That's SMASHing!

Yesterday, my twitter feed was acting like a major world event was happening, like an election or inauguration. The only problem was that it wasn't an event of national importance. It was the second season premiere of the NBC show SMASH.

For the unaware, SMASH is a TV series that follows the lives of the creative team and actors of a musical aiming for Broadway. They focus on the drama on stage and off. Last season, the focus was solely on a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, BOMBSHELL. After some major creative changes, including adding showrunner Josh Safran (Gossip Girl) and losing creator and main writer Theresa Rebeck (Seminar, Dead Accounts), the show is now focusing on a wider set of shows (including a new Rent-esque musical HIT LIST) and cutting the ridiculous unrelated-to-the-show story lines.

SMASH was the pinnacle of "hate-watch" television last season, and it was very obvious after last night's two-hour premiere, that they are definitely trying to clean up and move on from last season, as evidenced by the opening number of  the episode "Cut, Print...Moving On." They've cleaned the story up a lot (they still have a long way to go) and have expanded the music styles to include some of musical theatre's most up-and-coming composers. Also, I'm just putting it out there, I've already listened to the new song "Broadway, Here I Come" on repeat.

SMASH is definitely moving in the right direction. The new characters are great, especially Jeremy Jordan (Newsies)'s Jimmy Collins, and have upped the acting quality insanely already. As someone who loves many of Broadway's lesser known actors and biggest up-and-comers, it's great to see people like Jordan, Andy Mientus, and Krysta Rodriguez show up on the TV.

I am interested to see where this season goes, but will definitely stay along for the ride. Here is a preview of the season premiere to give you a taste of the show.