Pilot

After just one episode of The Deuce, I can do nothing but say that David Simon seems incapable of creating bad shows. The Deuce is a visually stunning show with great performances from every single actor. The dialogue is fantastic as well. It nails the feeling of 70's New York, or at least what I imagine it would feel like.

As of this moment, I cannot find a single thing in the first episode of The Deuce I don't like. This will probably be my new favorite ongoing show. I hope it will get renewed for as long as David Simon feels he can create good content, and not a single episode longer.

The pilot episode of The Deuce has the difficult task of establishing a place and time whilst introducing a multitude of characters and I think it does it with aplomb.

To a huge fan of The Wire it gives very similar vibes on a number of levels. The slice of life realism is captured in the visual storytelling and dialogue between characters.

I was not around in the time and not in a position to confirm authenticity, but I do like the art design and layer of filth that seems to cover everything. It almost feels like you could catch a disease from touching the door handle in one of those apartments. Other commentators have stated that it's not dirty enough, so it must have been a cesspit back in the day.

I like how certain parallels between characters are teased, particularly those who appear to have very different opportunities in life.

I think all actors give great first impressions. You have to be a fan of James Franco given the amount of screen time he has. I think he is a strong lead, but arguably it would be less confusing and gimmicky to cast another actor in the role of Frankie.

The streets were too clean, the cars were all the latest models, buffed and polished for a floor show, the costumes were perfectly pressed and fitted (even on the supposedly poor kids) and the sets looked like, well, sets.

The dialogue was all cleaned up without any feel for the street nor any convincing NYC accents (MG's was particularly affected), all politically correct and safe.

For someone like David Simon, whose grittiness and realism are second to none (The Wire especially) this has to rank as a major disappointment.

I didn't believe it was 1971 for a second, I believed it was a bunch of actors dressed up as 1970s characters spouting non-period dialogue on a bunch of sets dressed up with 1970s props and store signs.

In order for this show to work, I have to feel like I have been time- warped...I did, but not to NYC 1971...to Hollywood 2017

P.S. Tug McGraw was a relief pitcher he rarely started a Mets Game. Symbolic of the necessary details this show badly lacks.

I truly did. It caught me by surprise that HBO decided to release the pilot early. I guess they wanted to use the boom of the GoT season finale to boost one of their new shows. But "The Deuce" is its own thing. We don't need no dragons.

I am not from New York, but you can tell the series team put a lot of effort on creating the right environment and it really pays off. Maggie Gyllenhaal is terrific on this role, I loved her. The storyline is great, too, and I really enjoyed the different people and how they end up interacting with each other. I can't wait to see how they all end up connecting. I am usually quite skeptical when it comes to hour and a half episodes, but this one was phenomenal. It didn't feel long in any moment and the 70s prostitution theme has so much potential it could become literally anything.

The one bad thing about the pilot is that, by releasing it early, now we have to wait three weeks for a new episode. Damn it you HBO.

At some point while watching this you ask yourself... why am I subjecting myself to this. I made it about 60% the way through before I finally had it.

The whole thing is flat. Just one persistent depressing note droning on and on. I am not sure if the problem is in the script, the direction, acting... maybe everyone had food poisoning. I don't know.

I expected more. This came from the writers of the Wire and Treme. Between them they had writing credits on Homicide, generation kill and Bosch. The director had worked on game of thrones (some good episodes) and breaking bad.

As the pilot relentlessly trudged on... I wondered why I didn't like it. The complete lack of humour perhaps.

Then I realized it didn't matter. It was just not good.

It's not terrible but it's the kind of thing actors seem to do every so often to show they can be "gritty and real" that they then inflict on the poor audiences many of whom will convince themselves they like it because they are supposed to for some reason.