Craig Zadan

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Craig Zadan: Biography, Latest News & Videos

Monday TV in Review: Smash's Opening Night, Plus House, Castle, and More

Resist the urge to pigeonhole or, worse, dismiss NBC's Smash as a "Glee for grownups." It's more original and exciting than that, bringing a thrilling charge of bold creative energy to network TV's mid-season that the fall largely lacked. Smash (premiering tonight at 10/9c, and maybe you caught wind of it during the Super Bowl?) is a musical show-stopper, a lavish and dishy wallow in the glittery yet ...
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The Lowdown on NBC's Smash: Weighing the Hype vs. the Reality

Thanks to NBC's relentless marketing and PR campaign, much is already known about Smash, a big-risk series about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical. At the center of the sudsy backstage drama is American Idol's Katharine McPhee, who stars as an ingénue pitted against a more seasoned Broadway chorus girl to play the iconic blonde.

If the premise sounds hopelessly niche for a broadcast network in desperate need of a hit (thespians! show tunes! jazz hands!), both NBC and critics high on the series have been working hard to change your mind. Advanced word on Smash is that it's the anti-Glee (especially if you've tired of that show's pop song-happy chorus of high schoolers), The West Wing but on Broadway (should you miss Aaron Sorkin's defining sense of a workplace), and a game-changer for NBC (if you went bananas for the first episode, which NBC screened in theaters and made available on-demand and online weeks before Monday's official premiere).

Watch Smash right now — then tell us what you think!

Is it all just hyperbole? read more

VIDEO: Drop Dead Diva Season 3

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Drop Dead Diva Season 3
Paid | Amazon Instant Video

Posted: 10/13/2011

In the first season of Drop Dead Diva, beautiful-but-vapid model wannabe Deb found herself in front of Heaven's gatekeeper following a fatal car crash. Outraged by her sudden demise, she pleas to return to her shallow existence but is accidentally relegated to the body of the recently deceased Jane Bingum (Brooke Elliott), an intelligent, thoughtful and plus-size attorney. watch

Craig Zadan: Videos

Practice Makes Perfect
Beautiful
The Critics Rave
The Secret's Out

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The Bucket List
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Chicago
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The Bucket List
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Hairspray (2007)

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 FULL EPISODE
Episode 6
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Episode 5
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Episode 1
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Behind the Scenes of Diva Music Shoot

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Year Title Description
2012 Smash TV Show Series, Executive Producer
2011 Footloose Movie, Producer
2009 Drop Dead Diva TV Show Series, Executive Producer
2007 Hairspray Movie, Producer
2007 The Bucket List Movie, Producer

more Craig Zadan credits (22 total credits)

Lifetime to Remake Steel Magnolias With an All-Black Cast

Lifetime is developing an updated version of Steel Magnolias with an all-black cast, Deadline.com reports.

Check out the rest of today's news

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are set to produce the TV movie, based on... read more

Milo Ventimiglia Returning to TV for Comic Book-Based Drama

Milo Ventimiglia is eyeing a return to TV with a new comic-based drama at NBC, Deadline reports.

The 33-year-old actor is attached to star and executive-produce Rest, a project based on a 2008 comic book series... read more

Recently I overhead a ...

Question: Recently I overhead a coworker saying how awful they thought Pushing Daisies was. I, of course, interjected that I love it, while sadly consigning myself to the fact that this is going to be a love-it-or-hate-it show (and that chatter may unfortunately turn away viewers who would potentially enjoy it). Perhaps I'm a child at heart, but I can't help but cherish Chuck's enthusiasm, the whimsical effects, the expressions Chi McBride uses and storyline twists such as sword-fighting with an Asian confederate's descendant. I then decided to try out Viva Laughlin, despite the warnings of you and other critics. I thought if nothing else, it could be a guilty pleasure, "so bad it's good." I was wrong. It was mind-numbingly awful, with no pleasure of any kind. My biggest fear, though, is that this will discourage networks from taking chances on musical shows in the future. Though I don't think there will ever be a musical on the level of CSI or Desperate Housewives in popularity, I do ... read more

Brothers & Sisters Keeps Its "Father," and More Deals

Brothers & Sisters creator Jon Robin Baitz has inked a two-year, seven-figure deal with ABC Studios to stay on as the an executive producer for the Sunday serial and develop new projects.... Also per Variety, Mark Steines has signed a multiyear deal to continue coanchoring Entertainment Tonight/applying Kiehls twice daily to Mary Hart's legs.... Hairspray producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have landed a lucrative production deal at CBS to produce movies and miniseries for the tube. read more

more Craig Zadan news (6 total news articles)
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