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

Bobby Cannavale and Max Casella starred together in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

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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

"Let's list every 70's rock cliché you can think of and then weave a script around it."

Record boss Richie Finestra (Bobby Cannavale) senses his company is on the brink of bankruptcy due to poor sales and failing acts, but salivation may be at hand via a buy out from a German record company. However that might be the least of his problems...

This is a mishmash of fact, fiction, fable and myth and not a documentary. For a start The New York Dolls seem to be very popular (as if!) and punk rock seems to have happened years before it did. Fine, but Peter Grant supported Led Zep and didn't take second best for them. He got loud when he needed to, but he wasn't the bull-in-a-china-shop shown here.

(Don't get me started on the guy playing Robert Plant's accent!)

How many times do we want to hear the same stories/clichés about rock and roll? While I love it, you have to say it is a bit pathetic in print. Alexander The Great conquered the most of the known world by the time he was thirty, Keith Richards - meanwhile - had written Satisfaction and stuck lots of needles in his arms.

To return to the plot. Between the clichés Cannavale chews a lot of curtains about what is going to happen to others. The man has a heart - or is it more of a heart than the other sharks and pimps?

The central problem with flashback is that when the actor is already middle-aged you have to think he would be a pensioner by the time the seventies rolled around. Is Cannavale the best casting they could do? Corruption and creative accounting are popular in the entertainment industry, but few people in it are actually morons. The Germans would look at the books and know what they are buying. They might not be as good with hookers, coke and making rock, but they can read an account book.

In all pilots various cans of worms are opened hoping that the money (HBO) will be intrigued and see millage. Few of them are anything to do with music or entertainment, because the behind-the-scenes industry isn't really that sexy or that interesting. The product is - but the people behind it are just people with computers sitting behind desks. They may like a bit of blow - but who really cares?