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You just know anything coming from the pen and/or the mouth (and, in this case, both) of Denis Leary is going to raw-edged and damned funny. And FX has really has earned its moniker of the best cable network that isn’t HBO. Enter Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (SDRR), which premieres on FX July 16 at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Leary (who wrote all the episodes) stars in this family (yes, you heard right) comedy as washed out (and washed up) ’90s rocker Johnny Rock, the lead singer of fictious legendary (for all the wrong reasons) The Heathens. And the band’s name was well-deserved.
Johnny is the classic one-hit wonder, talented and smart, but screwing up chance after chance to “make it.” Fast forward 20 years. The rest of the band members have settled into other gigs, having long ago moved on, when a young lady, Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies) runs into Johnny.
She’s a huge fan of his music–and, furthermore, she’s the daughter he never knew he had. Skeptical at first, Johnny warms to the idea when she announces that she has money (a lot of it), enough to launch her own music career–and just possibly redeem Johnny’s career (and maybe his haul his sorry ass out of the land of wallowing self-pity and hyper-egotism.
Gigi is very talented, and her desire is to bring back the band, but instead of casting her dad in the role of lead singer, she’s reserving the role for herself. Johnny Rock’s job? To stay sober enough to be her behind the scenes scribe. At least that’s how the plan begins.
Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll is pure Denis Leary, telling the familiar tale of a dysfunctional rock-n-roll family with smart, snappy writing, a lot of sarcasm, and, ultimately, with some heart. And, did I mention, it’s also very, very funny.
SDRR debuts July 16 on FX.
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