HBO's "The Idol" (Season 1)

[t6p]

The Idol focuses on Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp), an aspiring pop idol who, after having a nervous breakdown that causes her last tour to be canceled, resolves to reclaim her title as the sexiest pop star in America and begins a complex relationship with Tedros (Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye), a self-help guru and the head of a contemporary cult.

The Idol | Official Trailer | HBO - YouTube

[t6p]

I've been anticipating this show since they first teased it last year. I was concerned because of all the negative reviews, but the first episode didn't disappoint. Definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Anybody else watching?

[tcripe]

Im watching. Will keep watching but i wasnt blown away by any means. I will say The Weeknd looked like he walked off the set of a Matrix movie in this first episode lmao

[Tommy K]

I thought it was okay, I hope it gets better with the rest of the season, quite short with 5 episodes remaining. The debut only drew 913 thousand viewers, which its a bit of a downgrade from euphoria series premiere drew 1.1 million. Lily Rose is a hottie though

[Sawasdee1983]

I watched the first episode and I don't know yet if I will finish the first Season, because I didn't like any of the characters.
Everything felt like, they just what to provoke and nothing felt natural.

[BudBaxter]

It's never a good sign for me when I find myself wanting to fast forward through the opening shot. It just went on forever.

The leading lady is hot, I'll give her that, but most of the first episode was just awful people being awful to each other in a bunch or pretentiously 'arty' shots. & WTF was Hank Azaria's accent supposed to be?

Not for me. Next!

[eightslicesofpie]

I enjoyed the first ep, definitely interested in seeing where it goes

[JGCramp]

Originally Posted by BudBaxter

It's never a good sign for me when I find myself wanting to fast forward through the opening shot. It just went on forever.

The leading lady is hot, I'll give her that, but most of the first episode was just awful people being awful to each other in a bunch or pretentiously 'arty' shots. & WTF was Hank Azaria's accent supposed to be?

Not for me. Next!

Are you talking about that shot at the beginning of them filming the video as the one that went on forever? That went on for so long that I had already checked out and was working on a NYT crossword on my phone before that scene even ended.

It was good to see Dan Levy and Hank Azaria (fake accent aside), but that's pretty much all I can say about the first episode.

[Heinz-Klett]

Haha, my highlight was the very first long shot and I thought, that's a promising start, but afterwards it went downhill

[Lutz]

It’s got a bit of a THE NEON DEMON vibe going on. I wonder if it will go as balls to the wall as that did?

Also, more shows should have random set pieces with anal electro lol.

[pinballmaster]

The Weeknd's performance is bland and ick. Love the dudes music, but he's a really boring guy. Rose is the only thing interesting and it's only for the visual. Take her/nudity away and this has literally nothing going for it. The pacing is the worst part. Five minute superficial ideas are spread to an entire hour. It has the laziest writing I've ever heard in an HBO production. So much needs trimmed. Like both episodes could easily be 30 minute episodes. That's how much fat is there... Every character feels completely flat and empty. There's no synergy. What confuses me the most is The Weeknd has made tons of captivating music videos. Songs that just ooze everything you want this show to be, but it's missing all of that. It just feels lazy. I'm really curious where it all went wrong....

[kevin87]

Watched the first two episodes, some was interesting, like the music video shoot showing the mundane and non-glamorous parts of it all... but the rest has been meh. Sam Levinson seems to have bought into his own hype with the success of Euphoria, we'll see if he lives up to it with the remaining 4 episodes.

[KarmaNL]

I tend to not really like shows that have zero likeable characters in it, and this is one of them.

Pretty much everyone in it is extremely abnoxious...

That and the extremely stretched out premise is already started to get grating for me.

Girl has mental issues, everyone else wants to take advantage of her.. That's basically the whole show.

[Sawasdee1983]

After the Second Episode I decided, I am out.

I still hate every character, okay the scene with the bruises and the bloody Feet were intense, bit still the story ist totally boring and nudity isn't everything

[Tommy K]

Before the series even aired it was already getting bad press. I brushed it off thinking as typical critics, now I see why they slammed it. Just a lot of hype but with no teeth to it. I think Zaslav should write this off as a flop and not bother renewing it. At least The Gemstones is returning, that’s something worth watching.

[t6p]

Unpopular opinion it seems, but I'm still enjoying this. I thought episode 3 was the best so far and the dinner scene was well done.

Obviously it's over-the-top and not for everyone, but I'm entertained.

[SmartyPants1109]

Originally Posted by t6p

Unpopular opinion it seems, but I'm still enjoying this. I thought episode 3 was the best so far and the dinner scene was well done.

Obviously it's over-the-top and not for everyone, but I'm entertained.

Oh God..

[jan_tran]

Her house has been invaded by a cult and nobody in her inner circle (management, agency, friends) is helping her….

[Lutz]

I hope the twist in this is that nobody has bad intentions and everybody ends up just having fun sex and making great music together.

It’d be so refreshing to see a show that’s giving screen time to marginally less but still pretty conservative sex not have it be about trauma or abuse. I mean we’re near sixty years past the Hays Code, twice the time it was in use, but we’re still making film and TV where people are being punished for having a healthy sex life.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by Lutz

I hope the twist in this is that nobody has bad intentions and everybody ends up just having fun sex and making great music together.

It’d be so refreshing to see a show that’s giving screen time to marginally less but still pretty conservative sex not have it be about trauma or abuse. I mean we’re near sixty years past the Hays Code, twice the time it was in use, but we’re still making film and TV where people are being punished for having a healthy sex life.

Well, that pretty much won't happen after this episode, the end took it too far. And her saying "thanks for taking care of me," no... girl got stockholm syndrome. Dude is a creep wannabe cult leader and only her friendsistant is really all that concerned, maybe Hank Azaria and Da'Vine Joy Randolph's characters (I don't know anybody's names except Jocelyn and Tedros... what even are their jobs? her managers?) but they just didn't want to push it too far and turn it into a forbidden thing she wants to do more.

If this was more than 6 episodes, I'd drop it. But I'm halfway in, might as well get through it, but it's not a priority. Unless the last 3 are just great and she kicks his ass to the curb or something, I won't be back if there's a 2nd season.