Thursday, March 22, 2012

SMASH Renewed For Second Season

NBC has renewed its critically acclaimed musical drama SMASH (Mondays, 10-11 p.m. ET) for a second season, it was announced today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC Entertainment.

SMASH is NBC's #1 drama in adults 18-49 and total viewers. The show is up 160 percent in 18-49 versus NBC's season average in the time period prior to SMASH (with a 2.6 rating vs. a 1.0, "live plus same day") and in total viewers, SMASH has improved the time period by 100 percent (7.7 million vs. 3.9 million).

NBC’s SMASH – which debuted February 6 -- celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater as it follows a cross-section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire – to be a “Smash.” Evolving from an idea of executive producer and multiple Emmy and Oscar winner Steven Spielberg (“ER,” “Schindler’s List”), the series unites the hit-making Broadway writing team of Julia Houston (Debra Messing, Emmy winner, “Will & Grace”) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle, “Legally Blonde: The Musical”) with producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston, Oscar winner, “Prizzi’s Honor”) to create a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and seasoned chorus girl Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty, “9 to 5: The Musical”) vies with newcomer Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee, “American Idol”) for the role of a lifetime.

The cast also features Jack Davenport (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films), Raza Jaffrey (“MI-5,” “Sex and the City 2”), Brian d’Arcy James (“Shrek the Musical”) and Jaime Cepero (“Porgy & Bess”). In addition to Spielberg, the executive producers include Theresa Rebeck (“Mauritius”), David Marshall Grant (“Brothers & Sisters”), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (“Chicago,” “Hairspray”), Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey ("United States of Tara," "The Borgias") and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray,” “Catch Me If You Can”). The first three episodes were directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer.

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