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‘Smash’ will return, but showrunner Theresa Rebeck departs

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The show might be going on for ‘Smash,’ with NBC announcing Thursday that the rookie drama has been renewed for a second season, but it seems the production will lose a key player in the process: Creator and executive producer Theresa Rebeck will depart as showrunner, sources close to the production confirmed.

The soapy direction of the show, which offers an insider’s look at the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, has been a point of contention for some. Affairs! A missing notebook! A teenage boy devastated that he won’t be getting a young sister.

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‘The show is a hit and I’m proud of my work,’ Rebeck said Thursday in a statement to Show Tracker.

Prior to the series debut in February, Rebeck talked about the pressures surrounding the show’s hype -- it was supposed to usher in a new dawn at NBC.

‘The pressure I feel is to make a great show,’ she said in January. ‘As a storyteller, I admire Charles Dickens and Charlie Chaplin — those people who wrote great, great stories that a lot of people love that had artistry and muscle. That’s what I want the show to be and that’s what I hope it is now. I’m not sure yet, if it is. We’ll see what people think.’

Production on the first season has already wrapped. Rebeck will remain an executive producer on the show. No word yet on who will replace Rebeck as showrunner and how it will affect the series’ direction.

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--Yvonne Villarreal

twitter.com/villarrealy

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