The pilot for the musical drama Vinyl is one of Martin Scorsese’s best films, an explosion of amplifier feedback, nose candy, wide-lapeled shirts, and borderline chaos; the next four episodes are almost as good, and on the basis of the first half-season, it already feels like the first new must-see series of 2016. It’s set in New York City in 1973, when crime was rampant, rock and roll was sputtering, disco was ascendant, and hip-hop was in its embryonic stage. Its main character, Italian-American record producer Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale), is a consummate Scorsese hero-narrator-scumbag, furtive, wild-eyed, and sweaty, a compulsive liar, a man of bottomless hunger and unrealistic dreams. He’s trying to shepherd the sale of his label, American Century Music, to the German media conglomerate Polygram while staying up for days at a stretch and partying with clients who double as connections. “I’m in a business
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