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[Summer Haze]

Really enjoyed the pilot. Good cast and the show looks great too.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Checked out the pilot and enjoyed it. I hope SNF doesn't hurt ratings too much.

This is one show where ratings almost certainly don't matter.

You should go! No time like the present.

That's what people keep saying, but I just can't find the time!

 

[120v]

dammit... was under the impression ep 2 was today but i obvs should've known better

whatever though looking forward to it. i thought i was kind of burnt out on "raw and gritty 70s" stuff but the pilot did a great job of making that period NYC seem like a totally alien place unlike something like Vinyl or whatever

 

[HotHamBoy]

Y'all need more faith in David Simon!

 

[ComputerBlue]

Curtis Mayfield intro theme, yessss.

 

[Kvik]

I love the pilot. I don't know what it is with David Simon's shows. It demands your attention in the most organic way possible. Good stuff.

Also I misjudged CC. That guy is a cunt.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Curtis Mayfield intro theme, yessss.

The intro song was good but the visuals were lacking. Felt a bit boilerplate.

 

[berzeli]

The pilot is pretty great in how it sets thing up, how it shows the interlocking pieces of the different characters, where they are and where they are heading. It's not the most thrilling or flashy pilot, but it doesn't need to be.

It does have that David Simon thing of being a bit too clear with what it is trying to do/show, I sometimes feel that in his effort to illuminate how different systems work in society he can lose track of his characters. Thus the characters arcs and some plot points can be predictable. I hope he can surprise me and that he keeps that impulse in check.

So much better than Vinyl it's not even funny (though any and all mentions of Vinyl are still funny to me)/10

I thought the pilot was off to a good start. I thought at first that the show kinda glamorized pimps (it kinda does until the end of the pilot). Maggie Gyllenhaal plays well as usual. I look forward to seeing more. Been clamoring another "The Wire" show as Treme wasnt for me.

I think that the decision to not show the darker side of the pimps until later in the episode very much was a intentional creative decision and a good one at that. The point was to show how and why the women stay with them, yes the show does humanise and glamorise the pimps quite a bit (arguably too much) but what that also allows for is the humanisation of the women. If they had started with the knifing people would have had a harder time sympathising with the women for staying with them, even blaming them for being in that situation. And people do love blaming women, especially in sexual contexts.
They do allude to this darker side, hell they even allude to the act of slashing a woman to make them stay, in the Port Authority Bus Terminal scene.

- THR: Why Maggie Gyllenhaal Fought for a Producer Role on 'The Deuce' (Q&A)

So I asked to be a producer on the project because I thought it would be that kind of guarantee that my mind would be included in the storytelling process, not just my body.

God bless Maggie Gyllenhaal.

 

[ComputerBlue]

That was really good, look forward to more.

The intro song was good but the visuals were lacking. Felt a bit boilerplate.

Yeah, but they did a great job with the visuals throughout the entire episode.

Recreated Times Square looked great and pretty authentic. Seeing Playland was a nice surprise.

Twin towers being built in the skyline shot was awesome as well.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

So much better than Vinyl it's not even funny (though any and all mentions of Vinyl are still funny to me)/10

Yeah, but they did a great job with the visuals throughout the entire episode.

The series' visuals are gorgeous.

I wonder how much the season cost, in total? Probably well below $100 million. >

 

[PantherLotus]

Ep 1 down. Amazing beginning. Definite The Wire feel with all the threads coming together.

Personally not a fan of all the eps going up at once because I don't feel like I can even read this thread.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Personally not a fan of all the eps going up at once because I don't feel like I can even read this thread.

All episodes aren't going up at once. It's airing weekly.

 

[PantherLotus]

All episodes aren't going up at once. It's airing weekly.

HBO has 5 episodes up tonight through sling.

I think?

edit: ok wow i was wrong, there's just a lot of extras you can watch. cool!

 

[D i Z]

Oh man, I'm going to love this show.

 

[Qvoth]

watched the pilot last week or so
it's just too.... slow imo
probably not going to watch the rest

 

[Cornballer]

- Onion A|V Club review
- Sepinwall's review
- Inside the Episode (HBO youtube)
- Opening Credits (HBO youtube)

 

[stenbumling]

Just fantastic. I tought I would get very annoyed with not just one, but TWO Francos, but he's a good enough actor to completely blend in. (To be fair, we only got one short scene with the twins so far).

 

[dead souls]

Strong pilot.

This is one show where ratings almost certainly don't matter.

Yeah, HBO has made enough David Simon stuff to know exactly what they're getting here: an excellent show that almost no one will watch.

