The Watchman: More ‘Sex’ on FX, Kutcher’s ‘Ranch’ Undressing

We've got rock ‘n’ roll series coming and going, Roadies debuting on Showtime, HBO lifting the needle on Vinyl and season two of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll on FX starting June 30. 

Sex&Drugs offers a far darker take on the rock world than Roadies. The season premiere features the cremated remains of an old pal, Denis Leary’s Johnny Rock clutching a bottle of Jack Daniel’s the way a child grasps a teddy bear and more references to Sammy Hagar than you’ve heard since high school. 

Hagar’s Cabo Wabo is Johnny’s inspiration for a mass-market boozy beverage, with Johnny hoping to be the most successful potent potable mogul on scripted TV since Turtle’s tequila took off on Entourage

Sex&Drugs is not without heart—Johnny refers to his band as a “dysfunctional little kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll family.” 

The frighteningly functional Netflix family was out in force at New York’s St. Regis hotel recently for a Museum of the Moving Image benefit, which feted Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s Late Night, and Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix. 

“I’m not even the chief content officer in my own home!” howled comic Jeff Garlin. 

Garlin is behind a new detective comedy film on Netflix called Handsome, and he was on fire at the Reege—relentlessly teasing attendee Ashton Kutcher for being, well, handsome, and for his comedy The Ranch

“You’ve got a ranching show and there are guest actors who come on and have sex with you? Who wouldn’t want to watch that show?” needled Goldbergs star Garlin. 

“That’s what Ted said,” shot back Kutcher. (Fans of a certain comedy set in ’70s Wisconsin made note of the Kutcher-Laura Prepon reunion at the event, just as The Ranch reunites Kutcher and Danny Masterson.) 

CNN’s Jake Tapper introduced Meyers, mostly playing it straight before bringing up Meyers’ time at the SNL news desk, calling him the best ever…minus Chevy Chase, and Dennis Miller, and Tina Fey, and even Norm MacDonald—but still ahead of Brad Hall and Brian Doyle-Murray. 

Meyers, for his part, quipped about asking Sarandos to rate the gala, 1 to 10. Ted’s response, according to Seth: “We don’t release numbers.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.