Defying the judgment of Neon Boys punk rocker Richard Hell (who declared it both “boring” and “trash”), HBO is going back for another hit of Vinyl, Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter’s rock-infused follow-up to Boardwalk Empire. Co-produced by Mick Jagger—and featuring his son James as the lead singer of fake Brit-punk band “The Nasty Bits”—the series debuted last Sunday to muted ratings and mixed reviews, facts which apparently haven’t dissuaded the Home Box Office from giving it a stamp of second-season approval.
Focusing on Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, and Ray Romano as they struggle through a gritty, white, ’70s-punk version of Empire, the series sees Cannavale’s record executive Richie Finestra come to terms with the plight of trying to sell Donnie Osmond to Andrew Dice Clay and the American people, a plot which will now have a whole extra season in which to twist and grow. This, despite the fact that its premiere had lower ratings than any major HBO debut in recent years, coming in below True Detective, The Leftovers, and The Newsroom. (It’s possible the low numbers were just because everyone was out either dating or binge drinking their way through Valentine’s Day, though, since the alternative—that people just don’t care about Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger, or Donnie Osmond anymore—is too sad to consider for long.)