VINYL Not as Worn as First Appears

Article first published as VINYL Review on Seat42F.

HBO’s newest drama is VINYL, which premiered its two-hour pilot last night. Set in 1970s New York, the series is about the music industry and a particular era of rock ‘n’ roll music. While the main characters are fictional, the band names and music are mostly real. Created by Martin Scorsese, Terence Winter, Mick Jagger, and Rolling Stone contributing editor Rich Cohen, its bona fides are legit.

At the center of VINYL is Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale, Ant-Man, Nurse Jackie), an exec trying to sell his struggling company. Richie once had a real love of music, as viewers get to see in flashbacks peppered throughout the installment, but now he’s older and settled. Married to Devon (Olivia Wilde, Rush, House), Richie seems ready to get away from the chaos and cacophony. Were he able to get back to what he loved about the art form, he might stick around, but surrounded by business crap, he’s ready to be done. If he can just make one last deal to get himself out.

Surrounding Richie is a delightful cast. Among those performers joining Bobby at the office are Ray Romano (Parenthood), Max Casella (Inside Llewyn Davis), P.J. Byrne (The Wolf of Wall Street), and Juno Temple (Maleficent). With this ensemble, I would watch just about any series they choose to do.

Despite this, though, like Winter and Scorses’s last HBO show, Boardwalk Empire, VINYL starts slow. Really slow. After hour one, I started distractedly playing games on my phone. I feel bad that I wasn’t giving the show my full attention, but it doesn’t seem like anything very interesting is happening, and that is disappointing, considering everything the series has going for it. Richie is boring and the flashbacks don’t really add anything to the present-day storyline, other than to flesh Richie out a bit. It feels tired.

However, late in the second hour, things really take a turn. Part of it is Andrew Dice Clay’s (Entourage, Blue Jasmine) character and the events surrounding him. But part of it is that who Richie truly is comes to the surface.

Richie isn’t the bland, typical personality one thinks he is at first. We see him doing drugs and lying to his wife, and it’s easy to pigeonhole him as just another blowhard in a crazy world who puts himself first and gives into his passions. Except, he’s not, and once that is realized, VINYL comes to life. Once we’re able to see that Richie really does love Devon and is trying to do right by her; once we see the pressure he is under and how much he struggles to cope with it; that’s when the series becomes unique and fresh and makes its mark.

I find myself wondering if there is anything VINYL could have done to hook viewers in sooner. I mean, the music is great from the start, and that is what first interests me, before the story starts to drag. Some of the supporting characters are also intriguing, but aren’t in it as much as Richie, and so get forgotten between scenes. But could the audience have understood Richie and his world without getting all the set up first, even if the set up didn’t play out as entertaining as it should have?

In the end, I have a hard time judging VINYL harshly, and actually want to go back and re-watch it more closely. By the credits of the premiere, I am fully on board with VINYL. It just takes awhile to get there. Had the show done a traditional single-hour kick off, it could easily have gotten skipped by me. But with the two-hour format, the program does its job and proves itself. If you tuned out early, go back and give it another chance. It’s worth it.

VINYL airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.

'Magic City' fails to cast a spell

Starz's newest series is Magic City, which officially premiered last night with "The Year of the Fin." Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Grey's Anatomy, Watchmen) runs a successful hotel in Miami Beach. But on New Year's Eve in 1958, his business is threatened by striking workers. Refusing to meet their demands because, after all, Ike has Sinatra coming, he turns to a mobster named Ben Diamond (Danny Huston, John Adams, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) to clean up the mess. Ben does so, however, what is the true cost to Ike of such an arrangement?

First of all, the setting looks fantastic. Period buildings, cars, and clothing come across as pitch perfect, really helping to capture the spirit and tone of the piece. All of the cigarettes and cigars being smoked add to the atmosphere, and there is no shortage of eye candy, both males and females, often nude. Morgan is great as the complicated protagonist who is essentially a good man doing bad things when pushed into a corner. Huston chews the scenery like a pro, making his villain deliciously evil.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of negatives about "The Year of the Fin." For one thing, most of the dialogue and music points to a cheesy noir style. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that Magic City takes itself way too seriously for cliché or goofiness to resonate properly. Many of the characters aren't distinctive or layered, especially the women. This may change in time, but that's not how they appear in the first episode.

It's tempting to give Magic City the benefit of the doubt. Like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire, the pilot is slow, setting things up with a few tasty bits to entice, but overall, not much movement, story-wise. And yet, those other series have established themselves as excellently made period pieces that grow in excitement, popularity, and quality with each season. Thus, one might expect Magic City to follow that path.

However, what's working against Magic City is the overall sense of a lack of depth. Much like the world the story takes place in, there is plenty of glitz and magic, but is there anything beneath it? Like hearing Sinatra but not seeing him, Magic City is like a facade of something great, but look behind it and you will see the sound stage. This is a first impression, and is subject to change (or not) depending on future installments.

Watch Magic City Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Starz.

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Boardwalk Empire is pretty good...

     HBO spent $65 millions dollars on Boardwalk Empire. Yes, that's right. Sixty-five million on a television series! They actually built the entire boardwalk of the title from scratch in Brooklyn, and worked hard to ensure that every detail of the show is authentic to the 1920s, when the story takes place. Although parts of it are fictional (the main character's last name is Thompson, while the real-life man who ran the boardwalk had the last name Johnson), much about Boardwalk Empire rings very true. And the production values paid off, as the sets, costumes, and scenery are fantastic.

     Sadly, however, I can only call the series pretty good. In the pilot, the plot meanders along, and much of the screen time doesn't advance the action. The dialogue is fun, but not much is memorably quotable. Steve Buscemi does a fair job in the primary role, and proves he can handle a television show. I know it's about time that he got top billing. Yet, I couldn't help but feel something was lacking. It could have been better. Reviewers who have seen more than one episode have suggested that perhaps Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot, is better at directing the big screen than the small, and future episodes with other directors flow better. I hope so, because this show has a lot riding on it, and I do want it to succeed.

     I hope my opening didn't scare you off from BE. There is much that is laudable, besides the setting. Buscemi plays Nucky Thompson, the treasurer who runs things on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. As the series begins, Prohibition has just begun, but Nucky is keeping the libations flowing liberally. He is also facing a bit of a crisis, as the world modernizes and he is a little slow to change with it.

     The biggest threat to Nucky is his loyal but ambitious driver, Jimmy Darmody, played excellently by Michael Pitt (Dawson's Creek). This week, Jimmy helped a very young Al Capone (Stephen Graham) topple the balance of power in Chicago. He gave a cut of his dealings to Nucky, but angered plenty of other people.

     The third apparent star of the show is Kelly Macdonald (Trainspotting) as Margaret, a love interest for Nucky. Clearly there is some deeper attraction for Nucky, something to do with his childhood and babies, that brings him closer to the pregnant Margaret, but his fascination with her continues after she loses the baby. Now that Nucky got rid of her abusive husband, I'm interested to see how the relationship develops.

     Boardwalk Empire has eleven more episodes in the can, and will air Sunday nights at 9pm on HBO. 

Article first published as Boardwalk Empire Is Pretty Good on Blogcritics.