The Deuce

Great all around at least most of the time especially by a superb creator of The Wire which is masterful! The cast, soundtrack, writing, and innuendos are done so well! I'm surprised there wasn't more seasons easily could've. James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal are so delightful this is very different for them.

A deep and gritty realism multifaceted narrative take on the evolving of the porn industry on 42nd street and Times Square in New York.

I have looked at ALL the reviews and literally every single one below 6 stars is the same type of "critique":

1: Why is Maggie G. in the cast, she is not pretty 2: James Franco is bad he ruins it all 3: There is only sex and drugs and no plot 4: Nothing happens I stopped in episode 3

The only difference is just the formality of it, how was it formulated and smaller circumstances.

It seems silly to me, rating a show badly because they didn't cast someone sexy and like-able to play a prostitute on the streets of N.Y.

If you do not appreciate the shows aesthetics or the actors working on it then these reviews are probably helpful for you - But they are still very misleading and does NOT represent the show at all. The actual craftsmanship and writing on this show is amazing and is on par with the first season of True Detective, the Sopranos or the Wire. Maggie was cast exactly for that reason, that she is not chiseled by Michelangelo himself but has the realistic look to her.

Maybe it would be a good idea for IMDB to require would be reviewers to pass some kind of test that might weed out some of the reviews that appear to be written by contrarians who have no interest in an honest assessment or especially dim witted viewers who haven't a clue what makes a quality production. When a series has an 8.1 rating on IMDB based on over 20,000 reviews the one,two, and three star reviewers should reassess their reviewing abilities and perhaps learn to appreciate a production that recreates 1970's 42cnd street in 2017. The dozens of cars, taxi's, busses that would be on 1970's midtown streets and the hundreds of pedestrians all dressed appropriately for the era. The theater marquees showing movies from that era. All being shot in modern N Y. Huge undertaking that is done very well. To dismiss it with a one ,two, three star review diminishes you , not the series

I lived in Manhattan during this time period and this flick is brutally and amazingly well executed. Times Square, 42nd Avenue (The Deuce, get it?) is so accurately represented it is like like a trip in Sherman's Way Back Machine. The XXX theaters, John Waters films on the Midnight Movie marquees, the peep shows, SROs, adult bookstores, dive bars, the drugs, hookers, pimps. It's all there.

I was a disco DJ at the Limelight, I was a very bad boy. I get it.

in 1995 I took my new wife to Manhattan, for my cousin's wedding. We were living in San Diego.Drove in from Newark, parked at the Port Authority. Our first stop was to be the grit and scum of Times Square.

I did not the memo that Guliani had "cleaned up" Times Square. We were eager to explore. Imagine our disappointment that it was all gone. Scoured, wiped clean, spic and span. I almost cried.

This film scratched the very old itch. What an amazing job. Yeah, it ain't perfect, but it is an awesome watch. Strong eight of ten.

Unless you don't like gritty, visual, intelligent, beautifully artistic dramas? Then go watch ya some Kardashians, moron.

Where do all the lousy reviews come from? Millennials? Never seen the dirt of the seventies ? Just cause you grew up in a sterile world without any idea about history whatsoever does not mean it was always so! So one said : Why make a serie about such a dirty time? Well why make a movie about WWII? Or about Henry the 8th? Just watch and learn about the time I grew up in. And a lot of others. Yeah that is right we survived the gore and the secondhand smoke. The filth and not to forget the best music there was. This is a great serie. The whole setting is real to life and I just love it.