Peter Wilson's Dream Theater by John C. Archer

(I’d extend the winning streak to the odd, divisive Vanilla Sky, too.) But that balance hasn’t been as easy to find of late, in films that ranged from the forgettable ( We Bought a Zoo) to the borderline disastrous ( Aloha). In films like Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous, Crowe found a careful balance of sentiment and wit, and set it all to the beat of the music he’d grown up loving as a teenaged rock journalist. It’s no secret Crowe’s been having a bit of a bad run since at least the 2005 film Elizabethtown. Roadies is the creation of writer/director Cameron Crowe, the latest filmmaker to explore the possibilities of television. They also have a way of keeping the loyalty of fans who hope they’ll once again reach the greatness of the past. He’s not entirely wrong, but the show itself doubles as an illustration that some things - bands and filmmakers, for instance - have a way of hanging around after they’ve reached their peak. Suddenly…” Then he mimes dropping dead to drive his point home. “Everything feels like it will last forever,” he says. And brands need tending lest fickle fans move onto the next big thing. What’s more, he continues, the crew should treat the band like, he says with an apology, a brand. His arrival doubles as an announcement that that’s about to change. The music industry has changed and, though popular, Staton-House Band is not an efficiently run operation and will need to tighten its belt.

About halfway through the pilot of Showtime’s Roadies, a new series set amidst the road crew of the popular, fictional Staton-House Band, a corporate suit named Reg Whitehead (Rafe Spall) shows up to deliver some bad news.

Peter Wilson's Dream Theater by John C. Archer