The new HBO Max series The Idol is trash. Straight up trash.
So much trash, it has a 25 percent ‘All Critics Score’ on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 20 percent ‘Top Critics Score’.
The average audience score on the website is a little kinder, although still with a quite dismal 54 percent, while IMDB users currently have it earning a 5.2 out of 10 and dropping fast.
Yep, this latest HBO Max drama really is that bad.
The Idol does have one saving grace, however, before it is relegated to the trash can of time, and that is its soundtrack.
A soundtrack featuring a number of phenomenally good 1980s and 90s songs that have since gone on to become classics.
Songs like Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer (Remix)‘Â which was played on The Idol, Episode 1, “Pop Tarts & Rat Tales” this week.
A track that showed up on the episode as Jocelyn is out clubbing with her friends, and as Tedros spots her and asks her to dance.
Madonna‘s original ‘Like a Prayer‘ came out as the lead single from her fourth studio album, which was released in March, 1989 via the Sire and Warner Bros record labels.
The song was a phenomenal success for the American pop singer, charting at #1 on charts in 20 countries, including at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
The now-iconic singer then reissued the track in various versions, including Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer (Remix)‘, later in the year on her EP of the same name.
Listen to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer (Remix)‘ as heard on the new drama The Idol in the video, and on the Spotify widget below.
You can watch The Idol on HBO Max although, if you are looking for a well-written, well-acted drama that doesn’t hit clichéd and then double down on it, I wouldn’t recommend you do.