Review: Roadies - Season 1 Episode 01: 'Life Is a Carnival'
Everything seems forcibly rammed into the script in a jarring, ridged way in the first episode, unlike Cameron Crowe's very exceptional Almost Famous that hit the nail on the head in every right way and has become a rock and roll staple movie. Roadies feels a little more like a rock and roll afterthought in a generation where all we can come to expect from rock and roll is highlights in your hair, Vans shoes, studded messenger bags, awesome cups of coffee, and quarter life crisis that results in the all too narrow view that it's better to stay put than to really try anything else in life. It's the idea that if you were to just speak up in the most condescending way you can to your boss then you'll get exactly what you want. It's an attempt to roll the millennial stereotype into an hour debut. From a skateboarding chase down of a stalker-esque fan to puppy eyed romantic quips between two aging roadies about alcoholism, relationships, and life's great meaning. The script comes off about as stiff as eight month old Halloween candy.
I like the premise, but the script and actors didn't sell the debut episode and it leaves a lot to be desired. Roadies, unlike FX's Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, doesn't have the heart in it that it so desperately wants to wear on its sleeve. Also nobody goes for the gold in the way Dennis Leary does with his lead character on Sex & Drugs... and that show isn't even stellar; it just does more right than Roadies did in the debut episode. I will praise Machine Gun Kelly who turned in the best performance in the pilot with his character and I was pleasantly surprised that most of what he did worked. Imogene Poots plays the upfront, leading quarter life crisis backstage worker Kelly Ann. Her character feels pretty hollow and leaves a lot to be desired. Poots herself wasn't all together terrible in the role, at times her character borders somewhere in vibe between Scarlett Johansson in Lost And Translation and the Olsen Twins in New York Minute. In other words the writing wanted you to take everything she did so seriously, but it ultimately came off really cheesy and terribly preachy in an unauthentic way. The middle age "mom and pop" road dogs played by Carla Gugino and Luke Wilson felt pretty typical. The old "we messed it all up, continue to do so, but hey it's a great and terrible time while we do it," and "oh shucks lets keep doing it that way". Now I give it up to Gugino and Wilson whose lame duck characters are only given life by the actors themselves. If these two were cast poorly then these characters would have felt like bigger duds. They save their characters enough to give them life and probably convince viewers to stay interested in the two of them enough for episode two.
Even if the overall acting and debut episode felt slightly underwhelming the theme and idea behind the show could prove successful. That is if the writers and actors are able to make the viewers believe in the idea that we have a real rock'n'roll crew behind the scenes with real passion in their heart managing a bunch of neo-hipster bands that sound about as far from the rock style that they are trying to portray, as one can expect. We might just get a neat show that merges Empire Records and Almost Famous together in a cool way. The potential is here for the show to pick up and I'm hoping as the season goes on that the remaining episodes feel a little more loose and flow better. Everything was so crammed into this first episode that it was tough to find a ton of flow. They do have an overall solid cast and potential for good comedic tone throughout the debut season. The first episode didn't set the show off very well, but the following episodes could prove to be much better. There were a few good moments here and there. Ron White's appearance in the first episode and most of the scenes he had displayed where this show could go in a good direction. His philosophical rant to total meltdown was pretty funny and probably really indicative of some of these old grandfather road dogs you see managing festivals, tours, etc...
At this point we've seen a million "rock lifestyle" shows and movies and when it doesn't feel authentic it loses footing fast. Look at HBO's lame duck attempt with last season's now cancelled Vinyl. To be fair Roadies does beat Vinyl's dull debut two hour episode by quite a bit. In fact I'd rather watch an entire season of Roadies before I could stomach one or two episodes of Vinyl (once again more about the writing and story and not the actors). I'm not a hundred percent sold on the show, but I am interested to see where it goes and I'm willing to stay tuned for a few more episodes to see if the show can find its footing. If I had to give this debut episode a score out of 10 I'd land somewhere in the 5.8-6 area. It is not great, not awful, and not bad enough to see me tune out indefinitely. I'm willing to see where this goes and I think a lot of viewers will probably think the same way. I think that's a success for the show, at least for now.
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