With the title Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, you know a new series is going to raise some eyebrows.
Add the frequently brash and blue Denis Leary, the brains behind the brilliant seven seasons of Rescue Me, and you're guaranteed an adult offering that I found to be surprisingly fresh and entertaining. At least for the three episodes I've seen.
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll debuts at 9 p.m. today on FX. Leary is not only the star and creator of the half-hour dark comedy, he's the executive producer, writer, director and composer of all the music.
In the series, Leary plays washed-up rocker Johnny Rock, lead singer of a legendary early '90s New York band called The Heathens.
In their day, The Heathens lived up to their name. They played hard and partied hard. So hard that even the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards thought they should tone it down.
Their frenetic live shows were legendary and The Heathens were on the brink of becoming really huge with the release of their first album.
However, on the day their album debuted, the band broke up because lead guitarist Flash (John Corbett, Northern Exposure) found Johnny in bed with his wife. In fact, in Johnny's life of hedonistic excess, he had a habit of sleeping with all the fiancees and girlfriends of bandmates.
So the band became famous for self-destructing sooner than any group in rock 'n' roll history.
Their 15 minutes were over. (Flash, however, stayed in the business by playing in Lady Gaga's band.)
FX winks and tells us, "Twenty-five years later, the only thing bigger than Johnny's ego is his prostate. The drugs he really needs now aren't cocaine and marijuana -- they're Crestor, Cymbalta and Cialis."
When we first meet him, Johnny is out of work, out of money and out of options.
Enter a talented young singer named Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) with a passionate desire to be famous. She has an unusual appreciation for The Heathens' only album, and a wad of cash big enough to bring the whole band back into the studio.
Only this time, she's to be the lead singer and Johnny's just a behind-the-scenes songwriter. Seeing a shot at a sort of redemption, Johnny sweet-talks his former bandmates, reunites the group and dives back into the music scene.
Oh, yeah. One important detail: Johnny finds out after he hits on Gigi at a bar that she's the long-lost daughter he never knew he had.
Ouch.
Also starring as members of Johnny's dysfunctional rock family are John Ales, Bobby Kelly and Elaine Hendrix as, in order, Rehab the bass player, Bam Bam the drummer and Ava the back-up singer.
But keep your eye on the scene-stealing Gillies. Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll should go down as her break-out role.
The talented 21-year-old already has a following from her days as Jade West on the Nickelodeon series Victorious, but Gigi's plunging necklines, provocative outfits and sassy attitude quickly remind us we aren't on Nickelodeon anymore.
Best of all, Gillies doesn't just look the part (she'll remind some of Amy Lee of Evanescence), she has the pipes to pull this off. Gillies made her Broadway debut at age 15 in the musical 13.
Being a real singer is important because all the vocals were recorded live on the set as Leary insisted because, "Any audience at home now knows if you're faking it."
The 57-year-old Leary told the Los Angeles Times, "[Gillies] is a real find. I knew I wanted my daughter to sing, actually be able to do live vocals, be funny, be able to act drama and do improv. Elizabeth can do it all."
Gigi also adds an important dimension to the series.
"It's about getting perspective on what fame is all about," Leary said. "The daughter wants to be famous, but wanting it isn't going to make her famous. And Johnny, who was famous, isn't going to be famous again. Ultimately, the most important thing in life is family."
In case you were wondering about Corbett, best known by some as Sarah Jessica Parker's boyfriend in Sex and the City, he is also an accomplished musician. The 54-year-old West Virginia native even has a couple of country music albums of his own.
Leary isn't faking it, either. He has been playing guitar since high school.
A 10-episode first season has been ordered by FX and they will feature cameos from real rock stars such as Dave Grohl and Joan Jett.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
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Weekend on 07/16/2015