NBC's ambitious new show, Smash, premiered tonight.  The show that critics have been talking about for months is a show about two young women who both want to be a star.

Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle) are a Broadway composing team.  Despite promising to take a year off in order to adopt a baby with her husband, Julia gets inspired when Tom's assistant (Ellis) innocently mentions the idea of a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.  She and Tom decide to test the waters for the project and call upon a Broadway veteran named Ivy (Megan Hilty) to record a song from the new musical.  Ivy may have been on Broadway for many years, but she's spent most of her time in the chorus and wants to be a star.

Unfortunately, Ellis accidentally leaks a video of Ivy singing the song.  Fortunately, the reception to the song is favorable and Julia and Tom get swept up in the happy feeling that they may have a hit on their hands.

Eileen (Angelica Houston) is a successful Broadway producer who is going through an acrimonious divorce with her husband.  Despite the fact that a revival of My Fair Lady is in the works, she's forced to shut down the show when her producing funds are caught up in the divorce.  Instead, she approaches Tom and Julia about producing the Marilyn musical and suggests they bring in Derek Wills (Jack Davenport) to direct.  Julia is receptive to the idea, but Tom and Derek have...ahem, "creative differences".  Despite that, Eileen convinces Derek to prepare one number as a sort of audition for Tom and Julia.

Derek tackles the "baseball number", with Ivy in the role of Marilyn.  Julia is blown away by Derek's work and convinces Tom to take him on.  Then the search for Marilyn begins.  Despite Ivy being eager to take on the role, she's got stiff competition in unknown actress Karen (Katharine McPhee), who is trying to catch her first big break on Broadway while bussing tables during the day.  It's clear that Karen has the talent and catches Derek's eye, who is pushing for a certain type of "star quality" for the role.

In the end, both Ivy and Karen get callbacks for the role and the two of them duel it out in a fantastic performance of an original Smash song.  The girls both hit their final notes as the pilot of Smash comes to an end.  But which girl will secure the coveted role?

Smash continues with a new episode on February 13 at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC.  Do you think that Ivy or Karen will be cast as Marilyn in the next episode?  Vote on which girl deserves the role in the poll below.