Roadies

[danielmak]

We started talking about this show in the Vinyl thread. Now that the show is 3 episodes in I figured I'd start a separate thread. For me, this show is *way* better than Vinyl. I don't know if it will have enough legs to run more than one season, but so far each episode has had a unique plotline but also able to maintain some threads to to link one episode to the next.

As I noted in the Vinyl thread, the link to music (or the business of music) makes the show a bit more enticing to me compared to other plotline settings. I'd say that this 3rd episode was the best although there were a lot of aspects that seemed to mirror Almost Famous (e.g., the drugged blogger's stage crashing speech wasn't much different than the "I am a golden god" speech.

The one thing I would have preferred is if the show used a real band. I guess some of that might have blurred the lines between reality TV and a fictional show but at least we might have some better music in the show (although I did appreciate the appearance of The Replacements' "Talent Show" in the soundtrack). Or at least they could have put together a band of actors that could do some songs here and there a la the band in Laurel Canyon that basically did Sparklehorse songs.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Roadies

We're about half-way through the season now, and TBH, it's all a bit flat and very soapy. Do I really care whether Reg gets it on with Kelly-Ann or Janine? Or whether Shelli and Bill are going to find true romance? Not really. It's all extremely predictable and, I'm afraid, remarkably dull. Plot threads are stretched to almost Downton Abbey-like proportions, and not helped by the repetitive structure of each episode: Tour arrives in new city. Inspirational speech by Bill. Weekly Crisis, eg: Band member goes missing, old flame shows up. Song of the Day. Introduction and performance by (real) back-up band. Crisis is resolved. Rinse and repeat next week. It's hard to believe that a Rock tour could be really this boring.

Somewhere, at the intersection of overwrought (Vinyl) and bland (Roadies), lies a good series on the music industry, but it no one's found it yet.

[Calvert]

Roadies

I haven't seen this, and have zero intention of watching it, but rocknroll tours most definitely are boring.
To really capture the mind-numbing tedium, they should maybe show the endless hours of travelling in complete silence drifting in and out of consciousness punctuated only by the even worse hours of being tired but awake and sitting around doing nothing, but who'd want to watch that?

[Amor de Cosmos]

Roadies

I might. It'd be more interesting than Roadies.

[danielmak]

Roadies

I noted in my first post above that I wonder if this would have been a better movie than a series. Of course, a series makes more money for all involved I assume. Plus a movie might have been viewed as an Almost Famous re-do. Although, I generally agree with AdC, I think those general problems with plot structure relate to almost every romantic-drama/comedy/romantic comedy TV series. TV is just too repetitive. With all of that said, I am finding moments that I enjoy with this show. I liked the story about the curse affiliated with saying the C city on the bus. And I like the slight twists in personalities of the regular crew.

In terms of boredom, if I remember correctly that was the gist of the Radiohead doc that came out a few years back. But they were criticized for trying to glamorize that boredom.

Anyway, I'll keep watching because right now there's not much else on that interests me. I do think this is way better than Vinyl, although it's a different type of story, and it doesn't take much to be better than Vinyl. My guess is that if this fails that will be that for music-related TV series for a while.

[danielmak]

Roadies

The problems with this series were all pushed to the foreground in this final episode. 30 minutes of mediocre music interspersed with some story. It's sad that the best aspects of the show drifted away in this one. I don't know if it will be renewed but they're certainly going to need to do a lot of work if it comes back. I think the mini-series is showing to be a much more viable storytelling option these days: 8 episodes and out. If this series had been approached in that way, maybe it would have been stronger. Still, way better than Vinyl. I'm not messing with the hip hop Netflix series. The one good thing about Roadies compared to the Netflix one and Vinyl is that it existed in the present and so historical accuracy or inaccuracy did not get in the way. Nor was there a move to force something into the past. Anyway, this could have been better.