Although it’s far from a ratings smash, the new musical drama “Smash” has done well enough to earn a second season on NBC.
NBC made the less-than-shocking announcement on Thursday (March 22) afternoon, praising “Smash” for its critical acclaim and also for its dramatic improvements over the network’s Monday 10 p.m. averages.
Although “Smash” has been regularly losing heaping chunks of its lead-in audience from “The Voice,” the series is averaging 7.7 million viewers, nearly doubling the viewership of such luminaries as “Playboy Club” and “Rock Center” in that hour this season. “Smash” has given NBC an even bigger bump among adults 18-49, with its 2.6 rating in the key demographic, compared to the anemic 1.0 rating for previous occupants.
Probably the most exhaustively promoted new show of the spring, “Smash” premiered on February 6 and, after several weeks of dropping numbers, has leveled off in recent weeks, drawing a respectable-by-NBC-standards 6.7 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49 in its most recent airing opposite new episodes of “Castle” and “Hawaii Five-0.”
Created by Theresa Rebeck and featuring an all-star team of producers led by Steven Spielberg, “Smash” stars Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Anjelica Huston, Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee.
Regarding a potential second season, Rebeck told TV critics in January, “The first season, the plan is to take ‘Marilyn’ all the way to an out of town tryout, so it’s her first really public presentation. And then the second season will be ‘Marilyn’ if we’re lucky enough to get there, would be ‘Marilyn’ comes to Broadway, how does ‘Marilyn’ fare in New York?”
We’ll see if that’s still the plan.