"The Deuce" - HBO Series with James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal

I distinctly remember a REAL 'soft-porn' based on fairy-tales, too!

 

You also see a lot of drinking and drug use on the show as well. It was not only the times, but as you say, their mileau

 

Brings to mind the 'good ol' days' when you'd wear yr best duds to go clubbing, only to descend into pits of cigarette smoke and have that lovely stink attach itself to your clothes for the rest of the evening! Was made extra 'special' by the fact that I've never been a cigarette smoker! In retrospect, back in the day you'd come away with that 'special' aroma by going to stores, restaurants, plane trips, everywhere. And as always, the smokers have always been oblivious to their stench! Still are!

 

That's because smoking deadens your sense of smell somewhat. When I was a smoker, I never realized how strongly the reek of cigarettes were on my clothes, in my car, etc. And, I never smelled it on anyone else. Now, I can walk into a room and tell you if there's a smoker nearby within seconds of entering the room!

 

I'm enjoying this new version of This Year's Girl in the opening credits.
Natalie Bergman's vocal elevates it.

 

Not much discussion lately in this thread. Anyone still watching this show?

 

I've been watching it and half paying attention while doing other things. Its really not very interesting to me this season.

 

Didn't think the first season was great, if the second season sucks I'll pass on the Blu Ray.

 

I am. Some of the storylines are a bit cliched (Shay's OD) or filler (Frankie's laundromat, unless they go somewhere with the money he gets for selling it). Others have potential -we should see Alston and Vincent cross paths via the investigation into the fire that killed Kitty. Are they going to do anything with Rodney? Method Man was really good in S1 but through 4 episodes we've just seen him do some drug-addled stumblin' and mumblin'. Maggie's still awesome.

 

This season is pretty uninteresting to me aside from a handful of great scenes. Episode 3 was interesting. The wigs are so bad I just can't take it seriously.

 

As is typical of almost all modern shows these days, I find it hard to find any truly likeable characters and I have a problem getting that into shows where they're all detestable, some more so than others.

 

Exactly. They went to the trouble of getting Nan Goldin photographs for the photo show in the bar, and actually talking about Cookie Mueller, but they can't get decent wigs? Very distracting.

 

I still love it...perhaps because I was a little too familar with the mileau ...

 

Yeah, this series definitely gets an extra star or two if you ever sought out the conductor car on the EE.

 

I'm witchu!

 

Or the "smoking car" on the LL.

 

....,and WIRE gets a check!

 

Heck, I can tell when a smoker gets on a city bus after they've been smoking at the bus stop!

I've watched about half of the first episode. Only the writer of this series claims that the girls in the movies were working prostitutes with pimps extorting money from the filmmakers. I've listened to every single episode of the Rialto Report podcast, and not one of the porn stars involved has said that was the case. The New York "Golden Age" was composed of struggled actors. Georgina Spelvin was Shirley McLean's understudy in The Pajama Game! And even if you don't hire working actors, it's not that difficult to find someone who will work for $200 a day having sex - an ad in the Village Voice would do it.

 

Though I believe that Annie Sprinkle was a "working girl" before going into films (though I don't think she worked the streets, only "leisure spas" - higher class parlors). And according to Maggie Gyallanhall, she was a consultant on the show.

 

Annie, Connie Peterson and possibly CJ Laing. The point is they were the exception rather than the rule. There are pimps in this show not because pimps were around porn sets at the time, but because the writer likes writing about pimps. The creators of the Rialto Report are credited as consultants on the show as well, and it's a shame he didn't listen to them.

Annie was far more familiar at the time from posing for National Lampoon's Photo Funnies.

 

I guess it's some dramatic license to bring the characters into the same orbit.
Also some of the stars of that era did have "managers", who were essentially pimps by another name. So I guess that is something they want to touch on in the show.

 

Sometimes it seems like some people expected the Deuce to be a Ken Burns documentary! I've always understood it to be a work of FICTION based on a certain time, nothing more.

 

What I'm saying is this - listen to some of the Rialto Report podcasts. The main thing you'll discover is that the real life stories of most of the people they interview are far more interesting than the stories the writers of The Duece are telling. Like Helga Sven in podcast #21, who came to the USA after a girlhood in WWII Germany, wound up married to a mobster, hung out with Sinatra and became the owner of the Circus Circus... before she did porn! That's a far more interesting story than David Simon's grimy "pimps up, hoes down" one.

 

I hear what yr saying as I believe true stories trump fiction the majority of the time. But I'll admit to being a little curious as to why this seems to have so much importance to you. You've consistently been bringing this its-not-factually-accurate thing since the shows inception! I mean, 5 Families by Selwyn Raab is an all-time great true Mafia book. Doesn't mean there's no room for the Godfather!

 

Because, unlike Mafia stories, Hollywood has exploited the adult film business, but never given it much respect in return (Boogie Nights is the rare exception.)