Smash

one of the decade's best, Smash is currently streaming in the US on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock Premium with a 6/10 audience score that speaks for itself. 32 episodes — the right length to tell the story it is telling. Television that earns its era label is rarer than the number of shows attempting it suggests — most of what gets called prestige TV is really just expensive TV. Smash is one of the genuine examples: the craft is there in the writing, the performances, and the way it handles its subject matter. Katharine McPhee's involvement signals the kind of production that attracts serious talent and uses it properly. Available now on streaming — no excuses left for not watching it.

Smash takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. Celebrating the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater, following a cross section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire - to be a "Smash." Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. The series ran for 2 seasons (2012–2013), building a story that gave its audience time to invest properly. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping every episode in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

The show you recommend to people who say they do not really watch TV. Smash tends to convert them. The complete run is available and worth treating as a single long film if your schedule allows. The quality of the character writing is the reason it holds up on rewatch, when you can see the groundwork being laid in early episodes for things that only pay off much later. The patience it asks of you in the early episodes is paid back with interest. Katharine McPhee is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record.