Getting in a little late with these, but there are some comments about the new showrunner etc.

http://www.eonline.com/news/watch_w...topstories

More from eonline. I get obsessed with reading comments. Funny how many people think Katharine is too skinny to play Marilyn. I was just reading a book about Marilyn with tons of photos, and they had one bikini shot that didn't look like she could pinch an inch anywhere. No idea what era it was from or anything. Maybe her weight fluctuated. Who knows. That wasn't what Derek was going for anyway.

http://www.eonline.com/news/watch_w...lyn/316125

Mostly a long recap with a couple of nice points here and there, and the comments are encouraging. Another moment that kind of passed me by until someone pointed out the obvious: Derek frantically staring at dresses, praying for inspiration, or whatever he does that passes for that, and finalizing having an epiphany when he sees the purple dress Karen was wearing when she "appeared" to him as a vision of Marilyn. Of course that was how he figured it out. Sod it all, this is MY VISION!! I"M THE MAN! And conversely, I suppose, Karen's the woman. The woman of the hour, that is.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012...-tv-recap/

Haven't heard a lot from masterclass lady lately but I think she was always something of a Katharine fan.

http://masterclasslady.com/2012/05/...e-role-is/

The LA times has never had any love for the hometown girl. i wonder if the Seattle papers are Team Karen? My first reaction was, okay, if you're going to be THAT nasty to Katharine, at least learn to spell the damn song titles correctly. Irrelevant, but being pissed off tends to bring out the English major in me. My version of turning green and splitting my shirt, I suppose... Then I read the comments. Boy, do those people stick up for Katharine. I guess she does have a few hometown fans.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sho...recap.html

Here he is again, the guy who appreciates Smash and always has good things to say. A few barbs,. maybe, but he always stays positive overall. So I will try to remember how to spell his name - Pat Cerasaro.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/SO...l-20120515

These gals are usually kind of fun to read, and although I did see overtones of Henry Higgins in Derek (along with some Mephistoheles), I hadn't really thought of The Phantom wanting his Christine to sing "For me!!" Karen becomes a star and Derek achieves mythic proportions in his own right...

http://popdust.com/2012/05/15/smash...e-suicide/

He knows a lot of the stuff they do is impossible but he accepts it as soap opera and doesn't snarl, drool, and demand a virgin to sacrifice to the Gods of Broadway.

http://www.playbill.com/news/articl...Boston/pg3

BTW, somewhere in one of these last few reviews, someone actually noticed that you can play a role in an UNDERSTATED manner without that equating to being boring as cold oatmeal. Thank you very much. Now I forget where I saw that, but I did appreciate it.

Short but interesting review.

http://www.examiner.com/review/revi...ay-marilyn

Back to Karen-is-a-robot stuff. No-o-o-o, there's just more than one way to portray a character/emotions. Some people do not scream, stomp out, and overdose. They fall apart in a quieter way. Oh and by the way, whoever it was, the girl everyone has nicknamed "Iowa" for some inexplicable reason IS NOT FROM OHIO!! 

http://ology.com/post/77354/-smash-...on-finale-

This guy always has a bunch of great comments. Smash is a hard show to stay neutral about.

http://www.assignmentx.com/2012/tv-...on-finale/

EW is another one of those who have just never "got" Katharine, you just can't explain the appeal she has for some of us, so they decide that Hilty has the belt, the blonde, the jiggle, the sass, and I'm thinking yeah, she does, and I like her, but I've been reading up on Marilyn a bit, and she seemed to think of "Marilyn Monroe" as just another role she played. SHE was still Norma Jean(e?) (never can remember if there's an e or not).

http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/smash-...-1-finale/

What's fun about this one is that the reviewer is trying to be funny and a bit snarky etc., you know, the usual, and then there are a string of comments from people who are just raving and carrying on about how much they love the show and can't wait for it to come back. That made me smile.

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/161892...ighlights/

So, to balance things out, here's Ivy's fan club's version. One person did make an interesting suggestion, namely that Smash might have worked better as a 6 hour miniseries minus all the extraneous plot lines. Here's my question. If outside stories MUST be tied in tightly to the show itself, how could anything be more a part of both show and not-show than Julia's affair with Michael? That came right out of Bombshell, or rather the earlier musical plus Bombshell. But most people seem to just hate that whole thing.

