It was probably a kind of scuzzy hell on earth, but perhaps no other period in the history of New York City has been glamorized as much as the late 1970s era of Time Square and Hell’s Kitchen where grindhouse movie theaters and greasy strip clubs and porn shops ruled the day (you could even find remnants of them in Time Square up to the early aughts). Of course, this same period has been covered musically by HBO with Martin Scorsese’s failed series “Vinyl,” which depicted a similar era through the filter of the 1970s, punk, disco and post-punk explosion (and Netflix’s “The Get Down” followed the evolution down through hip hop and disco; though it got canceled too). It’s an incredibly fertile period that storytellers and filmmakers keep returning to time and time again.
And HBO hasn’t faltered obviously, taking one more kick at the 1970s can with “The Deuce” which explores 1970s New York at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry.
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Given HBO’s proclivities for nudity (at least female nudity), it’s a good guess that “The Deuce” will be a show that could be full of gratuitous sex, but it comes from the minds of filmmakers much more rarified: David Simon, the creator of the seminal HBO series “The Wire,” and George Pelecanos one of the principal writer/producers on that show and also a writer/producer on “Treme” and “The Pacific.” The show stars James Franco in a duel role of twins and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Here’s the official synopsis.
Created by George Pelecanos and David Simon (The Wire) and starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Deuce follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry. George Pelecanos, David Simon, James Franco and Nina K. Noble executive produce.
“The Deuce” debuts on September 10th and also features Emily Meade, Zoe Kazan, Anwan Glover, Michael Rispoli, David Krumholtz and more. Watch the new trailer that debuted ahead of tonight’s utterly bad ass episode of “Game Of Thrones” right here (also check the Method Man cameo; Wu Tang forever). Will it too get deep sixed by HBO? Weigh in and let us know what you think.
