Smash: My Favorite New TV Show

American Idol's Katharine McPhee (did she REALLY come in second to that white-haired guy?), Broadway's Megan Hilty, Anjelica Huston, Debra Messing, and the sexy Jack Davenport.......what a cast!

Smash airs on Monday night's after The Voice on NBC (but I have seen them running it a second time on Saturday nights for those who missed it) and the critics agree with me: this show is amazing!

I just read the Us Weekly review and for once I am in total agreement. The magazine has given this tv show it's highest rating of four stars.

If you've ever walked out of a Broadway show fantasizing about what it would be like to make it big, the power of that dream only partly explains the irresistible pull of this drama. Katharine's voice alone will leave you starstruck.

Smash is about a group of theater people who come together to get a musical about Marilyn Monroe off the ground and onto Broadway (and by the way you don't have to be a Marilyn fan to be amazed by this show). Smash makes you fall in love the characters. There are the writers (played by Debra Messing and Christian Borle), the arrogant director (Jack Davenport) the producer (the great actress Anjelica Huston) and, best of all, the actresses fighting to star in the show.

There are two would-be Marilyns. Sweet-and-innocent Karen (Katharine McPhee) and veteran Broadway background dancer and sometimes-diva Ivy (Megan Hilty). Both of them have jaw-dropping talent and you can feel their passion and pain in trying to land (and keep) the starring role. And you see the desperation of exactly what takes place behind the scenes to get there.

Us Weekly describes it perfectly: "They dazzle in original musical numbers that feel bold and cinematic, not stagy like some of the routines on Glee. Smash weaves all of its burning questions, players' plights and wowza showstoppers with wit and excitement."

May this show last all the way to the Great White Way!