Z Rock

This show is great! Z Rock has a simple concept. It's a show about three guy's and their agent trying to make it big as a rock band. They get good gigs, they screw up, meet some famous people, screw up again, and display a realistic look on how it is to really try to start a rock band in real life. This show has a lot of nice celebrity appearances. From Joan Rivers to Dave Navarro, the show is enjoyable and is being supported by some big names in the business. The music by the band, although not great, is catchy and can keep any real musicians interested. The acting is very good and unique - the show is not scripted. The actors get to say what they want to make it feel more natural and I have to say it works!

One thing that hurts this show is it's on an unknown channel. IFC is an unknown upper channel that half the people that actually own probably don't know they own it. But that is no reason to bring it down. It's an unscripted, uncensored, uninterrupted show that I would pick any day over a local channel TV show. I don't have much more to add but for anyone that has IFC to watch this show! DirecTV users can tune into 550 every Tuesday night and check this show out, along with another great line up of shows before and after Z Rock.

It is what is is folks: a look inside the life of kiddie music/aspiring rock stars, ZO2. And it's hilarious. There are moments that will make the prudish wince and then laugh awkwardly, there are moments that will have you rewinding your TiVo because you were laughing too hard to watch, and there are moments of edge of your seat suspense as you find yourself invested in the lives of these 3 boys from Brooklyn. Paired with the frank comedy of the loosely scripted format, the guest stars keep the energy at a fever pitch. And that's not even mentioning the MUSIC which you can hear live at a real life ZO2 show; these guys are NOT another Spinal Tap. ZO2 has been making music since long before the whisperings of a television series were even uttered. Much respect there. These guys are on their way to bigger things and we can only hope that Z-Rock will follow them along the way.

It fills the void that entourage is leaving. Love this show. Great premises and no one takes them selves seriously.The critic that gave a bad review should stick to stuff like Water for Elephants and understand that he does not get humor like this show. If your looking for some in depth Jack Kerouac on the road experience your in the wrong tree. This is a fun show. Hang out have a beer and your set. Watch the show and understand what it is. If you can't do that you should be watching something else. By the second episode of season one your hooked and laughing. The tongue in cheek humor and situations is great.I'am up to season 2 and ebaying the next seasons as its on

This "Three Stooges meets Spinal Tap" mashup is rapidly turning into one of the funniest half hours on television. In the grand tradition of partially scripted comedies like "Curb Your Enthusiam", just give 'em a situation and turn 'em loose. The boys in the band are a laugh riot, (which is to their great advantage since the MUSICAL talents of the Z02-ers ain't gonna send AC/DC running for cover any time soon). Not-so-secret weapon Lynne Koplitz, playing the band's manager, steals every scene she's in. (Her "That's the way you christen a van" in the mini-Kiss episode has to be one of the funniest lines ever delivered on TV). The producers, god love 'em, are smart enough to shoot on location at every real live music joint in and around the city that never sleeps, and have engaged the services of a herd of A-list rockers looking to get their funny on as guest stars.

"Z-Rock" is well on its way to becoming the 2nd most important export in the history of Brooklyn (the original egg cream, of course, continues to hold down first place).

Network: IFC; Genre: Comedy; Content Rating: TV-MA (for profanity, simulated sex); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 – 4);

Seasons Reviewed: 1 season

"Z Rock" is the latest original offering from the Independent Film Channel that attempts to circle around something close to a comedy. It's my fault for getting a few smirks out of "The Business" for thinking that maybe IFC had a show in it with some ability to get a laugh. Stop me if you've heard this one. "Rock" is a single camera bit of double promotion in which the real life 3-man band of ZO2 stares as themselves, a fledging rock band trying to get a record deal suffering one indignity after another on their rise to fame and fortune, specifically being pigeon-holed for playing kids birthday parties.

With a premise stolen somewhere between "This is Spinal Tap" and HBO's "Flight of the Conchords", "Rock" is a lazy, lame, embarrassingly amateur and disgustingly self-indulgent enterprise for ZO2, which consists of brothers Paulie Z, David Z and drummer Joey C. These characters have no motivation beyond getting rich, famous, living in a mansion and getting lots of girls. The three guys were never meant for the front of the camera. They aren't actors, they talk in line readings, can't deliver a joke and the mind boggles to wonder who gave them the idea they were funny enough to star in their own comedy series.

Apparently somewhere, someone figured that these guys can't carry a series, which results in "Z Rock" being equally obnoxious in how celebrity guest star heavy it is. It's befuddling to wonder how in the world people like Dave Attell came to be in this thing. Dave Navarro guests as an increasingly psychotic version of himself (a celebrity playing on his own personal, different huh?) who can have any women he wants and goes after Joey's. Joan Rivers appears frequently as the cousin of their agent (terribly played by recognizable comic Lynne Koplitz) making "Rock" only the latest series trying to get us to believe that Joan Rivers is funny. Makes "Nip/Tuck" look good.

Of course, need I mention that "Flight of the Conchords" is not just funny, but one of the best comedies on TV. Great characters played by natural comedians, it's also a musical show with catchy musical numbers. The music in Z-Rock in agonizing and much of it, like the show's sense of humor, leans toward cheap lame scatological humor. They want to look like hard core rockers and have to sing kid songs – get it, get it? Ug.

Nothing here works. Nothing. Anything that even remotely appears to be a potentially humorous idea is botched by a cast that can't make anything they do not look rushed and staged and a director who appears to be fumbling around in the dark with no clue how to frame or pace a scene as to make sure there isn't a single laugh to be found. "Z Rock" isn't just unfunny, it is barely a show at all.

½ / 4