Thinking about all the shows I should have watched when they originally aired. But at least I’m watching one in real time now, and I love it: HBO's “The Deuce”.
While the trailers promoted the show as a look into the birth of the porn industry, which I felt might be icky and not for me, it’s actually more about a dangerous time in New York City. “The Deuce” was the nickname for 42nd Street, long before it became Disney-fied, and back in 1971, it was a minefield of drugs, prostitution, mafia shakedowns and corrupt cops. Even little lost behaviors, like James Franco’s character chain-smoking and flicking his finished butts on the sidewalk are from a strange, lost era.
James plays twins, and he plays them really well. His main character is the good twin, a struggling manager of a bar who is being seduced by the mafia to work for them. But the key to any great show is ensemble characters, which in this case includes prostitutes and their charming yet ruthless pimps, a brilliant NYU student who impetuously decides to drop out of school, and now Ralph Macchio, who joined the cast in the second episode as a funny detective who drunkenly babbles on about sports trivia with his partner.
The show was created by David Simon, who also created “The Wire” – you know, the show that so many of us have meant to get around to bingeing because all we hear is good things. Here’s your chance to get out in front of David’s latest. I highly recommend it – it’s gonna get ugly.
