NBC cancels The New Normal

[operalover21]

There is a god. NBC has canceled the awful Ryan Murphy sitcom The New Normal after one season of lackluster ratings. No loss.

[bostonman]

There is indeed a god - NBC has also cancelled Smash.

 

I really wanted and tried to like it...but I stopped watching after the first episode this season and haven't felt like going back. Lots of very talented people involved in this series, but all that talent was egregiously misused and wasted. It needed to end.

[operalover21]

There is indeed a god - NBC has also cancelled Smash.

 

I really wanted and tried to like it...but I stopped watching after the first episode this season and haven't felt like going back. Lots of very talented people involved in this series, but all that talent was egregiously misused and wasted. It needed to end.

 

These were two shows that had SO much potential and just blew it. SMASH was pretty good in Season 1, then they fired the creator, and Season 2 was a big, fat disaster that they waited more than a year to put on. Viewers never came back.

 

THE NEW NORMAL sucked from the first episode. How Ryan Murphy could perpetuate every negative gay stereotype possible in one show and make it NOT funny on top of it. Perhaps he's just overextended. But it was a mess.

 

A waste of talents on two shows.

[bostonman]

I'm not even sure I'd say that Smash was "pretty good" in the first season - it had promising moments, but each episode left me with more frustrations than anything else. For the most part, Shaiman and Wittman's witty songs kept the show afloat, IMO - but of course that wasn't really enough to save the ship. I felt particularly bad for the 3 actors I know and/or have worked with (Debra Messing and Sean Dugan, both who worked with me when they were still in college - and Jaime Cepero, who played the nasty bitchy twink everyone loved to hate, lol - talk about your negative gay stereotypes there as well). I hope (and know) they will all find better work soon enough.

[JT Brooklyn]

There is a god. NBC has canceled the awful Ryan Murphy sitcom The New Normal after one season of lackluster ratings. No loss.

 

Definitely not a loss! Now Murphy has time to go to acting classes!

[+ WilliamM]

SMASH was pretty good in Season 1, then they fired the creator, and Season 2 was a big, fat disaster that they waited more than a year to put on. Viewers never came back.

 

 

It is too late. But, the last few episodes of SMASH have been pretty good. Now that Bombshell and Hit List will be competing for Tony Awards, I am interested. IMO now it's a far better show than The New Normal.

[Jscott]

Have to agree about Smash. S1, while flawed, mined fresh soap ground and was especially titillating for anyone who's worked in theater. More often than not it captured the backstage gossip-mongering, and the casting and Shaiman/Wittman songs were terrific. S2 was a misfire (granted, I'm not a Rent fan, but hit List was a dreadful version of an overrated show.... right down to having the cute little librettist die just before he hit it big), though it did pick up steam the past few episodes. Once NBC consigned it to Saturday night, you knew it was finished even had the material been stronger. I did enjoy swooning over the sadly straight Jack Davenport though the Fosse parallels were not to be believed.

 

As for The New Normal. Eeesh. Murphy should have known/done better. I generally like his work (well, for TV, at least.... his adapted screenplays have been decidedly mediocre). But not even mooning over the sadly straight Justin Bartha could redeem that mess for me.

[+ poolboy48220]

How Ryan Murphy could perpetuate every negative gay stereotype possible in one show and make it NOT funny on top of it. Perhaps he's just overextended. But it was a mess.

I wondered the same thing. He's got (or had) Glee, American Horror Story, and New Normal going. I really wanted to like The New Normal but I'm in total agreement with everyone, the stereotypes just got tired.

[bostonman]

Have to agree about Smash. S1, while flawed, mined fresh soap ground and was especially titillating for anyone who's worked in theater.

 

But, annoying that they kept changing facts about how theatre works. (I frankly can't remember many specifics offhand, but one episode had a moment where the director clearly didn't know what the stage manager's job was, etc). Very odd that a show with so many real-life theatre people involved, and that was naturally geared towards an audience of the same (among others), that they would deliberately get so many things wrong.

[+ WilliamM]

Very odd that a show with so many real-life theatre people involved' date=' and that was naturally geared towards an audience of the same (among others), that they would deliberately get so many things wrong.[/quote']

 

Let's hope the show was geared far more toward what you call "among others." I have been attending Broadway shows for more than fifty years, but never had any backstage role. If SMASH's only problem was to get details like the stage manager wrong, I would not care very much. You missed some of the real, much deeper problems of the show. Finally, how do you know that they "deliberately" get so many things (like the stage manager) wrong?

[bostonman]

Let's hope the show was geared far more toward what you call "among others." I have been attending Broadway shows for more than fifty years, but never had any backstage role. If SMASH's only problem was to get details like the stage manager wrong, I would not care very much. You missed some of the real, much deeper problems of the show. Finally, how do you know that they "deliberately" get so many things (like the stage manager) wrong?

 

I don't think I've missed the deeper problems at all - I was just honing in on one aspect of what made the show particularly strange for those of us in the biz. When I say they "deliberately" got things wrong, what I mean is that given there were so many "inside" people putting this show together, they were clearly making choices to change the way things are actually done. As a pianist, I'd compare it to my deciding to play a note wrong just for the sake of calling attention to playing it wrong - maybe in an effort to "improve" a piece of music in my own wrongheaded way. Not a note that I inadvertently missed, but a note I KNEW would be wrong, but I said "fuck it, no one will care" and played it wrong anyway. Using that metaphor, there were enough "clams" (a musician's term for wrong notes) in the backstage goings-on of Smash to have quite a very nice clambake indeed, lol. The question is why they would deliberately do that.

 

I remembered what it was about the stage manager - the director somehow had to be told that the stage manager was the one in charge of running understudy rehearsals, etc. This is common procedure in professional theatre - a director of Derek's (Jack Davenport's) supposed status would unquestionably already know that kind of protocol. The fact that the writers decided to make him unaware of that is just nonsensical. There were many changes/errors like this all through the show - there are blogs online that go into much more detail. Now, of course, Hollywood and TV have always been about bending the truth to suit a dramatic situation - but again, since this show was certainly going to be popular with people who know the workings of the biz, I think they could have been more careful. After all, I seem to think most of the things they changed didn't seem to affect how the plot was being manipulated, etc. Citing my former example, I'm sure the scene in question would have still worked fine if Derek knew that rehearsing the understudy was the stage manager's job. If he didn't LIKE that idea in this case, they could have had him complain about it. Or, if the point was to try to make it clear to the TV-watching audience that this is how it is supposed to work, they could have made the point many other ways. All I'm saying is that they could have gotten protocol facts like that correct and it really wouldn't have affected the outcome of the show - and it wouldn't have made those of us who work in the biz scratching our heads quite as much, lol.

 

But, as I said, this has always been Hollywood's way. One of my favorite examples of a ridiculous change can be found in the classic MGM filming of Kiss Me, Kate, with an opening scene created just for the film that features composer Cole Porter auditioning the score for the leads and hoping to interest Lilli Vanessi in the part of Kate. Problem is, Mr. Porter is WALKING AROUND the apartment. Only a decade before Porter wrote the score to Kate, he suffered an accident which left him without the use of his legs. There is no way he'd be walking anywhere at the time he wrote the show. What I don't know is whether this was MGM's decision to magically heal his legs, lol, or whether it was a prideful Porter making the request (I've never heard that to be the case, but it's possible). In any case, inelegant as it might have been to depict Porter in a wheelchair, I'm sure a good many people who saw the original screening of the film were scratching their heads at the composer's seeming mobility, lol.

 

The difference here, of course, is that the film of Kiss Me, Kate was handled by people who (otherwise) knew what they were doing; the film is still a classic today. I feel that Smash was handled by people who SHOULD HAVE KNOWN what they were doing (I still don't understand how an accomplished playwright like Rebeck could have been so off the mark), but somehow they didn't do it right. Smash may live on as a legendary "cult" series, but I really do think that it could have been so, so much better, even with the hideous soap-opera plots, etc. And I do think that more attention to detail of how theatre really works from the inside might have helped - it certainly wouldn't have hurt.

