Not Quite the "Smash" NBC Anticipated

Smash, the NBC musical drama produced by East Hampton resident Steven Spielberg and starring Hamptons star Debra Messing, returned to the small screen this month, on February 5, after a major creative overhaul. Unfortunately, ratings have slipped since last season and after three episodes they don’t appear to be rebounding.

The New York Times reports that ratings for the two-hour season premiere were 39 percent down from last year’s season finale and the show lost 60 percent viewership as compared to its pilot episode, which may have done especially well because it followed NBC‘s real “smash” hit The Voice.

Perhaps most upsetting for the show’s producers and cast, the season 2 premiere lost viewers throughout its two-hours. Smash had 5.2 million viewers tune in at 9 p.m., but that number dropped to 4.47 million at 9:30 p.m., 4.22 million at 10 p.m. and then bottomed out at 3.96 million by 10:30 p.m.

The New York Times also notes that ABC ran a special edition of The Bachelor against Smash that night, which was a strategic move that seemed to work.

This week’s episode, on February 19, hit an all time low for the series. Playbill.com reports that Nielsen scored the episode a .9 rating with viewers, which fell from the season premiere‘s score of 1.1. The series attracted 3.29 million viewers on Tuesday, while its second episode on February 12 had 4.47 million.