Apparently they’re at the new Opry House (not the Ryman), where the weekly radio shows take place. ABC has set up a blog for Steve Buchanan (Executive Producer of Nashville and President, Grand Ole Opry Group) and his initial entry is a rundown of the pilot and the Nashville environs: Music City Blog. They seem to be devoting quite a bit of online resources to the show, with a few extras (Nashville On the Record features a bit on that great final song, “If I Didn’t Know Better”).
OK, so we got around to seeing it last night.
With the political angle thrown in, you could call this The Good Wife…Country Lite.
It was decent and we will watch a few more, but certainly does seem to be setting up every cliche soap opera story…then again, nothing inherently wrong about that either.
Hey! It’s that guy! 
Just Ed - thanks for the rundown. I thought Deacon and Randy were the same guy most of the time! Which one was kissing Juliette in the broom closet?! There seems to be an abundance of milquetoast-y white guys to mix up.
You’re welcome!
I think the Deacon/Randy thing was common with a lot of us on first viewing. Randy is the (aptly-named) producer who was in Rayna’s first meeting with the record company guys, and is subsequently shown recording Juliette in the studio. He’s the one who was kissing Juliette in the broom closet after she was upset by her mother’s phone call (apparently she was supposed to be recording another song at that time). Randy is also the one who was with Juliette unbeknownst to Rayna when Rayna went to his place to ask about recording the additional songs (the scene where Juliette is shown upstairs in Randy’s bed when Rayna compares Juliette’s music to the screeching of feral cats).
Deacon is Rayna’s guitarist, former love interest, and possible baby-daddy whose niece is Scarlett, the waitress at the Bluebird, and who is also being courted by Juliette. It’s Deacon who is on the couch at Juliette’s place when Randy shows up unannounced and is turned away in the rain. (When Deacon tells Rayna she offered him a job, she says, “She’s got Randy doing her record, she wants you in her band, what’s she coming for my house next?”)
Thank-you lisacurl and Just Ed for the character run downs!
By the way, ABC is really good about posting the names of songs that are in all of their shows. Their ABC Music Lounge web site has the set list for almost every episode of every show. They also have a pretty good streaming radio station on the site.
The list for Nashville is here. Most of the songs are even available on iTunes.
I really liked this pilot, but I may have been a little predisposed to: I like both Connie Britton and Hayden Panetierre, and I’m also a singer so I like the music industry backdrop. I don’t usually go for soap opera shows, but this has the makings of a good one and I’m looking forward to the next episode.
I will say, though, that I’m surprised by all of the confusion in this thread: I didn’t find the characters/story hard to differentiate/follow at all.
Very limited confusion here – all in all, the premiere was textbook of how to introduce a multi-character drama effectively – but the two guys Juliette is seducing at the moment are both kind of generic good-looking-but-not-droolworthy-dudes-of-a-certain-age.
I guess I just found them to look different enough that I had zero trouble keeping them straight.
Now that I know one of them is a former Whose Liner, I’m sure I’ll have no further problems.
Okay, they gotta lose the political subplot. It just feels like a distraction every time they cut back to it.
I hate saying this because I adore Connie Britton, but she doesn’t have a strong singing voice and generally doesn’t look at home onstage the way someone who’s been performing for 20+ years should.
They did a nice job adding some layers to Juliette’s character. I like that she wants to be more than the teenybopper flavor of the month. At the end she seemed to realize that she just can’t force the kind of maturity and bond that Rayna and Deacon have together, nor can she really compete with it.
Another good episode overall. I really like the music in this show, and it is fun to see familiar landmarks being used. My biggest complaint is that Powers Booth is still too cartoonish.
I thought they revealed the Jayna/Deacon backstory in a way that provided a lot of exposition in a fairly natural way, without characters resorting to reminding each other of stuff they both know for the audience’s benefit.
Hmm, now that I take a second look, I don’t think Musica (from my link) is the sculture they were using in Juliet’s video after all. Pretend I linked to the Batman building instead.
I missed the second episode because the premier of season 2 of “American Horror Story” was on opposite it. If I don’t get enthusiastic about seeking out the episode elsewhere, that may be the end of it for me.
[quote=“Skammer, post:53, topic:637387”]
Another good episode overall. I really like the music in this show, and it is fun to see familiar landmarks being used. My biggest complaint is that Powers Booth is still too cartoonish.
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I finally figured out who he reminds me of (despite previous refernces) JR Ewing.
As I said in the Great Ongoing Guitar Thread:
Yeah, I was wondering if that was some kind of magical guitar. Did they only make a few of them or something? Why so special?
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1938 = Golden Era for Martin - “prewar” so it has certain build characteristics that players value and that has led to big collectibility
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Style 42 = fancy and blingy with pearl inlay, made with their best materials and with the most attention. Not the blingiest - that’s typically their style 45 - but 42 is up there.
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The Clapton Factor = Clapton’s Unplugged guitar was a 1939 000-42. This 00 is the next body size smaller, but Clapton’s use of a smaller-bodied, vintage prewar, high-end Martin really energized the market for these.
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Scarcity - yep, because they were a pricey model back then, too, there were only a few dozen 42’s and 45’s produced any given year for any given body size.
A prewar D-45 (D = dreadnaught, currently the most desired size) goes for several hundred thousand $$…
This may get cancelled, but it sounds like it’s good for a full season. link