The Idol Grosses Us Out, But Friday Night Gossip Revives Us

Plus, has Taylor Swift finally seen the light?!?!

The Idol — the scandal-plagued latest from Sam “son of Barry” Levinson of Euphoria fame, and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, of The Weeknd fame — debuted on Max Sunday evening to considerably muted fanfare, if also a whole lot of scuttlebutt. Originally slated to premiere all the way back in October, the series — about a Britney-esque pop star and her Svengali club owner/cult leader boyfriend — screened at Cannes to an anemic five-minute standing ovation¹ and then basically sank, in terms of promotion. There was no big stateside premiere or party prior to Sunday, and screeners were not distributed to reviewers who were not in the South of France — a turn of events which generally is code for “this is a stinker” or “the network hates us,” or both. In this case, it was likely to avoid a second wave of pre-premiere critical drubbing, as reviews from folks who did see the first two episodes in Cannes were rough: The Daily Beast, for example, used the words “ increasingly dreary and pointless” a…