Thankfully, Showtime helped me out, and released the first episode of its newest original series early. Watch it!
Roadies is about a fictional band’s behind-the-scenes touring staff … from the production manager to security to the audio tech, it’s a show about the people who make live shows happen … and it’s gonna be your new fave. Here’s why.
The Cast
We are mostly following the story of three characters, Bill the tour manager played by Luke Wilson, Shelli the production manager played by Carla Gugino and Kelly Ann the lighting tech played by Imogen Poots.
Bill and Shelli seem to have a take no prisoners, casual missed connection, friendly-antagonism-that’s-really-unresolved-sexual-tension thing going on. They’re clearly intimate, clearly work off of each other’s strengths, but also have to force themselves NOT to admit how intimate they really are, how close they’ve become and what that means beyond professionalism. Luke Wilson and Carla Gugino are a whip-smart duo – delivering lines with an ease of talking over one another without being annoying or harsh. Despite the age jokes at Bill’s expense, not much is made of our central characters’ (and I’m assuming love interests’) age being beyond the Hollywood demarcation line of 36ish. It’s mature without being mature … because it’s also rock’n’roll.
We meet Kelly Ann on her last day with the band. She flies around on her skateboard, doing tasks that I don’t fully understand but am captivated by, wondering where her life is supposed to be taking her. She has a ticket to NYC to attend film school, mostly because she’s just not feeling the music anymore. After pep talks and bon voyage parties and passionate fights about ideologies … she makes the choice she really has always wanted to make.
There’s an awesome cast of characters: The awkward square who doesn’t know good music and represents evil corporate progress. The old-timer paragon of American Rock’n’Roll. The sex-crazed band-stalker with a restraining order. The aging sage. Ron White and Luis Guzmán and Keisha Castle-Hughes and Peter Cambor round out an incredibly watchable supporting cast.
The Music
The first episode opens with a Tom Petty quote, peppers in some Tangled Up in Blue and Landon Pigg and Futurecop! and Pearl Jam, and features Frightened Rabbit’s I Wish I Was Sober. (Good news for Sam Heughan’s fans … they know that one!) It’s exactly the kind of show that you rush out and buy the soundtrack to (or congratulate yourself on already knowing and owning every track you hear). As the brain child of Cameron Crowe, this show feels like an extension of Almost Famous and promises to be another love letter to music. The Head and the Heart make a guest appearance as the opening act, and more real bands are promised to show up as the seasons progresses.
The Truisms
Because what is a Cameron Crowe project about music and family and finding yourself without perfectly placed t-shirt slogans.
“You need two things to survive in life: oxygen and family.”
“Everybody’s got a name, not everybody’s got a vibe.”
“Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix didn’t die to become a crop top in Urban Outfitters.” (I need this ON a crop top immediately)
“I have to be a fan of something or I’m useless.”
This show is endlessly quotable … and wearable.
