Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

You have to give this series a bit of time and the characters will slowly grow on you. In the initial few episodes the series focused on Denis Leary who plays the lead singer Johnny Rock for the over the hill gang rock band named the Heathens. He discovers that he has a daughter who also wants to be a rock star so who better to learn the ropes then from her dad, the legendary Johnny Rock. Gradually the series expands and each of the Heathens band members develops a personality of their own.

Johnny Rock's lead guitarist and song writer is Flash, played superbly by John Corbett. Episodes 5 and 6 are especially enlightening as the group seeks psychiatric help in episode 5 and in episode 6 the story line revolves around what tattoos mean to each of the group members.

Denis Leary admits to being an egotistical drug addicted rock star which is what it takes to stay on top of his game and keep his band together after so many years of a rock music legends top ten drought. Mrs. Shullivan and I have grown to enjoy the series episodes and with only four episodes of season one still remaining we are optimistic that the series will survive for a season 2. If you recall Denis Leary's previous hit series Rescue Me took a little bit of time before developing a dedicated audience and then went on for seven seasons.

I have upgraded my original rating from a 5 to a 7 and I took the time to write this review to tell other viewers to stick it out and you will find that the series will grow on you as it has on us. I am a bit worried though of what I am learning about the rock lingo such as avoiding "dog balls" by having surgery on my privates. What a hoot!

7/10 rating

I really loved Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll! I'm kinda sad the first season is over already. The best things about this show? First, Elizabeth Gillies as Gigi. She is a great talent, charming and beautiful. She portrays the different sides of Gigi very good and is a fantastic singer. Second, the music of this show is great. There are some really awesome songs like Animal and Complicated. Best is that they sing everything live on the episodes. Third, the story is hilarious. It is a great comedy, fast and rough and I laughed out aloud a lot watching it. Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll absolutely deserves a second season! I hope we get one next year with even more great music.

After watching the first episodes of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll I can say that this show has stolen my heart. The series is a comedy mixed with drama and music that at first looks like to be about an old rock band trying to get together but basically is most about the relations between the band members.

The casting is very well done, the chemistry is between the actors is great. Elizabeth Gillies who plays Gigi, makes the most impression in both acting and singing. She is a true talent and a great find by producer and actor Denis Leary.

The music part of the series is what makes it stand out from all other shows about bands and fame. All music was recorded live and this you see back in the episodes: it makes it look like you're watching a live concert. The live music makes it so much more believable and brings us back to a time where we had real music instead of auto tune. Gillies voice is phenomenal and shows that real music still is possible.

I love this new show! It is truly a great show with comedy, music and drama, almost too much to contain in just a half hour episodes. I understand that for some people the show seems too rough, but give it a chance because there's much more to this show than at first glance. The cast is very well chosen, they all interact great. Elizabeth Gillies is such a talent, she is an amazing actress and an even better (if that is possible) singer. Elaine Hendrix is great too and the smaller characters played by Robert Kelly and Joh Ales (Bam Bam & Rehab) are the funniest. I also love that you can actually get the music of the bands they play in the series is really on Itunes and Spotify under the name of the bands: The Assassins and The Heathens. Now it's just waiting for the Gigi & Assassins to produce an album and go on tour.

Denis Leary plays Johnny Rock - a manipulative, egomaniacal, Washed-up, womanizing, drug-addict rock legend who is loathed by other musicians and particularly his former band-mates. He continually attempts to revive his career and vents about the excesses of the music industry that are holding him back.

Formerly the front-man of the Heathens - a much loved late 1980s/early 1990s band Johnny has gradually ended up further back in his career than where he started as the series begins. His ultimate low-point comes when he puts the moves on Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) a woman young enough to be his daughter who actually turns out to be his daughter.

The hits keep on coming as she coerces him into re-forming the Heathens to serve as her own vehicle to pop stardom. Johnny is still on board to write songs with Flash (John Corbett) the former band-mate who despises him. But Gigi, who turns out to be ten times the singer her father ever was has displaced him as Heathens lead vocalist.

Johnny does his level best to be a father to his long-lost daughter whilst scheming to feed his substance abuse and to regain the momentum his career once had. Diplomacy remains far from his strong suit and as self-appointed arbiter/guardian of rock 'n' roll's legacy he pulls no punches (Like Leary's stand-up act).

A music historian with impeccable accuracy for someone whose mind has been blasted on booze and hard drugs for decades, his scathing criticisms and prescient observations strike with the accuracy of a stealth bomber. The show itself stages epic send-ups of rock star excess right down to the minutiae of the song-writing process which are absolutely side-splitting.

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll is nothing less than a brilliant satire of the music industry. The opportunities for mining a raunchier/grittier kind of humour that prime-time network TV won't touch make it a perfect sitcom for cable TV.

Denis Leary hasn't lost any of his bite as a writer and this show is a perfect outlet.