HBO announced today that Ray Romano is joining the cast of Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger’s as-yet-untitled rock ’n’ roll pilot, simultaneously proving Romano’s worth as a dramatic actor, and sticking it to everyone on the Parenthood crew who “forgot” to tell him about Thirsty Thursdays. “I bet they’ll invite me to their drinking parties now that I know Mick Jagger,” Romano thought to himself, ripping the tags off of his newly purchased leather motorcycle jacket. “But you know what I’ll tell them? I’ll tell them ‘I’d love to, fellas, but I have to go do bumps with Mick and Marty.’ That’ll show ’em.”
Anyway, Romano is the newest addition to a cast that includes Olivia Wilde and Boardwalk Empire’s Bobby Canavale, in a project that’s been percolating—and that we’ve been reporting on—for nearly four years now. The show is set in the decadent world of 1970s New York record executives, as they struggle to keep up with the rise of punk and disco. Romano will play the label’s quick-witted—and shady—Head of Promotions, Zak Yankovich, whose experience and connections stretch back to the days when the record business was dominated by the mob. Meaning, in short, that America will soon see the sitcom dad everybody loves ordering hits on people.