I caught the first episode last night.

I thought it was interesting enough to watch more episodes if for nothing else the T&A.

It's life on the mean streets of NYC and the early porn industry of the 70's.

Anybody else watching?

Watched the pilot last week. Nicely captured the NYC I remember from my youth. Looking forward to more episodes.

It's amazing the positive changes Giuliani brought about. Now we have whole new generation of snowflake voters with no knowledge or recollection of what a shithole the City was. As a result we get De Blasio.

I did notice how much trash was everywhere.

I'm not talking about the Pimps and Hookers

Based upon this thread, I started watching the pilot episode. Despite the fact that James Franco has always been a marginal actor, I liked what I saw and I'll finish up the pilot today.
I do think that the producers of this show make NYC seems nicer than it really was back then.
Nevertheless, it was entertaining and visually, quite gorgeous.

I love the conversation between the two pimps at the beginning. I cannot, however, agree, that Nixon's political moves were the equivalent of pimping. Interesting theory, though.

The writing is good and to me, this is essential. I have no interest in poorly-written scenarios or character dialogue. This show seems to pay the viewer the compliment of not talking down to them, as it leaves things unsaid, that the viewer needs to interpret. For example, the conversation between the pimp and Lori, in his Cadillac. What was left unsaid? That Lori has hooked before.

I am a very fickle TV viewer and yet, I liked what I saw. Take that for what it's worth. This series may go nowhere, but it has started out with promise.

Nice. I was thinking of checking it out, and will definitely give it a shot now.

A lot of subtle little things that remind me of The Wire, which is a good thing. I imagine the show will contain many of the same themes.

I plan on watching this. Looks kind of like a thinking man's Boogie Nights, maybe?

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
A lot of subtle little things that remind me of The Wire, which is a good thing. I imagine the show will contain many of the same themes.

I think it is the same guy who did The Wire

quote:

Originally posted by Green Highlander:

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
A lot of subtle little things that remind me of The Wire, which is a good thing. I imagine the show will contain many of the same themes.

I think it is the same guy who did The Wire

Yes, David Simon.

If it's half as good as The Wire it's worth watching once.

Simon also wrote and produced episodes of the very best police drama ever- Homicide: Life on the Street.

I had forgotten about that. I don't think I've ever seen more than an episode or two, either. I should make it a point to check it out again. Thanks for the reminder.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Simon also wrote and produced episodes of the very best police drama ever- Homicide: Life on the Street.

The show was based on his book Homicide: A year on the killing street.

I was all set to watch episode 2 tonight.

NOT

Episode 2 on 9/17

quote:

Originally posted by PR64:
I was all set to watch episode 2 tonight.

NOT

Episode 2 on 9/17

I watched it last night as well,

thought it was 2, and would catch up on 1 later in the week,

instead I caught myself up

Didn't like the trailer, but caught the second half of the pilot and re-watched the entire thing. Looks good. I'm so behind in series. I think I have 13-14 Ray Donovan episodes to catch up on and a similar mount of Shameless. I was hoping to avoid a new one but this was good.

Me likee - reminds me of my college days in the late 60s when we used to go down to NYC for holidays with my fraternity brothers. Street trash and "ladies of the evening" even look the same as I remember. And for some reason, a strange but familiar stench from those streets came back to haunt me as well.

Great start - hope they can keep it up (so to speak!).

TTFN,
"Point Blank" Frank
8-)

Without seeing the credits, it was obvious that David Simon had his "fingerprints" all over the series. I'm not sure if this will be as good as "The Wire" (which I consider the all time greatest cop series), or "Treme" (that I felt was just okay), but I'm reserving judgment for at least a few more episodes. So far, I think its certainly better than a few of the other more recent "edgy" HBO series, such as "Vinyl" (Scorsese's mess), "Girls" (trash for the sake of trash), or "Insecure" (about modern-day black women that can can't get over talking about how insecure they are about being "modern-day", black, or women).

Good David Simon interview - mostly about this show - here:

https://meninblazers.com/page/podcasts

You have to realize Men in Blazers is primarily a soccer/futbol discussion website, etc., with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but Roger Bennett is a good interviewer so enjoy.

ETA: NSFW due to Simon's language at times and strays into politics in the second half but finishes strong.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blackmore,

Episode 2 was a little slow to me.

Seems they were setting up stuff for the future episodes with the Mob twist.

I think the College girl will become a "Movie" star.

I will still watch it.