TV; Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll Press Premier Episodes And Q&A @ Webster Hall, NYC 6/23/15

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Dennis LearyGod knows there is plenty of original programming coming at us from network T.V., H.B.O & Showtime and other cable networks, as well as Netflix’s most popular offerings. Now, Denis Leary is throwing his hat into the ring with his new half hour Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll series that begins 7/16 on FX. A small cadre of press were invited to view the first three episodes and sit in on a Q&A about it all at Webster Hall in NYC this past Tuesday.

Starring Elizabeth Gillies, John Ales, Bobby Kelly, John Corbett and Elaine Hendrix this show offers lots of laughs, some tight little dramatic moments and a big brew of music that Leary had a hand in writing, all running around the story of a self-destructive aging rock star (that’s Leary’s “Johnny Rock”) trying to start the career of his daughter “Gigi (played by Gillies). At the Q&A after the showing of the first three episodes, Leary related how really the background story for the show comes from observing musician buddies he has known and played with for years (Leary consistently performs his hit “Asshole” on stage and has been playing/writing music for years with his band).

I liked how Leary understands half hour T.V. well enough to know that from the pilot he had to get things pretty much going from the minute the show begins. In what he told us all was a good amount of improvised dialogue, Leary takes a lot of big digs at big rock industry legends (Joan Jett actually shows up in episode 3), but not all the jokes land-some seem to try-too-hard for the sake of adding shock value to them-but one can’t help but love all the characters here (Robert Kelly was with Gillies and Leary at the Q&A making everyone roar as he recounted learning the drums for this roll that Leary actually wrote for him) and the quickness to the action.

Will Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll ‘have legs’ as they say, who knows? But from what I witnessed, the show is a half hour of fun.

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