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/...a-whimper/

An exercise in how to get everything wrong. But the commenters tend to set things straight.

http://smallscreenscoop.com/smash-s...ew/325403/

Talking about several shows, Smash included. I think there has been some difficulty with all the writers getting the characters to go in the same direction, but still, consider this. It is perfectly possible for a girl to know intellectually that it's a wonderful opportunity to be in a workshop, or the ensemble, because who knows where such things will lead, and at th esame time still be feeling the requisite fire in the gut that pushes people with star material to the top. So you will sometimes say and do contradictory things, but they'll both be defensible seen in that light.

http://www.northcountrypublicradio....ir-seasons

Another case where the commenters give the reviewer quite a bit of "correction."  But they at least give Katharine credit for doing some incredible song-and-dance work in Wolf. And yes, I was wondering what it would do to someone's voice to be dancing all over and then being flung through the air, caught, and flung again. But still... it was an incredible number. And I wish they'd stop saying Katharine is too skinny to be Marilyn. By that criterion, Megan is too hefty. Who cares? Besides, I've seen pictures of Marilyn in a bikini that you could compare to Katharine in a bikini, don't know when they were taken but I can assuredly say that she was as much attitude as flesh. Maybe her appearance fluctuated throughout the years. I don't know, I've never been that much into Marilyn until now, when Smash got me curious.

I did wonder how Karen could learn all the stuff she had to learn in that short time frame, though. It seemed impossible. I guess she just put on her red shoes and clicked the heels together 3 times and magic happened.

And did I miss something, or do people really not get the connection between the lyrics of DFM and all the stuff in Marilyn's past, and in the show during the past 14 weeks? or do they just think it's badly written? I haven't figured that one out yet.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/os...nale-recap

mj's recap and comments. Interesting notion people are starting to come up with: Ellis should defect to Jerry and together they could produce a competing Marilyn musical starring Ivy. Hoo boy.

http://www.mjsbigblog.com/smash-fin...n-post.htm

I guess it all boils down to personal preference, because to just use one number for comparison, I really, honest to God, do not see how Katharine did anything other than nail the Wolf number. I also haven't really seen anything tentative or awkward in any of her finished numbers and ascribe the criticism I've read to sour grapes.

http://www.film.com/tv/smash-goes-o...-bombshell

Just for a little balance, Ed (below) has always been a fan. Boy, the finale has really been bringing the haters out of the woodwork. The fans were anywhere from pleased to mesmerized but them other guys just about imploded because Ivy got passed over. I hope Katharine isn't reading these reviews, she could break out in a rash just from clicking on a link with some of those people.

http://idolheaded.com/blog/2012/05/...-wish-for/

Somebody please tell me how that girl in the b/w picture has the same body type as Megan Hilty. No offense to MH, but I am just tired of hearing how Katharine is obviously way too lanky to play the voluptuous Marilyn. I'm going to feel really silly if it turns out that's not Marilyn, but the whole site is about the MM revival/revolution going on right now and wearing her styles.

The Australian point of view. I like the fact that they're at least able to maintain some balance, appreciate the great stuff while recognizing that there are places where the show does tip over into soapery.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...-1yxfm.htm

The link seems a little unstable so here's the excerpt

Posted By groucho on 20 May 2012 10:47 PM
And did I not see this listed as Pay TV? Which means probably smaller audiences? Still, it's there and it's an option.

According to Jo on KMC, similar to something like HBO, and a fairly small audience

Two infamous characters on NBC’s Smash are expected to leave the show — and we suspect fans are not going to be disappointed.

Philandering fiancé Dev (Raza Jaffrey) and devious assistant Ellis (Jaime Cepero) will not be regulars in the show’s second season, sources say. It’s possible one or both actors could appear in an episode or two to wrap up their storylines, but that’s it. The plan is to have neither character as a recurring presence in the show’s new-and-improved second season.

Dev annoyed fans by cheating on Katharine McPhee’s character, while Ellis infuriated viewers all season with his overeager meddlesome scheming. Fans and critics have been pretty outspoken that the second season would be better off without either character (Ellis in particular) and it seems producers and/or NBC listened.

NBC plans to return Smash in midseason, giving time for new showrunner Josh Safran (Gossip Girl) to creatively polish the series. NBC had no comment.

And just reported in The Hollywood Reporter an hour ago (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/li...d-327852), Brian D'Arcy James as Frank Houston, Julia's husband, and Will Chase, as Michael Swift, will not be returning either.