Max - Sultan of Television: Vinyl: Drugs, Music, and Scorsese

Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors in modern cinema. In my opinion, his best movie is Goodfellas, showing off his style of characterization and moreover, introducing viewers to a foreign world in an incredibly fun fashion. His darker, more introspective movies like Taxi Driver and The Departed showed off his style for telling a more story-driven plot, and in the forty or so years that he has been working, Scorsese has risen to be one of the best known names in the industry. His first collaboration that would eventually bring Vinyl to life was the premiere of Boardwalk Empire, Terrence Winter's own show after graduating from The Sopranos. He stayed on as an executive producer, but for the most part, Empire was Winter's deal. However, after working on The Wolf of Wall Street together, the two, along with author Rich Cohen and all-star Mick Jagger, decided to create a new HBO show about the 1970's rock industry. This eventually came together to be Vinyl, starring Bobby Cannavale, one of the breakout stars from Boardwalk Empire.

The basic premise follows Cannavale as a record company executive, Richie Finestra, who, in 1973, is trying to sell his company to a German conglomerate, as most of the bands Finestra's label manages are stagnating. His coworkers and friends, led by Ray Romano as Zak Yankovich make up most of the supporting cast, along with his wife, Olivia Wilde, and a few musicians from Finestra's past and present. Richie is a cocaine addict, a heavy drinker, an egomaniac, a bit of an asshole, and in many ways, aside from womanizing, the classic HBO antihero. Once again, we find ourselves with a man in his late 30's/early 40's whose interesting profession is driving his life apart. However, as good as Cannavale is, the character isn't bringing a whole lot to the table that we haven't seen before. He's not layered as much as we immediately see Tony Soprano to be, he's not as cold or distant as Nucky Thompson, and he isn't as fascinating or as quotable as Al Swearengen. Cannavale does the best with what he's given, but Richie seems to be a more benevolent stock TV antihero.

The plot of the show, as well, seems to be a bit predictable and done before. We see Cannavale's past is littered with betrayal, something that will almost certainly come back to interact with his life in the present, his wife feels unwanted due to Richie's exciting job in the city, causing her to become reckless, his friends want to cash out and sell the company, inevitably causing conflict once he doesn't sell, and as the main plot of the season, we see a young punk band, The Nasty Bits, will become the pet project that will make the record label great again. This isn't to say that the steady hands of Scorsese and Winter won't make the show entertaining, but it's certainly not anything new or exciting. Now, the two are such masters that they could surprise me, but if these are in fact the main storylines of the season, along with a rather nonsensical homicide fueled by drugs, it could be a slow road to greatness for Vinyl.

With all of my complaints however, the upside of the show is as enormous as the downside. HBO rolled out the red carpet for Vinyl, allowing the show to have beautiful costume and set design, along with as many extras and songs as needed to get the 70's across to the viewer. It's a gorgeous show, especially in the pilot showing viewers just what TV can do given the budget. In a similar fashion to Boardwalk Empire, as a period piece, Vinyl is absolutely stunning. And, sort of like HBO's New Orleans drama Treme, there are long musical interludes to further give the feel of the place and time.

The debut episode ends with Richie, in a cocaine haze, attending a concert in which the building literally collapses as the band plays a song called "Personality Crisis." After the destruction, Richie rises from the dust to the street, now confident that he will build up his label instead of selling it, becoming the musical giant he once was. It's ridiculously on the nose, but it's still an effective plot device, setting the show off in an explosive fashion. However, like the building, is it possible that Vinyl could also implode? Most definitely. Underneath all of the glitz and glamour, as the show progresses, it'll be interesting if it can find its own voice, instead of borrowing from past Scorsese and Winter projects. If every episode becomes another expensive, drugged out, trip down Rock and Roll memory lane, the surface will shatter to reveal an ultimately hollow program. But, if the characters and plot are sharpened and improved upon, Vinyl still has a shot to go down in the annals of TV history as a great. It's only a pilot, after all.