Smash Episodes 209 The Parents and 210 The Surprise Party

Megan Hilty and Bernadette Peters
on the last Tuesday-night Smash.

Smash has limped to its new berth on Saturday nights, but in the same week it played its final Tuesday slot. Two episodes of Smash in one week? What do you think I am, NBC, a martyr to hate-watching? You're just lucky there was no Amazing Race this week because of the Country Music Awards, otherwise I would have waited and crammed three blogs into one.  On the Tuesday show, Bernadette Peters as Ivy's mother Lee Conroy joins the cast of Bombshell and Karen's father visits from Iowa. See, the episode is called "The Parents" and both leading ladies have mommy-daddy issues... get it? On Sat., Ivy is pissed at Tom so Tom invites Liza Minnelli to sing for Ivy on her birthday. Sure, Liza does that sorta stuff all the time.

Smash Is Back and Just as Cuckoo as Ever

Now that Smash has come back for a second season--which in itself is a miracle--I really hate Karen or maybe it's just that Katharine McPhee continues to be such a vapid bore in the role. In real life, she would the understudy for Marilyn in Bombshell and the more vibrant, gutsy Ivy (Megan Hilty) would be the star. This imbalance kinda throws off the whole premise of the series. The two-hour premiere begins with a new number "Moving On," depicting Marilyn moving on to another stage in her life and the show closing in Boston. Evidently Ivy survived her drug overdose during the second preview and didn't even go to the hospital (this is all covered during the opening montage.) Everybody gets back to New York and Eileen announces there will be a big press event at the Players Club.