Vinyl: Season One (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

The new Terence Winter/Martin Scorsese show starts on Sunday at 9 PM with a two-hour Scorsese directed pilot.

I love the time period, location and music so I'm pretty interested in this show.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Really looking forward to the premiere. Bobby Cannavale was a freaking mad man on season 3 of Boardwalk Empire and based on the previews it looks like his character in Vinyl will inhabit a similar space.

- Walter.

 

[MarkMel]

Scorsese, the 70's and music - I'm in. First episode was a good start!

 

[TravisR]

As I've said, I'm predisposed to be into this but I think it's really good.

If I didn't know about it, I'd have said that the building collapse was almost a fantasy sequence but that incident is (loosely) pulled from real life. If I remember correctly, a building where the New York Dolls played or practiced collapsed when another band and some people were in there but it wasn't during a concert.

 

[MarkMel]

You are correct. In the episode wrap up after the episode, they confirmed that the building collapsed and there was a band practicing there at the time - not the Dolls.

I do wish they could've used actual Zepplin tunes. Scorsese is usually really good with the music.

 

[TravisR]

You are correct. In the episode wrap up after the episode, they confirmed that the building collapsed and there was a band practicing there at the time - not the Dolls.

After my last post, I went to the HBO site and saw that. They have a cool behind the scenes mini-site for the show with videos, list of songs, pictures, real life locations and some info. https://www.vinylcuts.nyc/issue-00/issue-00-cover/

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I had high hopes (not as high as Richie) for this, but I'm not as invested in a story of how New York was ahead of the game on punk music. Not a brand of 'music' I care about, and not exactly what was burning up the charts or selling LPs in 1973. Those hotcakes were provided by Zep, Elton John, Wings, Cat Stevens, etc. for us mainstream radio listeners and consumers.

Still, I'll stick with the show because of its pedigree and because it's still a fascinating industry, and one that doesn't really need a gratuitous murder (in a scene almost directly stolen from the coke-scoring scene in "Boogie Nights") to keep our interests up.

I will add that I pitched a television series called "33 1/3" about the record business during my term in Hollywood, but never spun it into gold. Always knew it was a ripe topic, though.

 

[MarkMel]

Ah punk for me is it. I saw the Ramones a dozen times and I even played CBGBs with a punk band a couple of times.

 

[TravisR]

The cool thing about New York City at this time is that there was so much musical variety- rock, punk rock, disco, salsa, the very beginning of rap & DJing- that there's a lot of different music that the series can look at.

Also, the Ramones are the best band ever.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Renewed. Despite getting less than a third of the audience of True Detective (764k vs. 2.3 million)

 

[TravisR]

Renewed. Despite getting less than a third of the audience of True Detective (764k vs. 2.3 million)

The article that I saw said it was even well under the premiere numbers for The Leftovers and Treme. It did note that it was a holiday (even if people were at home, were they watching a drama about the 1970's music scene on Valentine's Day night?) and it was going against the return of The Walking Dead. Hopefully, the show can rebound from a terrible start and build an audience.

 

[mike caronia]

As a classic rock fan, and a huge Marty guy I was really looking forward to this. Found the premiere to be really meh. Great soundtrack. Excellent sites of NY in the 70s. Just didn't really connect with any of the characters, no one seems really likable...and I know that's not a prerequisite to enjoying a TV show (see: Breaking Bad)...don't know if I'll stick around much longer on this one. Premiere should have been an hour.

 

[Walter Kittel]

It took about 30 minutes for me to start getting into the show, but once I was there it really took off. (Seeing 'Raymond' kind of took me out of the show in Romano's first scene; but as it progressed I started seeing the character, not the actor.) Travis makes a good point about the diversity of music during that period; something the premiere dealt with very effectively (at least for me.) I recognized the Diceman's voice almost instantly but damn if 'Buck' Rogers didn't sort of look like Ron Jeremy. (I'm guessing deliberately.) Anyway, I'm on board.

- Walter.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Oh... so this is supposed to be a COMEDY (seeing episode 2).

 

[TravisR]

The scene with Devon (Olivia Wilde) and Andy Warhol had some great direction. They even noted it in the 'inside the episode' featurette.

I saw the Ramones a dozen times...

There was a subtle Joey Ramone cameo this week back when he was the singer for Sniper.

 

[MarkMel]

Nice catch! I liked the stuff with Alice Cooper too.

 

[MarkMel]

This past episode had Death! Excellent!

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

How much more do we now respect James Gandolfini's performance as the likeable anti-hero Tony Soprano after what Bobby Canavale is doing to Richie Finestra? Maybe it's the fact they make him a murderer in the first episode and it's all downhill from there, but killing Andrew Dice Clay's character was probably the ONLY decent thing he's done. And Cannavale just plays it so reckless and over the top there just is no bearing or possible point of relation. When he does a line of coke he reacts like he just did a fifth of amyl nitrate and exploding at the seams. Every reaction he does is just too too much. Not only do I not care about watching him anymore, I can't wait until the show pivots off his character or kills him (which, unfortunately, we know is not going to happen).

The musical bits are still somewhat entertaining. They mock a tryout English minstrel progressive band obviously modeled after Jethro Tull, but guess what, Jethro Tull was a yuugely successful band at the top of the album charts in 1973. Easily wiping the floor with anything Richie's label was supposedly putting out. And I recently bought a German import best of because I hadn't heard them in a while and, whoah, it really was a great progressive band with a unique sound still often imitated (Fleet Foxes anyone?).

I can't not watch this show because it's the music scene in 1973 (even if it's the very narrow New York music scene), but there is no character to remotely gravitate around for enduring interest yet, and the wax figure covers of classic performers of that time or earlier (Janis Joplin, Little Richard, Lou Reed) don't hold a candle to the originals. If you're going to break the fourth wall just inserting these random bits, why not use clips of the real artists to show another generation how much they were WORTHY of being remembered still. The carbon copies don't do it.

(Full Disclosure - 1973 was the first year I was ALL IN on music selling my entire Silver Age Marvel Comics collection to buy a high end stereo system; including $300 speakers after hearing Wings "Band On the Run" playing on them. It's true that comic collection would probably easily be worth more than $250,000 today since it included every Marvel Comic from 1962-1969 (including X-Men #1 worth more than $20,000 alone). On the plus side... I'm still listening to those speakers today.

 

[mattCR]

I'm really struggling with this one, and will likely stop watching. The note on Gandolfini is correct; the character or Richie is just not likable and it is almost impossible to relate to him. The preview for next week just made me eyeroll because we are suddenly bringing up a component that we dropped outright since episode one.

This show has a lot of potential in the direction it could go, but it comes off as really ham handed with characters that have no real motivation you can define.

I am more hopeful of the show "Roadies" which I think Showtime is doing later in the summer. Seeing the previews of that, I realize that may be the show I wished this was.

 

[Flashgear]

I wonder if I can stick with watching this show...honestly, so far, I struggle...I have limited nostalgia for the '70s, and I was 17 in 1973...I loved what I considered the best of the pop, rock, funk and r+b music of those days, but I detest the drug fueled music industry elite as depicted here...my own visceral reaction thus far...I can understand wanting to crack somebody over the head with a Grammy pulled off the shelf...I guess it's somewhat authentic '70s sleaze...I'm left wanting to take a quick shower after watching VINYL...this show needs some unexpected and compelling story development...

I think I understand the conceptual intent of telling this story...the things that should be interesting like cheating artists of their royalties, payola, mob influence etc...and thus far the sympathetic and interesting characters like Kip might be the only reason I watch...I found the character and music of "Hannibal" to be laughable...that guy is no Sly Stone, that's for sure...