I am, but I'm watching season 1.
I didn't realize Megan Abbott was a writer and story editor on this; she's my friend's wife too, you'd think he'd more loudly socialize shit like this
― akm, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:48 (five years ago) link
also: this is really a great series. I echo everything poositive everyone said up above. when it was originally being touted it was very much along the lines of 'here's the start of the porn industry!" which is selling it short. It's about a lot more than that. I appreciate shows like this that give me a picture of what NYC was like at that time; the first time I went to NYC was 1997 by which time all of that had been completely cleaned up. It's hard for me to fathom a big chunk of a city even being like this these days.
― akm, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:50 (five years ago) link
I didn't know they were up and running again. I will definitely watch the second season, but I don't have HBO, so I'll have to wait for my bootleg DVD place to get it.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
I'm still watching, but behind by a few weeks. Tough to watch this on the bus!
― DJI, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
yeah it is *really* broad in scope. Almost too broad, I think. I'm generally enjoying it because it's so well shot and acted, and if I don't like one storyline hey don't worry in 5 minutes the show will be shift focus to somewhere else. But I think it does lack a certain dramatic tension, there's a distinct lack of real conflict. Everybody is made sympathetic in one way or another, there's no real villains, and no real stakes to anything - none of the characters really seem to be in opposition to one another, so what you get is just kind of a bunch of semi-interesting (and usually lurid) stuff happening. It ends up feeling oddly inert.
the one minor character I miss from season 1 was the porn store owner. that guy was just too perfectly cast.
xp
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:54 (five years ago) link
Been watching it ( missed this week's) and still loving the attention to detail. Some of the storylines are becoming yawnsome, though ( Gyllenhaal's (sp!) and the troublesome Franco "twin" especially). Love the cop stuff but I think I see where a lot of stuff is heading ( Maggie G's son prob inadvertently catching a porno starring mom / hooker porn starlet tries to leave pimp and trouble ensues/ etc etc). Girl who plays bar owner Franco's girlfriend should play Joan Jett in a biopic. Gorgeous.
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:55 (five years ago) link
Girl who plays bar owner Franco's girlfriend should play Joan Jett in a biopic. Gorgeous.
not gonna deny that she is v pretty but her character is so fucking annoying and unrealistic, that person did not exist in 1977.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 19:57 (five years ago) link
What do you find annoying and unrealistic about the character?
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:01 (five years ago) link
"yeah it is *really* broad in scope. Almost too broad, I think. I'm generally enjoying it because it's so well shot and acted, and if I don't like one storyline hey don't worry in 5 minutes the show will be shift focus to somewhere else. But I think it does lack a certain dramatic tension, there's a distinct lack of real conflict. Everybody is made sympathetic in one way or another, there's no real villains, and no real stakes to anything - none of the characters really seem to be in opposition to one another, so what you get is just kind of a bunch of semi-interesting ... stuff happening. It ends up feeling oddly inert."
Haven't seen any of this yet, but sounds like Treme, which I watched a season plus of and eventually wandered away from. Hard to get excited about.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:04 (five years ago) link
middle-class feminist studies girl drops out of college to dabble in sex-work activism also happens to have impeccable cutting edge taste in up-and-coming punk bands and happens to be a dead ringer for Joan Jett, I mean come on that is some v idealized hindsight-is-20/20 screenwriter nonsense
maybe if she was modeled on Andrea Dworkin I would buy it
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:04 (five years ago) link
it was clear from the Wire that Simon (and I suppose Pellecanos?) like to show the moral grey areas that most real people live in and that that militates against having outsized evil villains, but I feel like the genuine uber-ugly levels of brutality that are deeply ingrained in being a pimp (or a mobster, or a corrupt cop) are overly obscured in this show - at least one of these types could be credibly expected to be a real monster, but that's not really how Rudy or CC or any of these types are written. This one wants to be an actor! This one's kinda nice sometimes! Rudy looks out for his guys! Stories without villains or at least some sense of struggle, of opposing forces, just tend to be less engaging, and this show is no exception.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:09 (five years ago) link
I'm watching it too, and haven't seen this week either, but like most I'm sticking with it because it's well made and the actors are good rather than the plot which is all over the place and, as others have said, far too broad.
Larry is the standout character this season I think.
So many penises, it feels like.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:17 (five years ago) link
Larry's on-set dick reveal + smile was by far the funniest moment of the season
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:18 (five years ago) link
The real villain of Simon's shows is the SYSTEM, man.
― DJI, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:19 (five years ago) link
"dead ringer for Joan Jett"
is her hair black in season 2? I don't see the resemblance myself
― akm, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:21 (five years ago) link
how about Suzi Quatro
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:23 (five years ago) link
I'd say CC is unambiguously a bad guy
― Number None, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:24 (five years ago) link
(i'm watching too, but don't have an awful lot to say about S2 so far. Just seems to be ticking along)
xpost Yeah her hair's black now she's booking punk and new wave bands for the bar.
