Tv Guide has a story out about an email exchange between Smash Creator Theresa Rebeck, and Buzzfeed Journalist Kate Arthur. Rebeck is taking issue with Arthur's piece blaming the show's bad second season on her.
There's a lot more wrong with Smash than just the fact the show's creator left. Let's start with the storylines. There's no flow to it. In season one's finale you saw Julia's marriage breaking up, and hints she was pregnant... you could've mined that drama for at least four or five episodes. And what exactly was the point of her re-writing Bombshell? A plus with her character have been the scenes between her and Jesse L. Martin's character.
Then there's the Jimmy and Kyle characters coming out of nowhere without purpose most of the time. I'm starting to see Jimmy is supposed to be a younger version of Derek; if they'd made it a bit clearer sooner that would've been great. What's the purpose of "Hit List?" Karen was never to supposed to have her own musical. I understood the key to this concept was the rivalry between her and Ivy. It's a little hard to have that when they're not often in the same episode.
There's a failure to commit on the writers' part to Derek. Either he's a flirt, and a cad, or he's a one-woman guy. The scenes between him and Ivy are pretty sweet, I wouldn't mind seeing them hook up. Tom deserves to be a bigger player as well, and explore his love life a little more; he's not just Julia's sidekick. What's this big shared past between Tom, and Derek? There's another story line that could be mined for a few episodes.
Next is the acting. Katherine McPhee is a great singer; can likely sing the phonebook. But she can't act. Either minimize her character, give her someone to play off of, or get rid of "Karen" entirely. And I think the show is underusing the good actors; I would love to see more of Angelica Houston- maybe see a different side of Eileen. And Julian Ovenden who plays J.F.K. in the Bombshell musical doesn't say a word. I think he deserves a few lines every so often; he's not just a pretty face.
Stunt casting this season has been a bit of a red flag for me. So far we've had Jennifer Hudson, Sean Hayes, Bernandette Peters, Liza Minelli and Rosie O'Donnell. Big names, and well respected in the Broadway community. But aside from Bernadette Peters, and maybe Liza Minelli, what was the point? Rosie O'Donnell had one line to say; it was a waste.
Yes when Theresa Rebeck left the show it probably hurt the show in terms of continuity. But bad writing, and needless characters since then have likely doomed it to cancellation.
