Beer-guzzling NFL fans might have been a tad confused when they tuned in to Sunday Night Football in recent weeks and saw promo after promo for NBC’s Broadway-themed drama Smash.

Off-brand as they might seem, the football plugs are part of a massive marketing and publicity push for the series about the making of a Marilyn Monroe stage musical. Smash, which premieres Feb. 6, is being peddled everywhere from art museums to macho sporting events to such male-dominated TV hubs as Golf Channel and G4. In fact, NBC chief Bob Greenblatt, eager for his first scripted success, has spent a surprising sum on off-network promotions for the Debra Messing-Katharine McPhee drama.

Although one well-placed source pegs the spend at about $22 million — double what premium cable networks typically allocate to promote a new series — NBC Entertainment marketing president Len Fogge, who followed Greenblatt from Showtime, vehemently refutes that figure, placing it at less than $10 million. “We’ve been very strategic in how we’ve spent the marketing dollars,” he tells THR, suggesting the Smash budget is below the high-water mark spent on heavily hyped 2010 flop The Event. “What I’m hoping is that our less-than-$10 million campaign, plus the NBC assets that have really stepped up to support us … feels like a much bigger campaign. We’re trying to make noise.”

The marketing deluge, which many describe as an “all-in” mentality at the network, has stretched to every corner of the Comcast universe, with promos appearing on Bravo, Oxygen and E! and the pilot available for free streaming on Comcast’s digital platforms as well as iTunes, American Airlines flights and such sites as RyanSeacrest.com and Hulu. In addition to elaborate, cable-style publicity materials, screening events have taken place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. And the show will be featured on TV’s biggest stage: NBC’s coverage of Feb. 5′s Super Bowl. (While they’re not performing, McPhee and co-star Megan Hilty will be in Indianapolis for events and photo ops.)

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On the set of NBC’s new musical drama “Smash,” “We’re doing a lot” to be green. “All the paper products are biodegradable. NBC is very concerned about that,” says writer/executive producer Theresa Rebeck. “We always recycle on the set,” adds Anjelica Huston. Debra Messing reads her scripts and rewrites electronically, using an app called Rehearsal 2. “It’s saving so much paper,” she notes. Megan Hilty does the same, and also drives a Ford Escape hybrid, and lives in an eco-friendly building in New York, where the show originates. “It has solar panels on the roof, and they recycle all the energy in the building. It lowered my energy bills,” she says.

Debuting Feb. 6, the buzzy (with good reason) backstage drama about the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe has a riveting who’ll-get-the-part? plot, great musical numbers, and lots of name talent on camera and behind the scenes. The show is the brainchild of Steven Spielberg, who assembled a team including musical theater vets Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and composer-lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Besides Huston, Messing, and Hilty, the cast includes Brian D’Arcy James, Jack Davenport and “American Idol” alumna Katharine McPhee as Hilty’s rival for the musical’s lead role.

“When I got the script I couldn’t put it down. I knew immediately that it was a once in a lifetime thing. I had to play this character,” says Messing, whose vow never to do an hour-long drama, not to mention one that meant relocating to New York, went out the window. She was drawn to both the career and home life aspects of songwriter Julia Houston, “who is very passionate about her creative life and also a proud mother and wants that balance. I love that nothing is simple.”

Hilty was similarly enthralled with the role of Ivy Lynn, and the idea of playing the iconic Monroe. “Her story is one of tragedy, heartbreak, glamour, love, and all things that make for great drama, all things that people want to watch and are intrigued by, which is why we’re still talking about her today,” she says, opining that “Smash” “sets the stage for high drama, because the adrenaline’s going and the stakes are so high. This show definitely taps into all of those things.”

Huston wasn’t looking to do a series when the offer came her way, but she couldn’t turn down the role of producer Eileen Rand. “She’s real woman working in a man’s world. It’s not just a black and white character. There’s a lot of grey area with her. Is she a b*tch? Yeah, she’s a b*tch,” laughs the Oscar winner, who was eager to work “with the best of the best. I’d be a fool not to participate.”

Huston, a dedicated PETA supporter, has spoken out against the commercial use of great apes in the entertainment industry. “They really don’t like acting,” she says, and made a video for PETA explaining that. “Chimpanzees and orangutans belong in rain forests, where they can build nests, forage for natural foods, make and use tools, groom each other, and raise families,” she says in the PSA. “Using great apes in TV, movies, and advertising … causes a lifetime of suffering.”

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I’ve replaced some of the Smash promos with great High Quality versions, enjoy!

Gallery Links:
Television Works > Smash (2011) > Season 1 > Promos

I’ve added some new pictures of Debra on the set of Smash from January 26th.

Gallery Links:
Television Works > Smash (2011) > Season 1 > On Set – January 26th, 2012

Debra Messing is guesting ‘Live with Kelly‘ on February 6th, make sure to tune in!