Diane and I will probably be the only people watching the 2-hour series finale of SMASH on NBC tonight. The premise of the series was to follow the process of taking a concept (the story of Marilyn Monroe done as a musical) to the Broadway stage. The series included plenty of music (good) and plenty of soap opera elements (bad). Diane and I try to support musical dramas by buying tickets to plays and watching the programs when they rarely show up on TV. I suspect there just isn’t a large audience for this kind of entertainment.
While SMASH comes to an end, Longmire with the brilliant Robert Taylor starts Season Two. When I pointed out to Bill Crider the unlikely number of murders in rural Wyoming that Longmire investigates each week, Bill said, “Look at all the murders Jessica Fletcher investigated in Cabot Cove.” Bill’s right, of course. Longmire returns on A&E at 10 P.M. EDT. Check your local listings for times in your area.
Looking forward to Longmire and hoping they put one hours’s worth of story in each hour instead of last year’s two hours worth. These are characters you need to spend some down time with.
Exactly, Patti. Last season’s episodes of LONGMIRE were stuffed with plot like sausages. Tonight’s SMASH episode is all about the Tonys.
Don’t forget St. Mary Mead, home of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. There was seemingly a murder a week there!
Deb, you are so right! People died left and right in St. Mary Mead! Good thing Miss Marple was around to deliver Justice!
I watched the first three episodes of Smash and gave up. Not enough music and singing, too much jabber. As for Cabot Cove, it made a little more sense because it was in a tourist area, so outsiders and their agendas came in. And as for St. Mary Meade, a lot of the stories took place elsewhere, while Marple was traveling or visiting someone.
Rick, Miss Marple and Poirot were murder magnets! Everywhere they went there was a dead body.
Jackie gave up on SMASH after a few episodes too.
What Patti said – they try to stuff a novel’s worth of story into a single hour (with commercials, no less) on LONGMIRE. I wish they’d either do a two-part story of come up with one hour originals this year.
LONGMIRE is preceded on A&E by one of Jackie’s guilty pleasures, the rather silly THE GLADES.
Jeff, Diane and I like the cast of SMASH. The music could be stronger, but it’s okay. Clearly, there’s not much of an audience for a musical drama on network TV. LORGMIRE might work better in a 90-minute or 2-hour format. THE GLADES looks like something Bill Crider would enjoy.
According to A&E both Longmire and The Glades are on Monday, May 27, not tonight. I enjoyed The Glades in its first season, but then it jumped the shark.
Kent, I think LONGMIRE and THE GLADES will return to their usual Sunday night time slots next week.
I check my listing and both shows are on Monday. It looks from the previews like Longmire will feature more snow this year (snow is a major character in the novels). I like both shows.
Stan, I’ll check the times in our time zone. I got used to LONGMIRE on Sundays, but Mondays works for me. I’m already watching MAD MEN and THE KILLING starts on June 2.
Sounds like SMASH is a GLEE ripoff. Not that I watch either one.
Bob, I consider SMASH GLEE for adults.