There were many, many problems with HBO’s bloated 70s-set dramaVinyl, but directorMartin Scorseseputs the blame on himself. The series had a budget of $100 million and big names behind the scenes, includingMick JaggerandBoardwalk Empire’sTerence Winter, the latter of whom served as the series' showrunner. Scorsese directed the two-hour pilot, but in speaking toTHRat the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday, that perhaps wasn’t enough:
“It was ultimately tragic for me because we tried for one year. I did the pilot. We tried for one year with HBO, but we couldn’t get the creative elements together. It was something that I realized, to make it right…I think I would have had to direct every episode and be there for the three to four years.”
I’m not sure that’sentirelytrue. While it can certainly help to have one director who can put their visual stamp on an entire season,Vinyl’s pilot also just … wasn’t that great. And thatwasScorsese. The show was too big and too messy from the start. After a year, HBO cancelled it, but even that premiere (with Scorsese’s name attached!) only drew 764,000 viewers – one of the smallest for an HBO premiere. HBO also later cut ties winter Winter over creative differences before throwing in the towel on Season 2.
“If you do it, you do it right like [Paolo] Sorrentino does,” Scorsese said ofThe Young Pope. “You do everything. You do it all…If you don’t (want to make that commitment), you shouldn’t be making the series.” As the piece also notes, he referencedBaz Luhrmann’s cancelled musical seriesThe Get Downon Netflix as another example.
Of course, there are farmoreexamples of series that don’t have one director throughout or a director/showrunner combo that are extremely successful and run for a long time. It takes a particular kind of alchemy, andVinyljust didn’t have it. It’s disappointing, sure, but it’s certainly not one person’s fault or a case where one tweak would have solved things.Vinylwas the opposite of a series likeDavid Simon’sThe Deuce,which weaves together powerful street-level character narratives to create a compelling portrait of 1970s New York. So yeah, ifVinylswore you off 70s-set series on HBO, don’t let it! Try outThe Deuceand pour one out for what could have been withVinyl.
