Vinyl is a TV series co-created by Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. There are a few articles below about why the series wasn’t renewed for a second season.
Vinyl is fiction alright, but draws inspiration from real events and people. It is about a music executive and his partners, in the early 70s, who made their mark in the industry but now forced to sell their company to come out of the hole they dug themselves in. But all of them look forward to the silver lining—the moolah each one will get in the process. And then things go south. Almost killed in a building collapse accident, and having killed someone else in another accident, Richie (Bobby Cannavale) gets an epiphany and decides not to sell.
What follows is his tumultuous journey and his struggle with reality and imagination, full of drug induced highs and lows.
Overall, the series offers enough elements for fans of Martin Scorsese and old music, to keep them hooked. But things would have worked even better if it were a few episodes less, and if the other characters were allowed to unravel in flourish. Instead, all the supporting characters seem to get some good starts but somewhere during the course of the series, left stranded. Not to draw comparison, and giving enough respect to the writers and creators of Vinyl, Mad Men kind of an approach would have done the series much good, with every character’s backstory etched in wonderful detail, yet driving the whole plot and supporting the main character.
In Vinyl, the ever-drugged Richie is so away from the reality he cannot create some cohesiveness of feeling with other characters. He moves one step forward and retracts a dozen. He does manage a little bit towards end, especially in the last two episodes, which are infact the best of the lot, but it is a bit too late in the game.
Tailpiece: Just like his wife comes to know about the secret behind Richie going on the wagon again, how about audience does too…then, the second season would have had something to interest to build on? Guess, we will never know.
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