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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to Smashed from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:11] Aaron Albano: And I'm Aaron Albano.

[0:27] Mo Brady: Welcome back, listeners, to our tongue-in-cheek recap of what is television's most detailed depiction of the theater industry. And yes, we are still talking about Smash, the NBC series that chronicled the creation of a Broadway musical and all the drama that ensued along the way.

[0:43] Aaron Albano: Theater fans like us had a love-hate relationship with Smash when it aired. While we were excited to see a musical theater beamed into our homes week after week, the show was not landing with a wide audience.

[0:54] Mo Brady: So we're going back, episode by episode, to figure out why. We're diving into each episode to figure out why something as emotional as creating a Broadway musical could land flat with TV audiences. So let's dive in and talk about our Season 1 Finale, Bombshell.

[1:07] Aaron Albano: Mo, give us the stats.

[1:09] Mo Brady: Yo, we made it!

[1:10] Aaron Albano: Mo, we made it!

[1:11] Mo Brady: We made it. I'm honestly surprised and very pleased.

[1:16] Mo Brady: Bombshell premiered on May 14, 2012. Rebeck stans rejoice! This finale episode was written by show creator Theresa Rebeck. It was also directed by Michael Morris, who last directed episode three of the series. The viewership was up by about a quarter million viewers this week, ending the season with a triumphant 5.96 million. Yay! No covers this week. Instead, rounding out the season was all music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Just like last week, we had various snippets of the Bombshell songs, but most notably were a fully-staged production number complete with Ivy cutaways of “I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl,” and the thrilling last-minute finale of “Don’t Forget Me,” sung by Season 1’s understudy-turned-leading lady Karen Cartwright.

[2:01] Aaron Albano: And what happens in this last episode, Mo?

[2:06] Mo Brady: It's 15 minutes till places and the theater is buzzing. Tom and Julia are feverishly finishing rewrites to give to their new Marilyn, but who is it? Karen or Ivy? We are transported 12 hours earlier, where Derek, Eileen, Tom, and Julia are arguing about how to move forward now that Rebecca has left the production. But in Derek's mind, he continues to see Karen as his Marilyn, so he makes the decision to put Ms. Cartwright on as Ms. Monroe. The day is spent putting Karen into the show, altering costumes and updating her on rewrites. But as the rehearsal progresses, Karen proves herself adept at the part. However, even while she is being put in, there are whispers that Ivy already knows most of the show, and most notably, those whispers come from Ms. Lynn herself.

When Ivy confronts Derek about why it wasn't her pick to play the role, he finally admits that he's always seen Karen as Marilyn in his head. But she's not the only one who's #TeamIvy; even Eileen is pushing Derek to put Ivy on. When Karen learns that Ivy and Dev hooked up, she takes off her wig and goes missing from rehearsal. Ivy goes as far as getting into Marilyn's costumes, but Derek gets Karen to channel her personal angst into the role and get back to rehearsal. And with that, we are back to the evening preview, with Karen shining as Marilyn Monroe, debuting Tom and Julia's new ending to the show, a stirring ballad called “Don’t Forget Me.”

[3:32] Aaron Albano: And it is stirring.

[3:33] Mo Brady: It is. It's a good song.

[3:34] Aaron Albano: So what do you think about this finale, Mo?

[3:58] Mo Brady: You know, if it was just the last five episodes of the season, I think Smash would have been just like a triumphant hit. It found its stride. We put on a musical. We chose a champion. These last few episodes, I've really enjoyed. You?

[4:13] Aaron Albano: Yes, agreed. I'm convinced Bombshell is one of those shows, all I could think of was like, this might be so horrible. All I can think of is like, it's a show like Sideshow, where the show has a really strong opener and a really strong ending. Everything in the middle is garbage, but because it has those two, you're fine with it. All you do is walk out of the theater, seeing that finale and being like, that was a great show. That was a fantastic show. And I think that sort of carries over into the season as a whole, because Pilot was fantastic. Finale, fantastic.

[4:50] Mo Brady: Yeah. There's just so much mushiness in the middle where it was being wishy-washy about characters or there was just like unnecessary pieces to the story.

[5:02] Aaron Albano: Yeah. And I think you were right. Like it was finding its stride in the middle. It was strong in the beginning. It sort of lost its way and sort of had to figure out what it was. And then by the end of it, it was so great. Especially, how did you feel about the opening teaser?

[5:17] Mo Brady: Oh, fun. I think it's fun. You're talking about how in the opening, we see that there's a new Marilyn on, but we're seeing everything through her eyes. We're seeing Tom and Julia look directly at the camera as if it is Karen or Ivy, but we as television viewers don't know which one it is. Could you remember if it was going to be Karen or Ivy? Because I honestly didn't. Like, how weird is it that we couldn't remember if it was going to be Karen or Ivy that goes on as Marilyn?

[5:45] Aaron Albano: I mean, I knew that it was going to be Karen just because I knew she sang the song at the end. But outside of that, I didn't know how we got there. And when we got before the title card where Derek's like, "Karen, you're going on," that's when I was like, oh, oh, okay. I figured it would be more back and forth before we got to the decision. But the fact that we got the decision at the top of the episode and the episode was about questioning that decision, I was like, all right, I'm on this journey. I'm mad that I'm on this journey because I should know this journey already.

[6:25] Mo Brady: Because I've seen the show.

[6:27] Aaron Albano: Because I've seen the show. Speaking of that decision being made at the beginning, how do you feel, Mo Brady fact check, because I'm a little nervous that my biases are too strong when they were like, put Karen on, because I was like, yes, put Karen on. One point for cover. Unbiasedly, Mr. Theater Critic, was Karen the right move at the top of the episode?

[6:56] Mo Brady: Karen was not the right move to be the understudy.

[6:58] Aaron Albano: No?

[6:59] Mo Brady: Ivy should have been the standby this whole time. They should have hired Ivy. They should have said, we got this movie star playing the lead role. We don't know if she's going to hack it. And so we're going to hire Ivy to either be first cover or an offstage standby. And then when Rebecca fails, they should have put Ivy on. I mean, that's just not like... Like realistically, Ivy should have just been there to cover Marilyn.

[7:24] Aaron Albano: Right.

[7:25] Mo Brady: And then this would have been her shining moment where she was the one to take over the role and have her everything.

[7:33] Aaron Albano: Right. That wouldn't have made a great season of television. But that, to me, is how you would produce a musical.

[7:42] Mo Brady: Sure. Yes, absolutely.

[7:44] Aaron Albano: So I think they made a mistake from the start, but under the circumstances, of course, score one for covers. Like we put the understudy on because that is who we're supposed to go on.

[7:54] Mo Brady: That's what we're supposed to do. And what was interesting is, because I remember last week we talked about this, where I was like, it would be great if the show went to a different place and they started talking. Like instead of them being like, "I want it." No, "I want it." They were like, "You should do the role." No, "You should do the role." And initially they sort of do that when the creative team is having a mental breakdown on stage and the rest of the cast is in the lobby just waiting for rehearsal to start.

[8:21] Mo Brady: You have that moment between Karen and Ivy being like, "It's going to be you." No, "It's going to be you." No, "You should be doing." And I was like, oh, my gosh, we are seeing growth at least at first. And then, of course, we don't.

[8:37] Aaron Albano: Let's talk about Ivy's downfall. Ivy's like, at this point, I think of the whole Heaven on Earth debacle as like a non sequitur. It is something that lives in the Smash catalog. But up until she pulls out those prescription pills, I'd forgotten for the last few episodes that she is, you know, susceptible to influences that she had taken drugs before, drunk to excess before.

[9:04] Mo Brady: Uh-huh. Because in the last few episodes, she's been like a normal person.

