There were some good moments. Although this stumble does bring us one step closer to Katherine McPhee's PLayboy Spread. "Meh?"
I don't think the show started off great at all. Although I am behind by about 3 episodes, season 2, IMO, has been much better than season 1. Had the show started with season 2, who knows what may have happened. This show should have been on cable. I don't think an adult musical drama has much chance of working on any of the networks.
I like both seasons for different reasons. The first season is about old Broadway and nostalgia for the past of Marilyn Monroe's fame. The characters reflected that persona--Ivy was Marilyn's brooding, self-destructive reality versus the promise of her talent in Karen Cartwright (of Norma Jean Mortenson). This current season has said more about the differences between today's celebrity culture and that of Marilyn's time. I have pieced together enough of "Hit List" from the description and Derek's directing to see where this is going. To be successful today, you have to have something that grabs people's attention. It doesn't take much talent (or morality). Marilyn would've been popular for popping pills and sleeping with the President, not for the sex appeal and what she did on-screen. She would've become a side-show. And nothing personifies that more than the Diva's murder of Amanda in "Hit List." Amanda does whatever she can to gain fame, stepping all over Jesse, and the Diva is back on-top for killing Amanda. What bothers me is the over-the-top performance of Jeremy Jordan and the bland performances turned in by Katharine McPhee and Andy Meintus. The cast of "Hit List" doesn't do this material justice. Jordan would do well to be less wounded and more jaded. His choice shows where this is going. He is a good guy who's lived a bad life and so its about his redemption. That's okay, but it's not interesting enough when it takes ALL SEASON for him to HIT BOTTOM and GET IT TOGETHER. Tom has become a sniveling little rat. And Julia's struggles lead her to become a serious playwright. By the time they are putting aside their partnership, I am crying "good." And I don't care about Tom's career. Not enough time is put into these characters' relationships with each other. Another spoilerish comment, a character dies, and the strongest scenes in that character are in the episode done as a post-mortem. The relationship's just sit there. We don't know enough about the play "Hit List," and are left to piece it together. So the show fails as a character piece and as a prism into Broadway. So many characters bed-hop without me caring about it. Like Tom's relationships. It seems like Sam is a completely different person. They don't let me get emotionally invested in their lives so when they break it off, I am left with no effect on it at all. It's as if I am reading the bible and it says "this character breaks up with this one." There's no one to root for. We aren't given the good scenes of Julia's new draft of Bombshell to be invested in one version or the other. We aren't given the meat of "Hit List," so I think the second season moves from plot point to plot point and insider reference without me caring about either side of these things. Also, there is TOO MUCH flipping from one episode to another about the emotional plot points from one episode to the next. For instance, how Tom is a complete jerk one episode and then suddenly, he's the guy falling on the sword in the next episode by just saying that's what he's doing, and then the next episode he will just be back. Anyway, I understand it wasn't perfect, but it was Must-See TV in my household. I wish it had a 3rd season.
Mourn, hell. If you need me I'll be dancing on it's grave. Let me know when Nashville follows suit...
Sell the rights to Marvel, move it over to ABC and pair it with Agents of SHIELD, reboot (see below), and boom, it'll be a hit TV show again.
So, you watched Smash and Nashville and hated them, or you didn't watch them but just hated the fact that they were even on the air?
Here are some of my favorite songs from the series. It truly was cut-above where the choreography and singing was concerned. I can't believe it's been cancelled. First Season: Never Give All the Heart National Pastime Let Me Be Your Star Secondhand White Baby Grand Don't Forget Me Cheers (Drink to That) Second Season: Broadway Here I Come Just Keep Moving the Line That's Life Don't Let Me Know Can't Let Go Mamma Makes Three Rewrite this Story The Love I Meant to Say
I see this must be explained to you in detail. Pay attention. Yes, I've seen them. My opinion is based on the fact that I've seen them. I am quite capable of watching a TV show and thinking it's crap even if everybody else worships the ground its creators walk on.
I am SHOCKED, SHOCKED that this horrible show didn't get picked up. Oddly, and I normally don't do it, my wife and I have been hate watching it, almost from the beginning--it started to become bad pretty soon after the pilot. And now that the end is almost here... I don't know how I feel. It has been a great lesson in how NOT to write TV. And seriously, this season was worse than last. Just... UGH. So, it will be missed. Like that asshole that always caused troubles at parties... you just wanted to see what trouble they were going to get into next.
I have a thing for Katherine McPhee (soooo hot), so I tuned into the pilot, which was alright, though not really my type of show. The "Let Me Be Your Star" montage at the end of the pilot was pretty good though, and it's a good song. I didn't last beyond the second episode, though.
I gave up at the start of this season. McPhee is bland bland bland and that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to poor casting decisions. The only person I'd watch again is Jack Davenport as Derek. It never went anywhere, didn't make you care about the characters, and no one will notice it's gone.