CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- At first, I didn't have strong feelings either way about "Smash," NBC's making-of-a-Broadway-show drama that debuts at 10 p.m. Monday. However, any interest I might have developed turned to irritation as I was bombarded with ad after ad after ad on the network - roughly one per commercial break for dramas and every other break for comedies for the past month.

Frankly, when I sat down to watch a sneak preview of the pilot earlier this week, I was fully expecting to hate it. I didn't, but it took most of the episode's 48 minutes to sway me from that direction.

It was the show's very last sequence -- a montage tracking all the players involved as they made their way to a callback audition -- that really caught my interest.

I thought to myself, "OK, now it's going to start picking up." Instead as the camera cut between the audition songs of the two potential actresses, the credits began to roll at the bottom of the screen.  I could have gotten sucked in earlier, perhaps when star Katharine McPhee was belting out Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" at an audition ... except that scene is featured so prominently in the overbearing ad campaign that it's lost all of its emotional power.

In all fairness, pilots aren't always exciting because they have a lot of groundwork to lay, but NBC is counting on this and "The Voice" to save its season, so it doesn't have the luxury of a slow start. It needs to hook viewers right off the bat, especially if it wants to take - and keep - viewers from its somewhat formidable competition: ABC's "Castle" and CBS' "Hawaii Five-0." The pilot just didn't do that for me.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not already writing the show off.

The season overview at the end showed enough pizzazz to make me want to tune in to at least a few more episodes. Plus, there are some definite bright spots, particularly British actor Raza Jaffrey as Karen's boyfriend, Dev, and the formidable Anjelica Huston as a Broadway producer, who made her mark in the pilot even without having much to do.

 I also like McPhee, who is new to me since I never saw her on "American Idol" (where she was runner up in season five). She can sing, of course, but she also nicely captures the naiveté, freshness and hopefulness of her character - a young, small town talent who dreams of making it as an actress in the Big Apple.

Her character's Broadway career seems to be off to a promising start, but we won't be able to tell for a few more weeks if McPhee's TV career will be following the same upward trajectory.

***

Series premieres: "I Just Want My Pants Back," 11 p.m. today, MTV (comedy about a slacker navigating post-college life in NYC); "How to Rock," 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Nickelodeon (teen comedy about a girl singer and her band); "The River," 9 p.m. Tuesday, ABC (sci-fi/horror mystery about a missing Amazon adventurer and the family and documentary team out to find him); "Vegas Stripped," 10 p.m. Wednesday, Travel Channel (inner workings of a Vegas resort).

Season premieres: "Who Do You Think You Are?" 8 p.m. Friday, NBC; "The Voice," 10 p.m. Sunday, NBC (time approximate; premieres after Super Bowl); "Jersey Couture," 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oxygen; "The Real Housewives of Orange County," 9 p.m. Tuesday, Bravo.

Revival:"Person to Person," 8 p.m. Wednesday, CBS (an updated version of the Edward R. Murrow interview show that will air on an occasional basis).

Super Bowl specials:"Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam," 9 p.m. today, VH1 (with Gym Class Heroes, All-American Rejects and B.o.B.); "NFL Honors," 9 p.m. Saturday, NBC (awards show);"Puppy Bowl VIII," 3 p.m. Sunday, Animal Planet (repeats every two hours until 3 a.m.); pre-game coverage starts at noon Sunday on NBC with kickoff at approximately 6:25 p.m.

Super Bowl Sunday marathons (listed in order of start time): "Law & Order," 4 a.m. to 11 p.m., TNT; various "Real Housewives," 8:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Bravo; "Law & Order: SVU," 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., USA; "Being Human," 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Syfy; "Reed Between the Lines," 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., BET (complete first season);"Absolutely Fabulous," 10 a.m. to 6 a.m., BBC America; "Phineas and Ferb," 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Disney XD; "Sex and the City," 3 to 11 p.m., E!; "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team," 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., CMT.

Specials: "Love Etc.," 8 p.m. today, OWN (documentary follows five relationships over a year's time); "CMT Crossroads: Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood," 11 p.m. Saturday, VH1.

Of note: "NCIS" marks its 200th episode, 8 p.m. Tuesday, CBS; the Hollywood round begins on "American Idol," 8 p.m. Wednesday, Fox.

Reach Amy Robinson at flips...@wvgazette.com.