Vinyl 

A New York music executive in the 1970s hustles to make a career out of the city's diverse music scene.

Creators:

Rich Cohen, Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese

Stars:

Bobby Cannavale, Paul Ben-Victor, P.J. Byrne

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 7 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Bobby Cannavale	...	Richie Finestra 10 episodes, 2016
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Maury Gold 10 episodes, 2016
P.J. Byrne	...	Scott Levitt 10 episodes, 2016
Max Casella	...	Julie Silver 10 episodes, 2016
Ato Essandoh	...	Lester Grimes 10 episodes, 2016
James Jagger	...	Kip Stevens 10 episodes, 2016
J.C. MacKenzie	...	Skip Fontaine 10 episodes, 2016
Jack Quaid	...	Clark Morelle 10 episodes, 2016
Ray Romano	...	Zak Yankovich 10 episodes, 2016
Birgitte Hjort Sørensen	...	Ingrid 10 episodes, 2016
Juno Temple	...	Jamie Vine 10 episodes, 2016
Olivia Wilde	...	Devon Finestra 10 episodes, 2016
Susan Heyward	...	Cece 10 episodes, 2016
Emily Tremaine	...	Heather 10 episodes, 2016
MacKenzie Meehan	...	Penny 10 episodes, 2016
Griffin Newman	...	Casper 10 episodes, 2016
Ephraim Sykes	...	Marvin 9 episodes, 2016
Thomas Gardner	...	Nolan / ... 9 episodes, 2016
Jack Doyle Smith	...	Otto / ... 9 episodes, 2016
Annie Parisse	...	Andrea Zito 8 episodes, 2016
Bo Dietl	...	Joe Corso 6 episodes, 2016
Jason Cottle	...	Detective Whorisky 6 episodes, 2016
Jay Klaitz	...	Hal Underwood 6 episodes, 2016
Belle Smith	...	Jenna Finestra 6 episodes, 2016
Michael Drayer	...	Detective Renk 5 episodes, 2016
Armen Garo	...	Corrado Galasso 5 episodes, 2016
Alex Bento	...	Ronnie Finestra 5 episodes, 2016
Robert Funaro	...	Tony Del Greco 5 episodes, 2016
Dustin Payseur	...	Duck / ... 5 episodes, 2016

Storyline

Set in the early/mid-1970s, the life and times of a record executive, Richie Finestra (played by Bobby Cannavale). His record company, American Century, has fallen on hard times and he is busy negotiating its sale to Polygram Records. We see how he started in the industry, the start of his company, its ups and downs, the casualties of his progress and what rock music means to him. Meanwhile, he is also an accessory to a murder.

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Plot Keywords:

year 1973 | one word title | new york city | murder | hard times | 

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Taglines:

He didn't see the future. He heard it.

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vinyl

Filming Locations:

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sikelia Productions, Jagged Films, Cold Front Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Once it was decided to be developed as a TV show, Terence Winter wrote the pilot but his idea was to hand over the show to George Mastras because he was busy with Boardwalk Empire (2010). The show took so long to be made that Winter ended up running it because "Boardwalk Empire" finished on its own.

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Goofs

A EIKI 16mm film projector is incorrectly used. Any fully trained projectionist would notice the error, that when projecting forwards, the take-up reel correctly rotates clockwise, however the supply reel incorrectly rotates anti-clockwise. Always when screening movies on a film projector, for all 8mm/9.5mm/16mm/35mm/70mm motion picture films that are not on platters, the supply reel and the take-up reel rotate clockwise when projecting forwards, and on 8mm/9.5mm/16mm film projectors, the supply reel and the take-up reel rotate anti-clockwise when projecting the film in reverse.

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Connections

Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Anna Wintour/Eve/The Last Shadow Puppets/Fab Moretti (2016)

User Reviews

Haters Have Missed the Point

Let's be clear. This show is NOT an attempt in social realism. Nor, is it trying to present the viewer with an accurately documented history of the biggest rock stars of the 70's or actual industry insiders.

What it does do, is take an interesting idea, create fictional characters and look at how they behave and react against each other, while referencing real performers from the period. Vinyl is no more of an attempt to convince its audience that what it portrays really happened than say House of Cards is in presenting a factually accurate representation of a US President or the American political system. Once you accept that, you can sit back and enjoy the real story. It is the story of a 'record man', Richie, and his conflicts, his demons, his dreams, his selfishness and his inability to seemingly make any good choices. The characters, like the clothes from the period are flamboyant and loud and colourful. Clichéd? Sometimes yes, and that is partly why it does work. This is not straight a rock 'n roll drama, how could it be with so many interwoven scenes where 'stream of consciousness' musical performances suddenly interrupt the plot? There is plenty of humour here too - perhaps a nod from the creators that they don't take it all too seriously. There is also some subtle and clever historical references (no spoilers), such as a throwaway comment about a food buffet while Mamma Cass is in a background scene, and a scene following a Vegas performance where a clearly unwell but pre-heart attack Elvis rubs at his left arm.

It does not really matter that the rock stars portrayed do not mirror their real life counterparts as some reviewers on here seem to get upset about. They are incidental to the overall story and if the creators of this show had focused on that then this would have been a story about the greats of the 1970's music scene. Instead, we have something better, a fictionalised story that is set amidst the 1970's music scene. And it is a great story with good characters, over the top stories and excellent performances.