Fox's New Series Empire

Empire is an American musical drama television serious that debuted on January 7, 2015. The show is based on a hip hop music and entertainment company, Empire Enterprises, and the drama among the members of the founders of the company. They are all fighting to control the mass music company. It is shown every Wednesday for an hour, and has done so well that it is already renewed for a second season on January 17, 2015, only seven days after its television debut. The hit series is getting a lot of buzz on both music and television blogs.  Every show has a hook and ends in a nail biting cliffhanger that makes you wanting more!  It is only five episodes in and has quickly become my favorite television show. 

Empire is Fox's number 1 new show due in large part to Henson's captivating and unbelievable performance as the scorned and sassy ex-wife of music mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who returns to the picture after a 17-year jail stint to claim a stake in the entertainment empire she helped launch.
"She's the truth. She is the walking truth!" Henson said when asked what she thinks draws viewers to Cookie. "She spent 17 years living with some of the most horrible humans on earth. She has nothing to lose."
Fans immediately embraced Cookie for her honesty and fearlessness.  I also admire her determination and ambition, she is truly a role model- minus the jail part.
"You can't scare her," Henson said. "She's not scared of anything or anyone."

I would definitely recommend watching this show, it's very well made and there is a character for everyone to relate to! 

Broadway, Here I Come

Season 2 of NBC's musical-drama SMASH premiered 2 weeks ago, to an average size audience.  The premiere was a 2 hour spectacle full of guest starts like Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Tony winner Harvey Fierstein.  The show was largely revamped from last season's disastrous mess of characters that no one liked, story lines that were too ridiculous for soap operas, and writing that was so over the top even greeting card companies would have made fun of it.   Show creator and writer is Theresa Rebeck a well known playwright.  Add executive producer Steven Spielberg, actresses Debra Messing and Angelica Houston and you would think the show could survive right?  Well last weeks episode was rated an all time low for the series with 3.3 million viewers and .9 million in the 18-49 age range.  But what makes this show so undesirable?

A musical TV show is obviously a very difficult task to accomplish, having rarely been successful.  For example, Viva Laughlin, the Hugh Jackman casino themed musical TV show which was canceled after 2 episodes.  Smash aims to take viewers into the world of Broadway while following a young singer who dreams of singing on the big stage, as well as the crew and producers who try and turn their dream musical into a reality.  But this is no Glee where a bunch of 30 year old professionals attempt to play 16 year olds in a mis-fit Glee club.  This show uses real broadway experienced actors, performers and names in their show to really portray the world of show biz, in NYC.  It's sexy, sophisticated and the original music is phenomenal.  It's main song "Let Me Be Your Star" was nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy.  The music is written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (of Tony winning musical Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can)

So what makes this show so unlikable by viewers?  My guess would have to be the characters.  I can't say there is a character whom I wouldn't care if they died or were written out of the show.  They already have written a few characters off of the show since season 1, but they still have a lot more work to do if they plan on maintaining viewership.  I think characters are what keeps the audience for a Tv show, you come back each week to check in on your favorite characters.  They should be relatable and dynamic characters the audience can follow and cares about.  New to season 2 is Jeremy Jordan an Ithaca College grad.  He graduated IC with a BFA in musical theatre.  I'm so proud to see an Ithaca alum on the TV screen, even if I do happen to hate his character.  I think Smash needs to get it's act together before NBC cancels yet another one of it's shows.