Greetings
I am certainly stretching things today. One of my criteria for this little "club" of mine was that a show must have at least those thirteen episodes that a lot of shows initially get. Well, I did say they had to have them, but never did I say they had to air them. Such is the case with the 2002 show My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star. Never heard of it? Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised.
My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star was a comedy that aired on the WB in beginning in March of 2002 and pretty much ending in March of 2002 as well. How sad. It was based on a British show entitled The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, and the main difference between the original and this remake is that the originally was successful. I mean, I've never seen it, but it did last for six seasons, which means that the number of seasons THAT show got is one higher than the number of episodes that THIS show got to air. Granted, we have had a few British imported remakes that worked and worked very well, like The Office, American Idol and even as far back as All in the Family. But this remake went by way of shows like Coupling and Skating with Celebrities. So, why I am even bothering? I have my reasons. Let's get to the point of this series.
My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star centered around a guy named Jason Darnell who was played by Oliver Hudson, brother of Kate Hudson, son of Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson. That's right, Ollie. The world does know that Bill Hudson is your father despite your, and especially, your sister's attempts to convince us otherwise. But if I am being completely honest, I must say his good looks are one of the things that attracted me to the show. Sorry. Anyway, do not get used to calling his character Jason because he liked everyone to call him Jace, because, hey, it was the nineties. Okay, it technically wasn't the nineties, but the feeling I got from this show was that it was supposed to be made in the nineties and somehow got shelved until 2002 without a single change being made to it. Give me another explanation for this guy's band being called Slipdog. Could you have a more nineties name for your pseudo grunge rock band? Oh, yeah, he has a band in case you couldn't figure that out from the show's title.
So Jace is this guy in his twenties who still lives with his parents and is unemployed. And he has a band? Again. In creeps the nineties with this blatant attempt to make a new but not improved version of Ethan Hawke's character from Reality Bites. Why? Oh, and his parents were played by Michael Des Barres and Shannon Tweed. I guess they were there to provide some rock star life cred to the show, since one of them was once married to a groupie and the other was often considered something of a groupie until she finally married Gene Simmons. Interestingly enough, they were kind of the funniest people on the show.
Anyway, let's get to the band, such as it was. They had a guitarist named Doc (Kevin Rankin), because . . . why they heck not? He is apparently Jace's best friend, though he's one of those best friends of the main character that you cannot figure out why he is that. Then, they had a girl bass player named Joe (Lauren Hodges), who was actually the toughest of all of them. Couldn't have seen that one coming. And they had a drummer, of course, named Danny (James Debello), but don't get too attached to him, because he bites it within the first two episodes. It's okay, though. As they tell us here "All the great bands lose a drummer." Yes, short-lived TV show, some great bands have lost a drummer, but what does that have to do with Slipdog?
Okay, the plot, I guess, of the first two introductory episodes is that the band loses their drummer, as I said, but also that Jace meets a girl named Sarah, who works at the unemployment agency to which he goes begging and who is also a popular and skilled club DJ. He soon realizes that it is she who his band truly needs to become great. True enough. She's also helpful because she introduces them to Lucas (Kris Lemche) the guy who will become their new drummer. And I should point out that Sarah is played by Emmanuelle Vaugier, who has since built herself an impressive acting resume, including being part of the Saw franchise, and appearances on CSI:NY and Smallville. Not bad. Finally, the band also got themselves a manager named Dole, (Rick Overton), albeit through a bit of blackmail on his part. Oh, look at that, a skeezy manager. And the cliches just keep piling up.
So all that happens in the first couple of episodes, and then more stuff happens in the next three, and then the show got cancelled. Yep, only five little episodes were given the privilege of airing. Well, it should consider itself fortunate, I guess. Had it been owned by any network besides the WB I wager it would not have made it to air at all.
Okay, did it deserve a second season? That is so hard to make a decision about based on a mere five episodes. I suppose I was slightly entertained by this show, and it did have an original style to it, what with these fun captions and quick flashbacks used to move the stories forward. It would be easier to decide if I had seen all thirteen episodes, but the kindest thing I can say is that it did have a bit of potential. There is a chance that this thing could have become a fairly decent series. We'll never know, though. So, I can't say that it deserved a second season, but it definitely deserved to, at least, have those remaining episodes air. Oh, maybe someday.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
