FX’s ‘Pistol’ Is a Striking, Occasionally Abrasive Look at the Sex Pistols: TV Review

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticA partnership with Melissa McCarthy — one of the defining comic talents of the past 10-plus years — might seem like the sort of thing a streamer would want to spotlight and celebrate. So it’s surprising that “God’s Favorite Idiot,” a new comedy series on Netflix, dropped without ever been having made available to critics in advance.Surprising, that is, to those without familiarity with the breadth of McCarthy’s oeuvre.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticJeff Bridges, in his new series “The Old Man,” is playing the kind of spy they don’t make anymore.His Dan Chase is, even at an advanced age, a master tactician; he repeatedly bests men many years younger than he is in hand-to-hand combat. He’s also winningly persuasive, so much so that the FBI counterintelligence chief tasked with finding him (John Lithgow) can’t resist giving him a head start.Indeed, the aptly named Chase seems perpetually one step ahead in evading pursuit, and the show is similarly ahead of us at home: We find out just what has made Chase, and what makes the chase, as we go.

John Lydon has criticised his former Sex Pistols bandmates’ new Danny Boyle-directed biopic series in a new interview.Pistol premiered on Hulu and Disney+ on May 31. It stars Anson Boon as Johnny Rotten, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Jacob Slater as Paul Cook and Christian Lees as Glen Matlock among a cast line-up that also includes Maisie Williams.

With all the renewed interest in the Sex Pistols – thanks to that new Disney+ series ‘Pistol’ and the Queen’s platinum jubilee – talk has understandably returned to whether or not the band will ever perform together again. Not likely, you’d probably quite correctly say, but what if they did it Abba-style and didn’t actually have to get in the same room together?Asked on Rolling Stone’s Music New podcast about the possibility of another Sex Pistols reunion – the last having been in 2008 – guitarist Steve Jones references Abba’s new ‘Abba Voyage’ show in London, which sees the band members represented by digital avatars.“Seeing that Abba can do it without being there, I’d be down for doing that thing – they’re there but they’re not really there”, he says.

Sex Pistols‘ Steve Jones says he would be “down” for an ABBA-style hologram reunion for the punk idols.The Swedish pop heroes are currently hosting an ‘ABBA Voyage’ residency in London, where ‘ABBAtars’ perform alongside a live band. It’s expected to run for five years.Speaking on Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast, Jones was asked about the idea of a Pistols reunion in the future, with the band having last played together in 2008.“Seeing that Abba can do it without being there, I’d be down,” Jones said in response.Listen to the podcast below.Last weekend (June 4), Sex Pistols‘ ‘God Save The Queen’ was the biggest-selling single in the UK. The 1977 hit was reissued on Friday (June 3), and hit the top spot exactly 45 years after it was notoriously denied Number One.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticEarly in the first episode of AMC’s new series “Dark Winds,” Zahn McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn advises Kiowa Gordon’s Jim Chee about a way to get ahead when investigating crimes on a Navajo reservation. Leaphorn’s been doing this for a while, and isn’t impressed by his new deputy’s credentials, or his naked ambition; sometimes, pragmatic approaches are best, so Leaphorn advises Chee to keep a carton of cigarettes around.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThe very first thing one sees in each episode of the new reboot of “Queer as Folk” — before the action even starts — is the handwritten name of the streamer on which it appears, with an underline jauntily appearing beneath the last four letters of “Peacock.” It’s an elbow to the ribs, or to regions further south, that comes on strong from the earliest moments of the series; do you get it? Do you?This show, about the lives of queer and trans people in New Orleans, centers that one syllable, and a few similar terms: Like the early-2000s Showtime series that preceded it (itself based on a British drama by Russell T. Davies), “Queer as Folk” 2022 is relentless in its pursuit of pleasure.

Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock says he is relieved to not currently be in the UK due to “terrible, turgid Tories”.Matlock is currently touring as part of Blondie’s live band, and was speaking to mark 45 years of his band’s notorious anti-monarchy hit ‘God Save The Queen’ as well as Danny Boyle’s new biopic Pistol.He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think one of the things is that, you know, how worse off we would be if [Boris] Johnson was a president, that would be even worse.“I’m really quite pleased to be out of England at the moment, the terrible, turgid Tories have just been getting on top of me.”He added: “So to be touring, as I have been, I got asked very last minute to play with Blondie, we’ve been touring over here (in the US) and I just not long got back from Mexico, it’s been really quite refreshing to do something different and step outside and see how other people see us.”On Saturday (June 4), Sex Pistols‘ ‘God Save The Queen’ was the biggest-selling single in the UK. The 1977 hit was reissued on Friday (June 3), and hit the top spot exactly 45 years after it was notoriously denied Number One.

Yungblud has spoken about the experience of auditioning for Danny Boyle’s Pistol series, calling it “life-changing”.The musician – whose real name is Dominic Harrison – was talking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover story, ahead of the release of his self-titled third album on September 2.Although Harrison went up for an undisclosed part in the new Sex Pistols biopic show, he ultimately wasn’t chosen to be a part of the final cast. Despite this, he still described the experience as “life-changing”.“I loved it, but I think I was too close in likeness to [the Sex Pistols],” he told NME.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJohn Lydon — a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. — has written a brief and to-the-point editorial for the U.K.’s Times that ranges from his thoughts on the royal family to his wife’s struggle with Alzheimers, from Danny Boyle’s new biopic “Pistol” (which he fought legally) and his early struggles with fame.While the London-born Lydon, who has lived in Los Angeles for decades, courted controversy in recent years with statements in support of former President Trump, the editorial finds him as direct and unsentimental as ever.Yet the most striking statements are him effectively contradicting the world-shattering statements he made in the Sex Pistols’ first two singles, which laid the template for much of punk rock’s ethos: In it, he says “anarchy is a terrible idea” (defying the group’s first single, “Anarchy in the U.K.”) and “God bless the Queen,” which reverts the withering sarcasm of the group’s second single, “God Save the Queen” (“and the fascist regime”) as Britain observes Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

Sex Pistols, saying that his tastes have long moved on from punk rock.The Sex Pistols guitarist was promoting Pistol, the Danny Boyle-directed biopic series based on his memoirs about the band, in interviews when he made the comments.He told The Telegraph: “I never really listen to the Pistols’ music anymore. I’m fucking tired of it, to be honest with you.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Deep down, you are an outlaw yourself,” a director tells his leading lady. “It’s what we share.” His star thanks him, taking the remark as a compliment, but insists she’s nowhere as daring as the character she’s tasked with playing.This moment, in the first episode of HBO’s new series “Irma Vep,” is tossed-off and casual; the actors playing auteur and actress, Vincent Macaigne and Alicia Vikander, are believably weary, film-industry warriors just trying to get through the conversation, and the day.

Johnny Rotten was right to sue to stop FX’s Pistol from going forward.

Pistol, premiering today, which explores the rise and crash of Sex Pistols—the English band who ignited a counterculture movement in 1970s London. (The show, directed by Danny Boyle, is based on the memoir from real-life Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones.) “I was aware of the Sex Pistols and the punk movement’s impact at the time, but I didn’t realize how the fashion, music, and art all further triggered the movement,” Williams tells . “It was just a real scene in London, and it was like a small group of people that created that revolution.”The actor plays Jordan, née Pamela Rooke, a real-life punk pioneer from the 1970s who often styled the Sex Pistols for performances and served as muse to the designer Vivienne Westwood, another fixture of the decade.

The Queen has a long history with the Sex Pistols.

The lead singer of the Sex Pistols isn’t happy with the new series about the band.

This Morning viewers weren't at all surprised when Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary had to quickly apologise for John Lydon's language. The Sex Pistols singer appeared live on the ITV daytime show on Monday (May 30).

John Lydon has made it crystal clear that he’s not thrilled that the story of his one-time band, Sex Pistols, is being brought to the screen in the new Hulu series “Pistol”, airing in Canada on Disney+.