Television: Smash, "The Transfer"

Hit List is transferring to Broadway to give Bombshell a run for its money.

This is a nice way for the writers to satisfy both audience teams (Karen & Ivy): they both get Broadway shows! It also gives them a straight trajectory toward the next big tension point: instead of the competition being about who gets the role of Marilyn, it is now about who gets the Tony. Though Karen and Ivy have promised one another they will behave maturely no matter what happens. Doesn't mean anything, though, since they didn't pinky swear.

Another dramatic point: Julia being caught between both shows.

Alas, the move to Broadway has tripped up Anna as The Diva—she's making a lot of mistakes—and Derek decides to give Anna "a night off" and put in her understudy. Julia and Jimmy, on the other hand, feel the problem is the venue. Off Broadway the stages are on a level with the audience; on Broadway they are above, elevated—the world of the play is removed. Maybe Hit List doesn't translate so well because it's the kind of story that's meant to be close to the viewers.

Additional pressure: everyone always asking or saying whether the late, beloved Kyle would have wanted [fill in the blank].

Car commercial in the middle of the show.

Angling for more attention (and hopefully Tony noms), Tom is working on a revue for a gathering at the Oak Room. A blind item pinning Ivy with bad behavior and a leak to the press that Tom and Julia are splitting up . . . No such thing as bad publicity?

Jimmy and Julia decide to cull Kyle's old notecards to see if there's anything they can use to make Hit List's transfer any smoother. By using Kyle's ideas, no one feels bad for changing some of the book.

Meanwhile, Anna tells Karen her understudy (Daisy) may be blackmailing Derek to get Anna's role. (For those who may not remember, Daisy is the one who at one point had accused Derek of sexual harassment then apologized because being a snitch had come back to bite her and she'd been unable to land another part.) Turns out Daisy has a sex video of her and Derek that includes his promise she can be an understudy on Hit List, maybe even a star? So yeah. Blackmail.

This is kind of a sudden and stupid turn of events. Derek had been doing so well . . . Seems like the writers felt like they needed to do something more with him and this was the best they could come up with. (Or maybe they needed more for Anna? Is she still seeing Jimmy's brother? Guess not.)

Audience interaction via social networking . . . I've been reading about this in The Dramatist. How very timely of the writers to include it here.

We shouldn't have to listen to Debra Messing sing. Especially not a song about writers, over a montage. (Guess the writers wanted their own song? As a writer, I understand, but this wasn't a good song. I'll take "If I Could Just Get It on Paper" by Jimmy Buffett over this any day.)

As for all the press leaks: Eileen is the culprit (though Ivy believes it's Karen and their fragile truce falls apart; this is the downfall of not pinky swearing). Playing Bombshell up as Tom and Julia's last hurrah gives Tony voters impetus to vote for it, as if to reward a body of work epitomized in one final production.

With Hit List now ensconced on Broadway, Julia tells Jimmy she can no longer help him tool the show.

Oh, and Ivy is pregnant.