 

[TTG]

It was plenty good enough for me to come back next week, but it doesn't have what made The Wire so special. It's not David Simon's fault, he can't go out there and cover 1970s New York for a newspaper for over a decade and find himself in the middle of something as interesting and relatively uncovered like the war on drugs in all of its facets.

More D'Angelo as cop plz. Less Franco.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Just watched the pilot, I loved it. The period setting was brilliantly done. And massive props to Gyllenhaal, she's fearless. Funnily enough, I just binged 22.11.63 this weekend so I got a double (or triple I guess) dose of Franco. And he was much better in this.

 

[Cornballer]

- Promo for next week's episode (please spoiler tag any discussion)

 

[Cornballer]

- The Ringer: Pictures of a Revolution

Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco are highlights, but the real star of ‘The Deuce' is the Rotten Apple, as David Simon and George Pelecanos bring the cultural upheaval and criminal enterprise of early '70s New York City to life

- NY Post: How ‘The Deuce' turned a quiet NYC neighborhood into porn-tastic Times Square
- Rolling Stone review

Does the show have a twitter? Can't seem to find it, does have a FB though.

I just took a quick look and I couldn't find one.

 

[PantherLotus]

I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like to watch The Wire from day 1 instead of way after the fact. Obviously with The Deuce's pedigree it will be impossible to know or predict how people would've felt about it in a vacuum.

I guess what I'm saying is that I kinda get that feeling that we're about to watch something really really great. Every scene, every character is deeply flawed and often literally bleeding humanity.

 

[Cornballer]

- Village Voice: How “The Deuce” Recreated the Naughty, Bawdy, Gaudy World of Old Times Square

Behind the scenes with the real people who inspired George Pelecanos and David Simon's meaty new drama.

- SVG News: Vanja Cernjul Shoots HBO’s The Deuce With Panasonic VariCam 35 Cameras

After reading some of the scripts, one of the challenges was figuring out how to move quickly from one location to another in New York City. Cernjul wanted to capture as much of New York “for free” because he knew he wouldn’t be able to shoot in the distance for blocks since it was a period piece. The production had already created two sets and Cernjul wanted them to feel the same as the actual locations, so ceilings and practical lights were built into the sets.

For the look of the series, Cernjul had to decide whether to simulate the movies of the 1970s with a faded look, or make it feel like you’re shooting on location with cutting-edge digital tools. “Rather than trying to impose a ‘found footage’ style, I thought it would be more interesting to make it look real, as if it were happening today,” explains Cernjul. “That was one of the early choices we made.

“I looked at all of the films that were shot in New York during the ’70s, which is probably the most amazing period in American cinema,” continues Cernjul. “I used all of those films intimately, but I didn’t want to simulate that look. I looked at them mostly to see what the reality of New York City streets looked like during the period. What kind of light sources were there and how did the city feel? I really tried to eliminate the filter of the medium it was captured on.”

Lots of technical detail in the article, for those of you that are interested.

 

[Blader]

Surprised by how much I enjoyed Franco in this. When I first heard he'd be playing twins in a show about the porn scene in 70s New York, I rolled my eyes hard. Of course that's the kind of show James Franco would star in! But he was actually great, and reminded me that I do really enjoy him as an actor from time to time, heh.

 

[Doomsayer]

Watched the pilot over the weekend, it started relatively slow but picked up quickly after about 25 minutes. I really liked what I watched, will definitely continue to watch.

 

[PantherLotus]

Early hot take: saying "The Deuce is about the birth of the porn scene in NYC" = "The Wire is about the war on drugs in Baltimore."

It's already so much more than that!!

 

[Cornballer]

- The Deuce: Meet Gary Carr aka C.C. (HBO vid on youtube)

 

[Nyx]

Noticed the pilot was available on the Dutch HBO app and just watched it. Think I loved everything except the double role of Franco, but I'll give that a chance.

Rest was amazing, can't wait to see how this plays out.

 

[the_firewithin]

So why did the girl from Minnesota literally get off the bus and start hooking right away? Did I miss something?

 

[Cornballer]

- HBO’s ‘The Deuce’ Debuts Steady With 2016’s ‘The Night Of’ Viewership

The Sunday night premiere of HBO’s The Deuce did well, considering preview streaming, Hurricane Irma coverage and Sunday Night Football. The premium cabler’s new drama series has drawn over 2.2 million viewers so far, according to HBO.

That number includes 1.1 million viewers that watched early on HBO platforms and over 1.1 million viewers tuning in across two plays on Sunday night (830,000 viewers for 9 PM, 342,000 viewers for 12:15 AM). This puts The Deuce slightly ahead of last year’s start for The Night Of, which had the same early viewing strategy on digital platforms.

