VINYL

Maze Runner · Feb 20, 2016

Anybody watch the pilot? What did you think? I think it's got possibilities, but there were parts that to me were trite and predictable. At times it felt like they were presenting caricatures instead of characters. And I think there were many times when it was over the top. But maybe they'll get it together--the nice thing about serials.

Here's the trailer: http://www.hbo.com/vinyl/about/video/trailer

Axl Prose · Feb 21, 2016

You hit it pretty good. I enjoyed it enough to stick around and give it a chance.

Maze Runner · Feb 21, 2016

Yeah, the second installment is tonight, right? And this is a series, isn't it? Open-ended, I mean. At first I thought it was a mini-series. The funny thing is, or maybe not, but Andrew Dice Clay was a stand-out in the Pilot, I thought. Ha, reminds me what used to bug me about The Sopranos. Every time you latched onto a character's story line, the poor bastard would get whacked. Big Pussy Bompensiero.

Axl Prose · Feb 21, 2016

Yeah, Dice impressed me too. Mick's son impressed me as well. They say his role gets bigger over the next few episodes.

Maze Runner · Feb 21, 2016

Yeah, I didn't realize who he was at first. I knew Mick was behind it, but he sounds like him and resembles him. I don't know, Scorsese's directing, but not writing. Yet there were some of those trademark Scorsese scenes. I like Bobby Carnevale. I saw that thing he did with Pacino, Danny Collins, and thought he stole it. He is pushing it a little, but that's the tone. Maybe they'll settle in.

Axl Prose · Feb 21, 2016

I think it will settle in. Lots of backstory and building everything up so you know they kind of pushed it all at us at once. Like I said, I'm willing to stick around for awhile. I'm with you on Carnevale.

Maze Runner · Feb 21, 2016

Yeah, he wasn't on my radar before Danny Collins. Maybe he was a television star? He's good. The guy who did Dice Clay is an ex NYC cop. I'm blanking on his name.. Bo Something? He was in Goodfellas too.

Axl Prose · Feb 21, 2016

He was in Wolf of Wall Street too.

Maze Runner · Feb 21, 2016

Oh, can't place him in that.

Axl Prose · Feb 21, 2016

He played himself

playground · Mar 27, 2016

Just got up to episode three. So far so good. Does anyone have a feel for why that one artsy guy that painted a picture of Olivia Munn takes video recordings of her? Is that so he can later paint people based on their "natural" emotions or something?

Maze Runner · Apr 6, 2016

Just noticed this, playground. I've just about given up on this show, so forgot about this thread. Have missed a few installments. To me, it's frenetic. Everything at full speed and top emotional volume. Anyway, to answer your question, I'm pretty sure the guy you're talking about is supposed to be Andy Warhol. And why is he taking videos? Hey, he's Andy Warhol.

Celia Cyanide · Apr 10, 2016

And it's Olivia Wilde, not Olivia Munn.

I love this show. Can't get enough of it. Young Jagger is amazing, and I love to see the portrayals of real life artists. I especially liked the Alice Cooper episode.

playground · Apr 10, 2016

My apologies on the Munn mix-up.

So I am all caught up. I am enjoying it, I feel it is a normal HBO show, but still fun to watch. I assume the young Jagger character is Kit (the Nasty Bits lead singer)? I liked their song they recorded the last episode.

I must say, I do really enjoy them having the look alike music legends. Who is the piano guy that they signed? I first assumed it would be Elton John, but then he drew the lightning bolt over his face.

TheJoker · Apr 13, 2016

Watched the last episode yesterday. The show starts like the 'Mad Men' of the music industry, but it's nothing like that. While the pace is slow and the characters are vivid, the subplots are simple; Cannavale's performance and the portrayal of the 70's scene soon become the main attraction.
It's not a bad show, but nothing fancier than a procedural.

Maze Runner · Apr 14, 2016

Hmm, all these positive reactions make me wonder if I haven't been unfair. Maybe I was expecting too much, given the people behind it and the subject matter. I really wanted to like this show. Maybe I need to give it another chance.

Mclesh · Apr 14, 2016

I started watching late, binge-watched a few episodes. I surprised myself with how hooked on it I became. I think it's mostly the music of the era--some really interesting pieces I haven't heard in years. Also the songs they play over the credits, like Conquistador by Procol Harem. I haven't heard that one since I was a kid! It's a little on the dark side, but Cannavale is great, as well as Olivia Wilde. And Ray Romano. He's a surprisingly good actor. (I loved him in Parenthood.)

Is the Nasty Bits' Kit young Jagger? I did not know that. He's convincing. I give the show a thumbs up.

Maze Runner · Apr 14, 2016

Yeah, James Jagger, I think it is. What am I missing here? It seems much ado about nothing--meaning, all kinds of action and emotional turmoil, but little narrative. And I realize that Richie Finestra (Carnevale) is going through a rough time, what with his business and marriage in jeopardy and SPOILER ALERT trying not to be charged with the murder of Dice Clay, whom I thought was great. As I say, I think I'll give it another go.

ETA: Oh, and I like most of the music too, but it is wall-to-wall. For me, just too much of it. Scorsese always has a lot of music in his stuff, and his taste is eclectic, but in this, I think the music gets in the way. I can see why they'd think they'd need a lot of it, given the premise.

playground · Apr 17, 2016

I don't feel the show is terrible. It is enjoyable but I think what hurts it is HBO has a formula for it's dramas and to me, I am kind of over that formula. Season one of True Detective was perfect for me in terms of what type of drama I wanted and it had little of the "HBO" feel.

