Debra Messing might be stinging from her recent split from husband Daniel Zelman, but she’s got a highly anticipated midseason TV show to look forward to. Building on the popularity of Glee, NBC’s Smash revolves around a group of offbeat characters trying to mount a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe while dealing with their own personal dysfunctions. Messing plays lyricist Julie Houston, the musical’s co-writer, alongside costars Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Anjelica Huston and Jack Davenport.
With Steven Spielberg executive producing and husband-and-husband composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman providing original music, we’re pretty certain this is gonna go over better than Cop Rock.
Smash debuts February 6 at 10pm on NBC.
Cinesnatch
While I like Angelica Huston, think Debra Messing is okay, and David Edlestein had a lot of great things to say about the pilot, Katharine McPhee is unfortunately enough of a deterrent to keep me away. While she is a good singer, she doesn’t have much presence and talent as an actress.
While The House Bunny is hardly a measure of one’s talent (though I enjoyed it more than I should have), I think it’s a good example of how talent rises to the top where you have six or seven supporting actresses going toe-to-toe with Anna Faris. Watch how Emma Stone and Kat Dennings own their roles as stand-outs, while McPhee and celebrity child Rumer Willis fade into the woodwork. While Dennings subsequent choices have made me wonder about how good she is beyond that role, Stone is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Everything she touches turns to gold.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’d be more interested in the project if they cast someone of Stone’s caliber in McPhee’s role. But, then again, it’s network TV, so my expectations were probably too high. And I thought that Messing was originally going to be the headlining lead. The ad campaign definitely paints her participation as more of an ensemble role.
Mike Fourth
That’s was a horrible audition song.
pierre
Glee meets American Idol, who runs smack into Steven Spielberg!
Snark aside, I’ll probably give it a try……
alfie
bleh.. Steven Spielberg… after Terra Nova & Falling Skies, I kinda doubt his serious intention as an ‘executive producer’. Besides, this looks like a mix of glee and black swan…