• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, December 12, 2016

A new Fox drama series about the music business traffics occasionally in gratuitous violence and vulgarity, and relies on a storyline with gaps in plausibility that are wide enough to drive a truck through.

And yet, this show -- titled “Star” and premiering Wednesday night (Dec. 14) on Fox -- has “hit” written all over it. That’s because when all is said and done, its target audience will find it too darned attractive for it to be derailed by its flaws.

Much of the credit for the show's success goes to its three female leads -- relative newcomers named Jude Demorest (left in the photo), Ryan Destiny (center) and Brittany O'Grady. They play the three young women (two of whom might be underage, although that's not clear in the series pilot) who are trying to make it in the music business as a rapping and singing trio.

Demorest plays the title role, a young woman (or teenage girl) named Star, who dreams of singing stardom. The problem is, she is stuck in the foster-care system in Pittsburgh, where she is treated like a housekeeper by the people who are supposed to care for her.

So she leaves, and finds her estranged younger sister (or possibly half-sister) living in a similar situation in Harrisburg, where the sister is being subjected to much worse abuse in the foster family she is living with there.

After committing a violent crime, the two light out for Atlanta in a stolen car, but not before driving to Manhattan to pick up a young woman with connections in the music business. In Atlanta, they reconnect with an old friend of their late mother's -- a hair salon owner played by Queen Latifah.

From there, the story shifts into high gear as the three try to penetrate Atlanta's hip-hop music scene.

This show is credited principally to the co-creator of “Empire,” Lee Daniels. “Star” has evidently been developed to capitalize on the success of the other music series, which is now in its third season. The two will be paired on Wednesday nights.

As devised by Daniels and co-creator Tom Donaghy, aspects of the show would seem to have a can’t-miss quality about them. For example, the makeup of the show's central trio bridges the color gap in a clever way.

Although it is not made entirely clear in the pilot, Star is white (or so it seems), her sister Simone is half African-American (she is described as having a black father), and the third member of the group, Alexandra, is unambiguously black.

Star's position in the show is tried-and-true as well. Her mastery of black music is a story as old as rock 'n' roll itself -- the white teenager from the wrong side of the tracks who absorbs African-American culture, and with the help of her innate talent, co-opts it for herself.

This show is refreshingly unflinching in its portrayal of the music business as an industry built on a foundation of sleaze. Sure, there's real talent in the singers and performers who come up from nowhere with nothing but tenacity and a dream, but the people they have to deal with are low-lifes. Or so says this show.

For example, to find a music manager, the three are advised to get jobs as lap-dancers in a strip club. Apparently, according to this show, this is where one can find a music-industry executive at any time in Atlanta. And the plan works on the very first try (one of the gaps in plausibility referenced above). Benjamin Bratt plays the manager they find.

In the series pilot, a performance scene -- one of several -- doesn't ring true, for the simple reason that the three are shown singing without microphones, but still sounding as if they are. In this scene, they perform in the home of a professional football player as hired entertainment at a party. 

Oh, well -- it really makes no difference. Their performance slays the crowd anyway, whether amplified electrically or not. That's the same reaction one can have watching this show too. It doesn't seem realistic or truthful in spots, but somehow it manages to be spot-on anyway.

“Star” premieres with a special preview Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox. The show will then take up residence in its regular time period – Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern – on Jan. 4.