Can anyone save â€˜Smashâ€™?

Sometimes the damage to a TV show, through bad creative decisions at the top, cannot be undone.

Consider the case of NBC's "Smash."

The behind-the-scenes Broadway musical drama was promoted last year with great fanfare and a break-the-bank party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had anA-list pedigree (Steven Spielberg, the producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron), original music and a cast stocked with Broadway pros (Megan Hilty, Christian Borle), a movie star (Anjelica Huston) and one "American Idol" runner- up (Katharine McPhee).

The show premiered after "The Voice" with delightful ratings — 11.2 million viewers — that dwindled as viewers got bored with inane subplots that included a pregnancy scare for a middle-aged female character.

Will Hart/NBC

DOUBLE TROUBLE: "Smash" stars Megan Hilty (left) and Katharine McPhee are singing the blues on NBC.

How do you sing that?

The show's creator, playwright Theresa Rebeck, exited, stage left.

When "Smash" returned with a new executive producer, Joshua Safran — charged with retooling the show — hopes were high that the talent was there to sell it to the audience. But viewers never came back, and the message was clear: that a great opportunity to create the ultimate New York show was wasted. Without "The Voice" as a lead-in, ratings tumbled a staggering 71 percent from the season-one premiere and 39 percent below the season-one finale.

Now, "Smash" may not get a curtain call. This past Tuesday's episode saw further erosion — an additional 25 percent of viewers, a series low.

"Smash" is currently in production for three more weeks at studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens.