Artist: Z02
Title: “Z-Rock: Season 1”
Label: Anchor Bay
Release Date: 6/9/2009
Genre: Comedy/Rock Reality
Rating: 3/5
If you are from NYC and you hit a lot of shows then I think that there is a good chance that you are aware of one of our local music sensations with the band ZO2. The guys are always entertaining with their brand of KISS meets Aerosmith tinged Hard Rock and their very catchy original tunes are laced with wonderful harmonies. However, this review is not about the band’s music or live show but about the recently aired scripted reality comedy that was a weekly feature on the IFC channel at the tail end of 2008. The show stars the brothers Z (who are also known by Paulie and David Zablidowsky and are brothers in real life to boot) along with their drummer and longtime friend Joey Cassata. The premise of the program shows the bands struggles as a group that is trying to make it big by meeting the right people, playing their shows and keeping a busy regimen during the daylight hours doing other jobs that allow them to fund the musical enterprise. Of course the daytime job is that of being a band that performs at children’s parties so the chaos ensues as they walk the fine line between decency and Rock and Roll decadence. As you can probably tell already that is a very fine line for sure.
As this is a scripted reality comedy, much of the scenarios are a little bit out there but do have some slight basis in reality. In some sense this could be thought of as a modern day kind of “The Monkees” since there are a lot of weird happenings in the bands day to day lives and this shows how they deal with the various scenarios. Since I don’t want to ruin the ongoing storyline for those fans of the band who might only be first seeing it with the DVD release, I will not divulge too many inside tips but will say that the viewer can count on appearances by popular musicians such as The Whitest Kids You Know, John Popper, Dave Navarro and Dee Snider. There are also some comedic guest stars such as Joan Rivers (who portrays another characters aunt) and Gilbert Gottfried.
Now my review comes from revisiting episodes online and from notes taken when it aired as I felt a boxed set for the season would come eventually as I didn’t have a copy of the actual DVD in my hands for the purpose of review. Since I was reflecting upon the clips I cannot effectively speak about the overall additional features if there are any or the packaging itself. I do know that the release comes on a single DVD since the ten episodes were not very long when you subtract the aired commercials. Overall I found the show to be cute at best but I really wish that we had gotten more music from the guys during the episodes. Even “The Monkees” which I referenced as being nodded to based on the way the shows flow had a full song or two during the episode. I noticed how the bands diehards were split down the middle as some loved it and some hated it completely. I even remember one fan telling me that now that the band was popular for being “television monkies” or something of that nature, that she had trouble getting tickets to some shows they did in real life. To me, the difficulty in obtaining tickets means the band is selling out the room and that is never a bad thing to find happening. As a former musician myself I have learned that sometimes are most core supporters can be an undoing when they seek to have you as their own best kept secret or private thing. I don’t applaud this particular mindset at all. The show itself moves quickly so it will not kill a whole lot of time if you end up being hooked on it. There are quite a few sexual situations in the series and the occasional butt or boob shot but nothing that should scar a younger fan all that much. If you like what ZO2 is all about and want to continue to support their efforts, do give this a chance and help the next move in their growing career. If this ever gets to Netflix I know I would give it a look once more.
Episode Listing:
1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 3
4. Episode 4
5. Episode 5
6. Episode 6
7. Episode 7
8. Episode 8
9. Episode 9
10. Episode 10
Official Website: http://www.zo2.com