[9:09] Aaron Albano: Yeah. So the fact that like they didn't hint that she was going to go back to sort of the Ivy that we knew leaving Heaven on Earth in costume and in her mic pack until this moment was like, oh, yeah, I guess you sort of had that in your back pocket.

[9:28] Mo Brady: She did. But I think that's why we like, like I think the show did really well at making us forget that because we were seeing this growth in her like she reentered the show, not a cover. And while she like my favorite thing about her journey, she was smart in not voicing her opinion outright. She would just like lay sort of breadcrumbs like who was super forceful about like, no, I should do it. Tom was really forceful about it. Eileen was really forceful about it. Bobby was really forceful about it. And like an Ivy.

[10:07] The Ensemblist: Welcome to The Ensemblist, where we celebrate the performances and careers of ensemble performers in the theater world.

[10:37] The Ensemblist: Today, we’re diving into the finale episode of Smash, titled "Bombshell," which premiered on May 14, 2012. This episode was written by show creator Theresa Rebeck and directed by Michael Morris.

[11:07] The Ensemblist: The viewership for this episode increased by about a quarter million viewers, ending the season with a triumphant 5.96 million!

[11:37] The Ensemblist: There are no covers this week; instead, we have all music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman.

[11:57] The Ensemblist: Just like last week, we have various snippets of the Bombshell songs, but most notably, we get a fully-staged production number of “I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl,” and the thrilling last-minute finale of “Don’t Forget Me,” sung by season one’s understudy-turned-leading lady, Karen Cartwright.

[12:17] The Ensemblist: It’s 15 minutes until places, and the theater is buzzing. Tom and Julia are feverishly finishing rewrites to give to their new Marilyn. But who is it? Karen or Ivy?

[12:37] The Ensemblist: We are transported twelve hours earlier, where Derek, Eileen, Tom, and Julia are arguing about how to move forward now that Rebecca has left the production.

[12:57] The Ensemblist: In Derek’s mind, he continues to see Karen as his Marilyn, so he makes the decision to put Ms. Cartwright on as Ms. Monroe.

[13:17] The Ensemblist: The day is spent putting Karen into the show, altering costumes, and updating her on rewrites.

[13:37] The Ensemblist: As the rehearsal progresses, Karen proves herself adept at the part. But even while she is being put in, there are whispers that Ivy already knows most of the show, most notably from Ms. Lynn herself.

[13:57] The Ensemblist: When Ivy confronts Derek about why it wasn’t her, he finally admits to her that he’s always seen Karen as Marilyn in his head.

[14:17] The Ensemblist: She’s not the only one who is #TeamIvy; even Eileen is pushing Derek to put Ivy on.

[14:37] The Ensemblist: When Karen learns that Ivy and Dev hooked up, she takes her wig off and goes missing.

[14:47] The Ensemblist: Ivy goes as far as getting into Marilyn’s costumes, but Derek gets Karen to channel her personal angst into the role and get back into rehearsal.

[15:07] The Ensemblist: And with that, we are back at the evening preview with Karen shining as Marilyn Monroe, debuting Tom and Julia’s new ending to the show, a stirring ballad called “Don’t Forget Me.”

[15:27] The Ensemblist: It’s a thrilling conclusion to the season, showcasing the struggles and triumphs of the characters.

[15:37] The Ensemblist: Join us as we reflect on the journey of Smash and the incredible performances that brought it to life.

[15:57] The Ensemblist: Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Ensemblist.

[16:07] The Ensemblist: We appreciate your support over the past eight years as we’ve shared the stories of Broadway’s unsung heroes.

[16:27] The Ensemblist: Stay tuned for more episodes where we continue to celebrate the ensemble performers who make theater magic happen.

[16:47] The Ensemblist: Until next time, keep supporting live theater and the amazing artists who bring it to life.

[17:07] The Ensemblist: Goodbye for now!

[17:27] The Ensemblist: We’ll see you next time on The Ensemblist.

[17:47] The Ensemblist: Thanks for listening!

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[19:07] The Ensemblist: Take care!

[19:27] The Ensemblist: Bye!

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