trademark Idol performances (that breath control!) at the beginning of the preview. Need I even mention Debra Messing, Angelica Houston (for crying out loud!), and Jack Davenport (who stood out in last year's now debunk Flash Forward)?

Any thoughts on the trailer?


**Ever heard her duet with Zachary Levi (from Chuck!) on the Kara DioGuardi and Jason Reeves-penned song "Terrified"? Listen to it and wait to be sucked into a harmonious sound cave of adorable.