Smash
Smash, NBC's soapy musical drama about the making of a Broadway show, has been renewed for a second season, the network announced Thursday...
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Stephen Lang, Jason O'Mara and Shelley Conn
Fox's canceled dinosaur drama Terra Nova could live on via Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Katharine McPhee
Nick Jonas may be popping in tonight to play a former theater kid-turned-sitcom star, but it's Katharine McPhee's Karen who grows up — and grows a spine — when rehearsals for Marilyn: The Musical finally get under way. "We'll see her step into her own," says the triple-threat stunner, whose character gets a much-needed lesson in working what she's got, courtesy of some helpful fellow chorus members and a kick-ass Adele tune.
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Smash, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty
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?
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Smash
Scene: A massive converted warehouse somewhere in Brooklyn, late 2011. The lights come up on the cast of an ambitious network drama about the making of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe as they screen the series' pilot during a catered lunch break. Once the credits roll, so do the waves of applause...
As anyone who's read the copious critical raves knows, Smash — the most faaabulous show that's not on Bravo — is all that and an orchestra seat. Produced by Steven Spielberg, created by Emmy nominee Theresa Rebeck (NYPD Blue), loaded with tunes by Hairspray Tony winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and boasting a cast so good you'd think it was on cable, this stage-door soap is either gonna be a knock-'em-dead blockbuster or one of TV's splashiest misfits.
It's risky for sure. There's a reason...
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Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio
Just after the Oscar nominations were read on Tuesday morning, Albert Brooks tweeted: "And to the Academy: "You don't like me. You really don't like me." The Drive star seemed to be a near-lock for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, but his name wound up on the wrong side of the shortlist. "I got ROBBED. I don't mean the Oscars, I mean literally. My pants and shoes have been stolen," he continued to quip on Twitter. But Brooks' omission wasn't the only big shocker. Here are our top surprises and snubs:
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Kirsten Wiig
Is Bridesmaids on its way to a Best Picture Oscar nomination? The hit comedy was nominated Tuesday for a Producers Guild of America Award — one of the best Oscar predictors.
Also nominated for best feature: Oscar front-runner The Artist, The Descendants, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help...
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Zooey Deschanel
A week from now, we won't be thanking Fox for ditching its Tuesday comedy lineup to make room for another displaced edition of The X Factor (which will be shifting its schedule back a day to avoid spoiling our Thanksgiving digestion with another results show).
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Terra Nova
To get the first episode of Fox's dinosaur drama Terra Nova made, it reportedly took $15 million and more than a year to plan; there were production delays, changes in the writers room, pilot reshoots, and plenty of time spent on getting those CGI dinosaurs to look as good for TV as they did in 1993's Jurassic Park.
"Some people do heroin, I do high-concept shows," jokes series star Jason O'Mara, who last played a cop traveling ...
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Tyler Perry
Another sign Tyler Perry's taking over the world? He's Hollywood's highest-paid man, Forbes says.
The prolific actor, producer and director was the top male earner from May 2010 to May 2011, according to a list Forbes released Monday. Perry was No. 2 last year behind James Cameron.
Tyler Perry signs on for third TBS series
Perry took in $130 million in that period ...
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