Hate watch alert: there’s just one episode left of “The Idol,” HBO’s salacious pop star drama that became a water-cooler show for all the wrong reasons. The hyped series from “Euphoria” writer and director Sam Levinson and singer the Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) ends its disastrous run next Sunday, but it’s already been deemed a bomb of epic proportions by critics and audiences alike, and the show’s title is now a cautionary descriptor: “But is it like ‘The Idol’ bad?”
The hourlong drama follows mega pop star Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) after a public breakdown that’s achingly similar to that of real-life pop star Britney Spears. Jocelyn is teetering on the edge of total failure when she inexplicably falls for club owner Tedros (Tesfaye), a manipulative L.A. skeezeball and wannabe record producer with a minor cult following. He and his entourage of impossibly hot hardbodies and ne’er do wells move into her mansion, taking over her life and career. From there, it’s a grab bag of salaciousness and cliches amplified by bad writing and laughable performances. A star is unborn in a messy story that loosely resembles “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and “Spinal Tap,” minus the irony and guitars. Think “Showgirls,” just not as good.
Perhaps “The Idol” was meant as a satire about the excesses of fame, the absurdity of celebrity worship and the recording industry’s shameless objectification of underage talent (Jocelyn started her career as a kid). But it’s hard to tell since the show celebrates all three of these things with little to no sarcasm, nuance or clothing.
