This week:
- Everyone’s watching Hillbilly Elegy on Netflix. I’m sorry.
- Everyone should be watching Smash instead.
- The most surreal week of news.
- A new life goal.
- Give this video every award.
Let This Show Be Your Star
Fade in on a girl (me.) With a hunger for fame (who wants you to read his story). And a face and a name to remember (no, I’m not related to Jimmy Fallon).
If those opening lyrics, albeit tweaked, to the Smash duet ballad “Let Me Be Your Star” still sends shivers up your spine, more than 12 years after they were first sung at the end of the show’s pilot, then this week has been Christmas in July. Even as the legend of the NBC series has grown among its cult-like fanbase, Smash has only been available to stream online through wonky, hard-to-access means. But this week, it finally took its opening bow on Peacock, with all episodes ready to watch.
And while I can’t in good conscience tell you to go screen each episode—it is a thrillingly rickety roller-coaster ride of quality—I can gift you this one piece of advice: Do yourself a favor and go watch the pilot episode. Immediately.
Smash centered on the creation of a new Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe, with the competition between veteran chorus girl Ivy (Megan Hilty) and newcomer Karen (Katherine McPhee) to be cast as Marilyn as the narrative backbone of Season 1. The premiere introduces the cast of characters—songwriters Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle), producer Eileen (Anjelica Huston), director Derek (Jack Davenport), and the aspiring leading ladies—culminating in Ivy and Karen’s first audition, where they sing “Let Me Be Your Star.”
There are certain TV pilots that, no matter how far off the rails a series may go or how fans and critics may turn against it, are indisputably perfect. In my [redacted] years working as a critic, there are a handful that I was lucky to cover that I immediately think of: Girls, Modern Family, This Is Us, Game of Thrones, The Newsroom, Glee.
Remember, I’m talking about just the pilot. The wild places some of these shows went as the seasons sped along is none of my business—a caveat that perfectly segues into my proclamation that the first episode of Smash may actually be the best of the bunch.
The show’s debut on Peacock presents an interesting thought exercise: How would a show like Smash be received if it was released today in the age of streaming and a time when discourse has evolved to new levels of hateful scrutiny—even when compared to the dawn of the “hatewatch” era that Smash helped spawn a decade ago.
How would critics and social media users chronicle how artful, cinematic, and prestige the Smash premiere was, and how immediately and aggressively it became fucking weird?
I’m also tempted to wonder how today’s online culture would have churned out a tornado of content on the most unhinged and memorably “Smash-esque” storylines and moments.
What would they say about the ridiculous Uma Thurman arc, and what kind of attention would Messing’s outrageous scarve wardrobe receive? (And it got plenty of play back then!)
Before there was And Just Like That’s Che Diaz, the crown for the most tyrannical LGBT character on TV belonged to Jaime Cepero’s Ellis. Imagine those think pieces.
But I also wonder if, in this time of splintered attention and copious streaming options, anyone would’ve watched at all, if it would be yet another ambitious, strange show that would come and go without a whisper.
Or, the opposite may have happened. We could have harnessed the power of social amplification to turn “Let Me Be Your Star” into the Number One hit it deserved to be. Megan Hilty would have performed “Just Keep Moving the Line” at the Emmys. Jennifer Hudson would have finished the arc that was originally written for her.
Now that it’s streaming, is there about to be a new Smash “moment”? I hope not. The show became reeeaaaallll terrible. But that pilot? That deserves resurgent attention again.
I’m Sensing a Pattern
I’ve spent the week interviewing dozens of stars from fall TV’s best new shows and touring their film sets as part of the Television Critics Association summer tour in Los Angeles. It’s been a lot of fun! There’s going to be a lot of stories coming! And there’s been one very weird pattern that I can’t shake and need to discuss!
When news broke that Donald Trump had been shot and the video first hit X, I was at a press conference for the upcoming CBS prequel NCIS: Origins, where Mark Harmon was talking about his decision to return to the role of Special Agent Gibbs as the new show’s narrator. It was an admittedly surreal circumstance in which to learn about an assassination attempt on a former president, but I suppose truly any circumstance would be a strange way to receive that information.
Then, a few days later, the charming young cast of NCIS: Origins was showing me around the show’s set on the Paramount studio lot, where I received the news alert that Joe Biden has COVID-19.
All I’m saying is that, with all due respect to the cast and crew of this sure-to-be-hit show, I will not be tuning in live to the NCIS: Origins premiere on Oct. 14. Who knows what outrageous news would be awaiting me? I’m not superstitious, but let’s not tempt fate.
A New Dream
I’m at a point in my life and career where people often ask what I want next: What do I want to do? What is my goal? What would make me happy? I’ve never had a good answer… until now. I aspire to reach the level of Famous Hot Gay where I hang out with Kylie Minogue before her concert and then get to carry to the stage alongside a fellow Famous Hot Gay.
https://x.com/filmupdates/status/1812479654680240265?s=46&t=tx1rbCMpIOdmSFP12f8FSQ
Congrats to Andrew Scott and Jonathan Bailey, who are soon to be my peers—once I learn how to do a situp.
A Masterpiece
I demand the Academy of Picture Arts and Science convene an emergency meeting to discuss how they plan to honor this perfect piece of cinema at the next Academy Awards. Please watch this recreation of Big standing up Carrie at their wedding from the Sex and the City movie using Barbies, and join me in the standing ovation for it that hasn’t stopped since I first watched the video four days ago.
What to watch this week:
Oddity: Follow up being terrified by Longlegs by being terrified by this new thriller. (Now in theaters)
Skywalkers: A Love Story: Trigger warning if you’re afraid of heights. (Now on Netflix)
The Real Housewives of Orange County: The OGs are back and better than ever. (Now on Bravo)
What to skip this week:
Twisters: There isn’t even a flying cow! Rude! (Now in theaters)
Cobra Kai: The Netflix hit is losing its mojo. (Now on Netflix)
Those About to Die: You’re better off just waiting for Gladiator II to come out. (Now on Peacock)