[Jscott]

But, as I said, this has always been Hollywood's way. One of my favorite examples of a ridiculous change can be found in the classic MGM filming of Kiss Me, Kate, with an opening scene created just for the film that features composer Cole Porter auditioning the score for the leads and hoping to interest Lilli Vanessi in the part of Kate. Problem is, Mr. Porter is WALKING AROUND the apartment. Only a decade before Porter wrote the score to Kate, he suffered an accident which left him without the use of his legs. There is no way he'd be walking anywhere at the time he wrote the show. What I don't know is whether this was MGM's decision to magically heal his legs, lol, or whether it was a prideful Porter making the request (I've never heard that to be the case, but it's possible). In any case, inelegant as it might have been to depict Porter in a wheelchair, I'm sure a good many people who saw the original screening of the film were scratching their heads at the composer's seeming mobility, lol.

 

Well, they also made Larry Hart very heterosexual in Words and Music....

 

I think you were right earlier when you speculated they might have been explaining the stage manager's understudy rehearsal role to the audience. They probably spelled it out (lazily, granted) on purpose and wanted to avoid seeming too insider-ish... figuring insiders would forgive such lapses as they were already hooked. It's always about the wider audience and lowest common denominator.

[bostonman]

Well, they also made Larry Hart very heterosexual in Words and Music....

 

I think you were right earlier when you speculated they might have been explaining the stage manager's understudy rehearsal role to the audience. They probably spelled it out (lazily, granted) on purpose and wanted to avoid seeming too insider-ish... figuring insiders would forgive such lapses as they were already hooked. It's always about the wider audience and lowest common denominator.

 

Very true about Hart, lol. And I would agree that the stage manager gaffe was probably to explain it to the general audience. But I do think there could have been many better ways to do it. ;-)

[+ purplekow]

Fortunately, as a physician, TV shows never take liberty with the profession for drama sake. By the way, how long was House on the air? Artistic license, if it is bothersome enough to interfere with your enjoyment of the show, perhaps another show would be more to your satisfaction.

[+ WilliamM]

I don't think I've missed the deeper problems at all - I was just honing in on one aspect of what made the show particularly strange for those of us in the biz. When I say they "deliberately" got things wrong' date=' what I mean is that given there were so many "inside" people putting this show together, they were clearly making choices to change the way things are actually done. [/quote']

 

Amongst the several deeper problems is the issue of whether a significantly large/medium large network television audience is interested in how a Broadway show is created---now two Broadway shows. In the 1950s and 1960s, Broadway stars were a big deal on TV, the same for Broadway shows. Sadly, those days are long past. I am leaving out the writing, acting and the inability to get theater-related details right to focus on whether SMASH was ever a viable project, except possibly on HBO or Showtime.

[bostonman]

Fortunately, as a physician, TV shows never take liberty with the profession for drama sake. By the way, how long was House on the air? Artistic license, if it is bothersome enough to interfere with your enjoyment of the show, perhaps another show would be more to your satisfaction.

 

Ha! Well, I will say that among earlier medical- themed shows, Quincy was a favorite of mine, and I suppose it didn't matter to me if the info was factual, lol. My brother was (and still is) a big Emergency fan, and we've had laughs about the stuff on that show (like every patient seeming to get an "IV with D5W" immediately whether they need it or not lol).

 

I guess at times the perception is different when you're not really aware of the realities of the profession. (I have heard a lot of lawyers talk about the problems with verdicts such as in the Casey Anthony trial - that jurors brought up on TV law shows might be expecting that "smoking gun" etc though in real life that doesn't always happen in a case.)

 

I would say that in general, I know artistic licence is a fact of entertainment, and it doesn't bother me all that much. In the case of Smash, since there are so few TV shows that have really ever dealt with theatre in the way it tried to, that it might have strived to be more factual. In the end, I suppose it doesn't really matter, as the show itself didn't work.

[operalover21]

I'm not even sure I'd say that Smash was "pretty good" in the first season - it had promising moments, but each episode left me with more frustrations than anything else. For the most part, Shaiman and Wittman's witty songs kept the show afloat, IMO - but of course that wasn't really enough to save the ship. I felt particularly bad for the 3 actors I know and/or have worked with (Debra Messing and Sean Dugan, both who worked with me when they were still in college - and Jaime Cepero, who played the nasty bitchy twink everyone loved to hate, lol - talk about your negative gay stereotypes there as well). I hope (and know) they will all find better work soon enough.

