HBO's The Deuce

[ouch]

Anyone catch this latest series from HBO? It has seedy locations, violence, filth- all the things that sends thy humble narrator's heart aflutter.

I hope it doesn't make the same mistakes the cancelled series Vinyl made, but so far it doesn't seem likely.

 

[lazshav]

I liked it quite a bit. It's from David Simon who I'm a big fan of (The Wire, The Corner). The pilot has a lot going on, but that's no surprise. Maggie Gyllenhall is great and Franco as Vincent is great (though the guy who plays his twin could use some work). I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Traveling Man]

I am kind of lukewarm on it. I thought I'd like it. I want to like it. I thought the premier was just so-so. Any kind of throwback show is right in my wheelhouse, so I hope it picks up.

We all know HBO recycles actors the way I do beer cans, but I rather enjoyed trying to pick out how may Wire alums are in this one.

 

[The Knize]

Thanks for the tip. Have not checked it out. I did listen on Audible.com to much of "The Butterfly Effect," which is more or less about the rise and fall--probably more about the fall due to the rise of free porn sites--of the Cali porn industry. I do not know if that exists in a regular book form. Not all that interesting. Not a lot of admirable characters.

 

[ackvil]

I didn't realize it was a pilot for a series. I caught only 30 minutes of it. When I was in college I worked evening in the Times Square area. It's portrayal was quite accurate.

 

[beginish]

I am kind of meh on it after the first episode. It's David Chase, so I expect it to pick up steam and I'll give it another couple of episodes before I write it off.

 

[ouch]

When I was in college I worked evening in the Times Square area. It's portrayal was quite accurate.

In the building that is now the Playwright Celtic Pub?

Spoiler

For the love of god don't look it up.

Spoiler

Seriously. Don't. You know where this is going.

I thought the show did an admirable job capturing the seediness that permeated the area from the late 60s until it was officially closed down (and this shouldn't come as a surprise to you) the day after my bachelor party.

 

[ackvil]

Nope. It was on 8th Ave and 41st St. I could tell you some crazy stories. My shift would end anywhere from 2:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.

 

[The Knize]

I am watching this now. About four episodes in. Seems pretty good, big budget HBO, lots of violence, threatened violence, and nudity. Great actors. Portrays seediness, for sure. I think I remember NYC back then. Not sure I love seediness of this degree.

Francis seems cartoonish and not credible. Wouldn't someone have beaten him into the pavement by now in the real world? College girl seems a little 2D, too.

Sets and cinematography excellent. Some snappy dialogue.

 

[beginish]

I just can't get into this. The Wire was far superior to it.

 

[The Knize]

I just can't get into this. The Wire was far superior to it.

I am not giving up yet, but I am pretty much with you. Although I recall not liking The Wire so much at first.

The "criticism" all seems to be this is the greatest thing on TV this fall and is back to The Wire in quality and concept. So I guess it is just the two of us! I wonder why the critics are seeing it so differently than we are. The fan ratings are high, but not as high as the critics.

I would be lying if I said it did not amuse me to try to pick things apart. Maybe you want to help out It is hard to say succinctly why The Wire seemed so good, but one thing that stands out to me is that the characters, although often in some far from normal for me situations and some characters--Omar--were larger than life, they seemed very real, very human. The folks in The Deuce so far seem like cartoons by comparison. Was there ever a real person like Candy? Hooker during at night. Middle class Mom during the day. Smart and tough, doing it on her own. You have your hookers with hearts of gold. Your sweet-talking pimps who can convince any woman of anything. The crazy, lazy brother. The more down to earth, hardworking brother always bailing him out. The mafia guys who always do what makes sense for business and never, for instance, crush some fool who keeps screwing up. The brilliant, high-born wild college girl just too bored with her spoiled classmates to stick college out, who feels more kinship with clever rough trade. This is supposed to be gritty and realistic, but how many street hookers ever looked like most of the girls in this show?

I get a vaguely racist feeling, too. I swear, the we have the huge, not so smart, child-like African-American guy who also has a kind heart and protects his friends. The semi-corrupt Irish cop with the African-American partner, yet, with their own set of values. This seems one heck of a long way from The Wire.

I am sure I am not being fair. I am sure one could pick apart aspects of The Wire, too. And this may get really good. They have a heck of a cast and some of the writing is excellent. And the production values show.

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

After giving up last year following the opening episode of “Vinyl”, I’m hesitant to invest time in another HBO dram series. The half hour comedies like Silicon Valley” and “Veep” I love, but HBO’s long form dramas have left me unimpressed.
The opening episode of “Vinyl” for example was jaw droppingly dumb. In the midst of negotiating with Led Zeppelin, the lead character also discovers punk rock and rap music. Great, I thought, I’m watching the music industry version of “Forrest Gump”.
The subject matter of “The Deuce” doesn’t appeal to me. I once tried to read an oral history of the porn industry (heh, see what I did there) edited by Legs McNeil. He had earlier did the same with the early days of punk, but the porn treatment became tedious after a few chapters.

 

[The Knize]

I have generally liked the HBO and Showtime long form dramas. Not Vinyl, though. I suppose there have been other weak ones, at least to me. I agree that Veep and Silicon Valley are wonderful.

 

[Traveling Man]

I'm probably going to stick it out through the season, but I'm not impressed. I usually watch it on Monday, and I hit fast forward on much of it. Honestly, the most intriguing part of the last episode for me was seeing the sign with all the town names and distances during the North Carolina scene and trying to pinpoint what town they were in. (I'm intimately familiar with the area, and that's just how my brain works).*

As for HBO dramas, I agree that there has been some drop off. I did like Vinyl. It wasn't great, but it was watchable. I tried to watch Young Pope but didn't make it more than a couple of episodes. I'm not even a huge Westworld fan. I watched the entire season but wasn't taken by it. I watched the first season of True Detective but gave up on season two by the second episode.

Game of Thrones is its own beast and can't be counted with anything else.

The heyday of moving seamlessly from Carnivale to Deadwood to Rome to The Sopranos to The Wire to True Blood will never be back. My guess is HBO has so much money tied up in making GoT, they can't make a whole lineup of really good shows.

*I decided it was probably close to Lexington, by the way.

 

[jason10mm]

I've gotten to 3, maybe 4 eps. Does it pick up? I sorta see where the porn film bit is going, but most of the characters just seem to be drifting around. The charm of 70's NYC is wearing off and I'm not really interested in any of the characters.

 

[The Knize]

I've gotten to 3, maybe 4 eps. Does it pick up? I sorta see where the porn film bit is going, but most of the characters just seem to be drifting around. The charm of 70's NYC is wearing off and I'm not really interested in any of the characters.

Does it pick up? For me, not really, but I still think it is worth watching. Mid-70s NYC does not have much charm for me. It is no "The Wire."

 

[Tim_McD]

Carrying on through the series, although I have been spoilt by Nextflix & Amazon Prime and let a couple of weeks pass by and then binge through 3 - 4 episodes

Watching this week-to-week, the series is unimpressive, but watching a few in a row allows me to invest in the characters and storyline.

Seediness is thrown around quite a bit when chatting with folks about this series...it doesnt fully convey the level of urban decay present in the series' portrayal of late '70s NYC. This is about as far from Point Place, WI as you can get

 

[Traveling Man]

I'm sure I'll stick it out through the season, but I'm underwhelmed.

 

[Traveling Man]

I guess the fact that the season ended and none of us really even bothered to update this thread and discuss speaks volumes.

 

[The Knize]

I never finished watching the season. I intend to get back to it.