The same week that HBO cancelled its big name, high price rock ’n’ roll series “Vinyl” after one season, here comes a second premium cable series on the subject. Where one tipped the credibility scale on the excess of its drugs and violence, Cameron Crowe’s “Roadies” (Showtime, 10 p.m.) may tip the scale with sweetness and light.
Crowe still carries with him the utopian feel of rock tours he latched onto as a teen journalist for Rolling Stone that he expressed in his well-liked 2000 movie “Almost Famous” in a tale that almost seems outdated (aren’t the bigger tours now the dance and pop extravaganzas?).
Worse is that the two leads — Luke Wilson and Carla Gugino are not quite believable in their parts. You never get the sense they live for rock ’n’ roll, let alone even listen to it. But there are interesting smaller characters, played by Imogen Poots, Luis Guzman, Finesse Mitchell, Peter Cambor, Colson Baker and eventually, Rainn Wilson as an annoying journalist. That the most believable road dog, played by Ron White, is only seen briefly, is not a great sign.
Still, it manages to make these backstage characters somewhat likable, which is more than you could have said for those on “Vinyl.”