I don't care at all about the other nightclub.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:25 (five years ago) link
https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iur/?f=1&image_host=http%3A%2F%2Fc7.alamy.com%2Fcomp%2FG4TDDK%2Fsinger-suzi-quatro-heathrow-airport-london-G4TDDK.jpg&u=https://c7.alamy.com/comp/G4TDDK/singer-suzi-quatro-heathrow-airport-london-G4TDDK.jpghttps://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn1-www.comingsoon.net%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F09%2FThe-Deuce-S2E3-3.jpg&f=1
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:25 (five years ago) link
Other xpost Nah, CC is going to turn into Iceberg Slim and be the hero of season 3.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:27 (five years ago) link
I do think the bringing in CC's former bottom whore as Abby's activist partner has brought his shittiness into sharper focus
(lol @ Iceberg Slim, well-known good guy pimp! I guess he did ultimately renounce his wayward ways)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:29 (five years ago) link
Good points, Shakey. I guess I'm just enjoying the ride but definitely there's a bunch of unrealistic crap worthy of whatever that awful Scorsese NYC A&R guy series was whose name I forgot. Though this is a much better sho, imho.
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
*show
Definitely more Suzi than Joan
― An Uphill Battle For Legumes (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 10 October 2018 20:54 (five years ago) link
that awful Scorsese NYC A&R guy series was whose name I forgot
VINYL! gawd that was so bad. also ref'd upthread lol
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 October 2018 21:06 (five years ago) link
that steak order was confirmation that CC is 100% evil
― Number None, Wednesday, 24 October 2018 22:00 (five years ago) link
tension def ramped up this episode. contradictions were heightened, one might say
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 25 October 2018 15:35 (five years ago) link
was totally convinced that was David Proval playing the elder Martino in his one scene but apparently not...? That dude did look familiar though.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 October 2018 15:23 (five years ago) link
Armand Asante
― akm, Monday, 29 October 2018 15:42 (five years ago) link
No redemption for CC then.
My favourite new fact is that Blake Leyh wanted to use We Are All Prostitutes as the theme music for season 2 but David Simon wouldn't let him because he felt it was a bit too Do You See.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Wednesday, 31 October 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
"let's go with 'This Year's Girl', it's much more subtle"
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 31 October 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
It's back, and it's 1985. They are giving us a version of the Jack Maple policing story. This show is great, but still feels pretty low-stakes.
― DJI, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 18:24 (four years ago) link
so this is gonna be the "who is going to get AIDS?!" season eh
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
Yeah I guess :/
― DJI, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:02 (four years ago) link
Sex, lies and videotape
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
"wolfpacks", AIDS, some anachronisms in the dialogue ( "run it back"? Who used that on the streets of NYC in '84?!) and a bit of a messy covering-all-bases feeling. Kind of a disappointing start.
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:17 (four years ago) link
Very much a "torn from today's headlines!!" vibe in the writing that felt facile. Let's see where they go. Still, the recreation of mid-80s NYC in the production- at least what I recall of it - is often uncanny.
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:22 (four years ago) link
it continues to look and sound incredible but it's kind of all over the place narratively
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:24 (four years ago) link
like, I can't keep either Franco character's personal relationships straight
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
Yeah and I'm finding them the least interesting characters at the moment.
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link
lol yeah it's weird how they have this twin plot set-up and then basically do nothing with it, they might as well be two non-identical twins played by different actors
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:29 (four years ago) link
if this ends with "good" Franco getting whacked in a case of mistaken identity because the "bad" Franco crosses the mob I am going to rmde
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:30 (four years ago) link
lol
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 12 September 2019 16:42 (four years ago) link
i could not follow what bad Franco brother aws up to in this episode at all. What was the deal with meeting the dude in the car? what was he selling? Why did he borrow that video equipment and make that video with the family? what was going on?
― akm, Sunday, 15 September 2019 15:26 (four years ago) link
the thing in the car I could follow - he has a side hussle w the gangster underling that the mob boss/Jackie Jr (no I can't remember the actual character name) doesn't know about.
No idea what the family/video camera thing was about cuz I was like "wait, he still has a family? who are these people?"
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 September 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link
his side hussle is alluded to later when the mob boss/Jackie Jr asks about his loyalty/that he would never cut him out of anything. So there's some obvious foreshadowing going on there.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 September 2019 16:41 (four years ago) link
hussle & flo
― now let's play big lunch take little lunch (sic), Monday, 16 September 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
did they not subtly just put a dworkin character in here yikes
― mh, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 01:48 (four years ago) link
LOL after last season I was wondering how long it would be before she got namedropped!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 1 October 2019 01:54 (four years ago) link