 

I agree but I was being kind in saying "pretty good" because I could see the nuggets of "wonderfulness" hidding in some of the dreck. But it never made it. I turned it off halfway through Season 2. I'm guessing Theresa Rebeck must be feeling pretty good around now.

[operalover21]

Well, they also made Larry Hart very heterosexual in Words and Music....

 

I think you were right earlier when you speculated they might have been explaining the stage manager's understudy rehearsal role to the audience. They probably spelled it out (lazily, granted) on purpose and wanted to avoid seeming too insider-ish... figuring insiders would forgive such lapses as they were already hooked. It's always about the wider audience and lowest common denominator.

 

That was in 1943, yes, 1943. This is 2013.

 

But I think focusing on things like the stage manager falls under the rubric "can't see the forest for the trees."

[operalover21]

I wondered the same thing. He's got (or had) Glee, American Horror Story, and New Normal going. I really wanted to like The New Normal but I'm in total agreement with everyone, the stereotypes just got tired.

 

I still can't decide if Andrew Rannells (sp?) or Michael Urie were the most annoying gay actors on TV this past season ...

[Jscott]

That was in 1943, yes, 1943. This is 2013.

 

But I think focusing on things like the stage manager falls under the rubric "can't see the forest for the trees."

 

By all means, take a flippant quote (in response to another minor point about "old" Hollywood) out of context. And it was 1948. Just sayin'. I am already on record as having stated Smash was flawed IMHO; I merely addressed why the writers might have overstated certain theatrical facts. Thanks.

[bostonman]

But I think focusing on things like the stage manager falls under the rubric "can't see the forest for the trees."

 

When much of the focus of the show falls on the actress who is the understudy for Marilyn, I think a detail like who is supposed to be supervising her rehearsals is not so minor a matter. :-) (And again, I feel like getting it right wouldn't have impacted the plotline, so why change it?)

 

I'm guessing Theresa Rebeck must be feeling pretty good around now.

I would actually imagine she's over the whole thing by now.

[operalover21]

By all means, take a flippant quote (in response to another minor point about "old" Hollywood) out of context. And it was 1948. Just sayin'. I am already on record as having stated Smash was flawed IMHO; I merely addressed why the writers might have overstated certain theatrical facts. Thanks.

 

Well, I'm just saying that back in the 1940s there were censors and review boards and you name it. None of that exists today. No one expected any kind of historical accuracy when it came to things like that. And I mentioned 1943 because that's the year that Lorenz (I didn't know him well enough to call him Larry) Hart died and when discussions about making the film began .... it took 4 years to make the film as it was mostly made in the fall of 1947.

[operalover21]

When much of the focus of the show falls on the actress who is the understudy for Marilyn, I think a detail like who is supposed to be supervising her rehearsals is not so minor a matter. :-) (And again, I feel like getting it right wouldn't have impacted the plotline, so why change it?)

 

 

I would actually imagine she's over the whole thing by now.

 

Actually I saw a quote from her after the show was canceled and she sounded like she wanted to scream I TOLD YOU SO.

[bostonman]

Actually I saw a quote from her after the show was canceled and she sounded like she wanted to scream I TOLD YOU SO.

 

Well, if so, I admit I really can't blame her. ;-)

 

But hopefully she's moved on emotionally since leaving the show last season.

[bostonman]

No one expected any kind of historical accuracy when it came to things like that.

 

Plus, I think that even bio-pics like this one were still more of an excuse to showcase the songs than they really were meant to be about the writers. Films like the Danny Kaye Hans Christian Andersen made no bones about being entirely fictional. (And, IMO, that film would be a snoozefest without the wonderful Frank Loesser songs.)

 

Perhaps Smash should have had more songs, less plotlines, and a disclaimer that none of this was based on reality.

 

(Except for the affair between Messing and Will Chase, of course - which I wasn't initially aware was also a real-life thing.)