Maze Runner · Apr 17, 2016

No, it's not terrible. That's what's kind of frustrating, 'cause I really wanted to like this show. When you say the HBO formula, I'm not sure what you mean. The Sopranos was HBO, wasn't it? I thought that was one of the best serials ever on TV. It had its action, but they weren't afraid to let it breathe a little. For me, this show feels overdone, in almost every way. But I just read that they've signed for another season, so they'll have a chance to get it right.

playground · Apr 17, 2016

Maze Runner said:
No, it's not terrible. That's what's kind of frustrating, 'cause I really wanted to like this show. When you say the HBO formula, I'm not sure what you mean. The Sopranos was HBO, wasn't it? I thought that was one of the best serials ever on TV. It had its action, but they weren't afraid to let it breathe a little. For me, this show feels overdone, in almost every way. But I just read that they've signed for another season, so they'll have a chance to get it right.

Never watched Sopranos (need to still). I just recently (say last two to three years) started watching current HBO shows from GoT, Ballers, Vinyl, True Detective, etc. and at least the new ones seem to have this feel of taking a concept and just pumping a ton of excessive drugs, nudity, and other things to make it seem more extreme. Some shows I think it is awesome for (i.e. Ballers, not saying it is a good show, far from it, but it is fun to watch with the excessive nature put with it) but others I feel it makes them seem like all their other shows (i.e. in this sense Vinyl.)

Kind of hard for me to explain, but all their dramas, recently at least, tend to have this dark and broody feel injected with sex and drugs. Now I don't mind sex and drugs in my show, but, I don't know, sometimes it feels like HBO is shoe-horning it in.

With that being said, as long as this show doesn't jump shark, I am invested to the end to see what happens.

Also INCREDIBLY excited to hear more of the piano artist.

Maze Runner · Apr 17, 2016

Oh, ok, I got it. Yeah, I've never seen any of those other shows you mentioned, and The Sopranos is going back a few years. My only thing, is believability. I understand they're (all of them are) trying to entertain. But when it crosses over into sensationalism it tires my ass out. I'm kinda caught up. Meaning, I've peeked at some of most of the last few episodes. But every time I have Richie Finestra is in another one of his primal scream states. I'll probably give it another shot. I think a new one's on tonight.

Celia Cyanide · Apr 21, 2016

playground said:
I must say, I do really enjoy them having the look alike music legends. Who is the piano guy that they signed? I first assumed it would be Elton John, but then he drew the lightning bolt over his face.

My first thought was that he was Jobriath, the first openly gay pop star, and the first mass marketed pop star. His album bombed horribly when it was released. He was name dropped for many years by people like Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux, and many claimed he was better than Bowie, even though he never was. They could say that simply because he was obscure, which made him hipper, and most people weren't familiar with his music and couldn't argue. He was obscure simply because he was never successful, not because his record label didn't put any money into promoting him, which they absolutely did.

Fans tend to blame homophobia on his lack of success, but I don't believe Jobriath was ever any good. He wasn't terrible, but his songs were forgettable. And from what I know of him, he just gave up. Bowie had released four albums and had exactly one hit before he released The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which finally made him a star. If he hadn't done that, he may have only been remembered as the guy who did that one weird song about the astronaut named Major Tom.

Here is an article about Jobriath, and the possibility that Xavier may be a nod to him, although I don't agree with the author that Jobriath was remarkable, or that he "should have been a superstar."

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/04/04/472983364/gay-glam-comes-to-hbo

playground · Apr 23, 2016

Finale was pretty good actually. It seemed more focused and not jumping between a bunch of plot lines which helped it immensely I feel. I liked the small nod to Freddie Mercury, pretty cool and the live show was shot really well, I hope we see more performances next season.

- - - Updated - - -

Celia Cyanide said:
My first thought was that he was Jobriath, the first openly gay pop star, and the first mass marketed pop star. His album bombed horribly when it was released. He was name dropped for many years by people like Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux, and many claimed he was better than Bowie, even though he never was. They could say that simply because he was obscure, which made him hipper, and most people weren't familiar with his music and couldn't argue. He was obscure simply because he was never successful, not because his record label didn't put any money into promoting him, which they absolutely did.

Fans tend to blame homophobia on his lack of success, but I don't believe Jobriath was ever any good. He wasn't terrible, but his songs were forgettable. And from what I know of him, he just gave up. Bowie had released four albums and had exactly one hit before he released The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, which finally made him a star. If he hadn't done that, he may have only been remembered as the guy who did that one weird song about the astronaut named Major Tom.

Here is an article about Jobriath, and the possibility that Xavier may be a nod to him, although I don't agree with the author that Jobriath was remarkable, or that he "should have been a superstar."

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/04/04/472983364/gay-glam-comes-to-hbo

Hmm, interesting. I will have to read the link.

Celia Cyanide · Apr 23, 2016

There are some songs on there. He was not as good a vocalist as the actor on the show.

VINYL

Maze Runner

Axl Prose

Maze Runner

Axl Prose

Maze Runner

Axl Prose

Maze Runner

Axl Prose

Maze Runner

Axl Prose

playground

Maze Runner

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

playground

TheJoker

Maze Runner

Mclesh

It's too hot

Maze Runner

playground

Maze Runner

playground

Maze Runner

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie

playground

Celia Cyanide

Joker Groupie