© PA Images / Mark J. Terrill/AP
The Lincoln director - who helped devise the show and is also an exec producer - told Entertainment Weekly that he stands behind the show's divisive first season.
"Here's what's great about Smash - it's not a procedural, it's not medical, it's not cops, it's not legal eagles, it isn't a sitcom," he argued. "So it does defy what is commercial and popular today.
"But that's what [NBC Entertainment chairman] Bob Greenblatt wanted to do when he came in and was offered NBC. He wanted to take his cable sensibility and bring it to network television and I think he's succeeding admirably."
© NBC Universal
Smash is to undergo a revamp and cast overhaul for its second season, with Spielberg admitting that he was aware of the negative viewer reaction to now-axed characters such as Ellis (Jaime Cepero).
"I don't follow [the social media reaction] personally but I'm told everything," said the film-maker. "So I certainly knew about it, I just don't follow it."
He added: "I have a choice - I can either watch all the dailies or I can follow the social media. I can't do both."
Smash - with new cast member Jennifer Hudson - will return to NBC on February 5. The show will return to Sky Atlantic in the UK in July.
> Rosie O'Donnell to cameo in NBC's Smash
> Smash creator on show exit: "Don't f**k with the muse"
Watch a behind-the-scenes video on Smash season two below:
