The Idol review: HBO’s inept satire of the music industry
Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd star in a ‘risible, cliché-riddled’ dud

I’m a fan of Sam Levinson’s series “Euphoria”, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer. It’s made for teenagers, but it has decent storylines and solid characters. Now, Levinson has co-created a six-part series for HBO (available to watch on Now) – and alas, it’s a “risible, cliché-riddled” dud. Lily-Rose Depp stars as Jocelyn, a pop singer who we meet “undulating sexily” at the shoot for her comeback single. Soon, the “central-casting evil music execs” who manage her are wondering how to respond to a photo that has leaked online, showing her with semen on her face. Then a club owner (played by the Canadian singer The Weeknd) turns up, brandishing cocaine. The series clearly aspires to be shocking, but its best hope is that it gets “so-bad-it’s-good” status.
“The Idol” wants us to think that it’s a “dark, subversive send-up of how the music industry treats its vulnerable stars”, but it “revels in the same lubricious sleaze and uneasy power dynamics it claims to skewer”, said Dan Einav in the FT. Full of “excruciatingly clunky lines”, it offers its heroine virtually no personality. It is basically “soft porn diaphanously cloaked as a ‘provocative’ drama”.
The way to get the most out of it is to “meet it on its own terms”, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. Of course it’s not remotely realistic, but in its horrific presentation of the frailty of the human form, “it comes close to some profound insight into our times”. Striking and sordid, you’ll want to jump straight into the shower after an hour in its “polluting company”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Where to watch: NOW
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
June 1 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's golden comb-over, brain drain in America, and a new TACO presidential seal.
-
5 cartoons about the TACO trade
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on America's tariffs, Vladimir Putin waiting for taco Tuesday, and a new presidential seal
-
A city of culture in the high Andes
The Week Recommends Cuenca is a must-visit for those keen to see the 'real Ecuador'
-
A city of culture in the high Andes
The Week Recommends Cuenca is a must-visit for those keen to see the 'real Ecuador'
-
Green goddess salad recipe
The Week Recommends Avocado can be the creamy star of the show in this fresh, sharp salad
-
Ancient India: living traditions – 'ethereal and sensual' exhibition
The Week Recommends Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism are explored in show that remains 'remarkably compact'
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse