The Porter

The porter is a period piece about train poters. The production does a good job of setting the era. The quality is similar to that of downton abbey. There is a large cast many inter weaving stories. The casting and writing are both good.

I thouroughly enjoyed the first episode, the historical accuracy is wonderful because I feel that there's definitely a room for genre that's partially educational. I'm an immigrant to Canada and always enjoy learning what things were like a century ago without getting a history lesson if you know what I mean. (Murdoch Mysteries style!)

I agree that cinematography is a bit dark at times but I think it reflects aactual nature of the conveyed environment-you didn't exactly have lots of bright lights in illegal establishments.

This show has great cast, writing, directing and I'm excited to see the rest of the season. We need more television like this.

This is a really well done production of a good story idea with great acting, a likeable, admirable hero, and very unlikable bad guy (already in episode 1). My only hangup is that I'm really tired of feeling angry at white-black American history. I think the racism portrayed is realistic- and important to the story- but do films focused on racial injustice evoke resentment and defensiveness, further salting that social wound? We can never forget history, however painful and ugly, if we want to avoid the same mistakes. But sometimes that doesn't seem compatible with healing and moving forward. Anyway, def worth a watch based on an award-worthy first episode.

This is must see television. The cast and story is top notch. Crossing my fingers this show is renewed for seasons to come. Shows like this are often put aside or canceled for no apparent reason. Thanks to BET for making this happen.

I loved the premise of this series; but I thought the execution really lost track of what could have been a compelling story.

What I thought the series was going to examine was black porters, many combat veterans from World War I, seeking to unionize and gain fair wages and treatment while working on the railroads.

Instead, it became sort of a three-headed monster that took almost all the focus away from that premise. We spend the majority of the show following one of the porters working with a Chicago mobster on a gambling endeavor, a dancer in an interracial relationship with the buffoonish son of the railroad owner in a quest to blossom her career, and a nurse working to improve the lives of black citizens who becomes entangled in a house of ill-repute.

The side-stories had some interest for me and the acting is fairly good for the most part; but the main story of racism and unionization is left to fight for scraps.

I wish they spent more time on the porters in their jobs and the struggles they faced. When it did focus on that, I was largely interested. When it strayed, I found my attention wandering.

It really just lost track of what the story was about, IMO.