The Night Of premiere episode tallied 2.1 million viewers in the same timeframe and went on to average a gross audience of 8.2 million viewers.

 

[Pkaz01]

So why did the girl from Minnesota literally get off the bus and start hooking right away? Did I miss something?

She was a hooker there and came to new york to work

 

[the_firewithin]

She was a hooker there and came to new york to work

Well ok then. Guess I shouldn't have watch so tired

Thanks

 

[PantherLotus]

Well ok then. Guess I shouldn't have watch so tired

Thanks

They established this with her making fun of that back seat wardrobe setup, then the sudden realization from the pimp that she is totally in on it. (and into it).

This is further established in her scene on the corner the the other girls, where she's asking who does what.

 

[Eyeron]

Love this show.

Prediction:

Spoiler

Frankie gets killed before the end of season 1. I don't see them carrying on the twin brother gimmick for the entire series. It's well done but I think Frankie's death will be a large part of Vincent's emotional arc and character development. He's fairly one-note at the moment.

 

[Pkaz01]

They established this with her making fun of that back seat wardrobe setup, then the sudden realization from the pimp that she is totally in on it. (and into it).

This is further established in her scene on the corner the the other girls, where she's asking who does what.

Yup it all clicked for me when she said something to the extent of needing a pimp to keep her motivated. Thats when I realized ok it definitely isn't her first time on the block.

 

[biosnake20]

Pilot was really great.

 

[Maridia]

- HBO’s ‘The Deuce’ Debuts Steady With 2016’s ‘The Night Of’ Viewership

Better than I expected! Hopefully quality holds up beyond the excellent pilot, and gross viewership ends up higher than The Night Of.

 

[ExInferus]

is this a mini-series?

 

[Maridia]

is this a mini-series?

It's an actual series, tentatively planned (though not actually renewed) for three seasons.

 

[AndersK]

Great to see a period piece starting strong. Vinyl was quite the misfire. I feel HBO really needs a great drama that isn't filled with Dragons or Robots.

In any case. In for Simon, as always.

 

[Zousi]

It's an actual series, tentatively planned (though not actually renewed) for three seasons.

And that plan seems to include moving from one decade to another, so the next season would cover the 80s . George Pelecanos hinted at this on The Watch podcast.

 

[Discotheque]

I really liked Franco as an actor from the period between freaks and geeks, straight through to the spidermans and pineapple express

Since then tho he hasn't done much for me. But I'm really enjoying him as the lead in here. Fantastic pilot.

I followed treme through most of the run and it wasn't bad but it often bored me. I'm glad Simon is back to something seedier. New York in the 70s is always great to see on film too. Looks so grimy.

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Post: Think ‘The Deuce’s’ NYC is too sleazy to be true? This reporter saw it firsthand

 

[Cornballer]

- NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour Podcast: Pimps, Porn And Prostitution: Dissecting 'The Deuce'

David Simon and George Pelecanos made The Wire and Treme together, among other shows, and now they've teamed up to create The Deuce, a new HBO drama about prostitution and the rise of the porn industry in New York's Times Square. Set in 1971, when prostitution took place out in the open on Times Square's grubby streets, the show stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Franco (as twins!) and a huge cast of character actors who help form an ambitious web of stories. It's a lot to take in, and the first eight-episode season — which premiered Sept. 10 — spends far more time on character development than on rapid-fire plot advancement.

On this week's Pop Culture Happy Hour, Glen Weldon and I tackle The Deuce with the help of Weekend Edition's Barrie Hardymon and writer Katie Presley. The show sparks a whole lot of discussion about seedy scene-setting, great supporting performances, the role of women in making the show, unsexy sex scenes, public health nightmares, the "David Simon-ness" of it all, self-pitying pimps and much more.

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

This starts in the UK on Sky Atlantic on the 26th of September.

 

[Cornballer]

- Sneak peek scene from Sunday's episode

 

[Sanjuro]

I thought it was a great start. I like the effort they put into recreating the grimy street feel. Only hope they can keep that up in subsequent episodes.

 

[biosnake20]

It's an actual series, tentatively planned (though not actually renewed) for three seasons.

Where did they say it would only be three seasons?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Where did they say it would only be three seasons?

Q: Is the story open-ended?

A: It will eventually encompass three different eras in Times Square history. So we hope to get three seasons out of it. Check that, because I’m an optimist: We will get three seasons. We already have it mapped out in our heads.

Source