I'm aware this may be an unpopular opinion, but the television industry has gone the same banal way of Hollywood this decade. Sure, there's plenty of good shows out there, but there's nothing quite exciting, nothing innovative. Stuff like Fargo and Game of Thrones, while well done, are ultimately pure formula.
Nothing like the "Golden Era of US Television" through the 2000s. The Wire, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica, Arrested Development, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and so many others. Not to mention some brilliant shows made outside of the US during this era.
Perhaps the only innovative show in this era is Rick and Morty, but this fall, we may have another.
The Deuce, a TV series about the prostitution industry and the rise of pornography, set in 1970s New York, with two James Francos. Of course, a lot of people dismissed that premise as something that'll inevitably turn sleazy. Of course, that's the challenge that George Pelecanos and David Simon took up.
Narrative fiction in general - whether it be books, movies/TV, or games - always ends up being a gross approximation of reality. This is a given, of course, but we have seen a trend in recent times towards what I would only call "two-dimensional". In trying to be realistic, the artifice shows even further, and ends up making a mockery of the issues it tries to deal with. Even the great shows ultimately end up being pastiches of themselves.
But The Deuce is no great show. There are no easy narrative conveniences, no formulae, no neatly pleasant packages designed to manipulate or gratify the audience.
The setting in The Deuce does not attempt to be beautiful. Neither does it attempt to be realistic. Instead, the 1970s New York is portrayed exactly as The Deuce - the show, not the actual 1970s Deuce locality - needs it to be. The costumes, the hair, the make-up, the locations - are all impeccable. To the point that the audience simply never questions or notices it.
That's why there's no other show like The Deuce on television or film. This is a show that is in such strong confidence and command of itself, that it simply does not even try and impress the audience. Stuff like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones - great shows in their own right - constantly have a layer of artifice to them.
Not so with The Deuce, it is a show that understands the medium so well, and delicately straddles the very thin line between reality and fiction.
Continuing on my thoughts about the costumes etc, the same goes for the casting. It's all near perfect. We have seen James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in big budget Hollywood blockbusters, but they seem born to play Vinnie and Frankie Martino; and Miss Merrell respectively. These are the roles and performances of a career; of a lifetime. The same holds true for every minor character, down to the extras you see for not more than minute.
So, back to what The Deuce is about - sex. There's a lot of it, of course, but it's all treated in an absolutely refreshing manner. If there were aliens - or Gods - they would look down upon humans as this absurd species which is driven entirely by sex. Every bit of crime, every bit of corruption, every virtuous act, every declaration of War, has ultimately one driving force - the act of copulation. The show portrays sex as just an act, where a penis penetrates a vagina several times. Something that most humans seem to be addicted to, for some reason or another. Of course, it need not be a penis and a vagina. It could be any combination thereof, or none at all.
I found that odd, at first. Surely, the folks in the 1970s weren't as liberated, considering the general prudishness of the population in this date. In my lifetime, there has been an enormous change in understanding of sexuality and various orientations and genders, but the people in The Deuce seemed to have much of it figured out way back then. As it turns out, after some research, it really was the case. Not exactly a depiction of history, but very much in the spirit of.
But of course, it isn't really about sex. It is about America, it is about freedom, capitalism, everything good about it, and everything flawed about it that ultimately corrupts. Mind you, it is not a political show at all, but the undertones are undeniable.
This would be a good place to recommend people easily offended by sexuality in its various forms to kindly stay away.
The characters in The Deuce come from a wide swath of backgrounds. Though the focal point is clearly the rise of the pornographic industry, there are people and stories of all types. The Deuce flirts so closely with the feeling of - "wow, I can feel this must have happened" - that often times as an audience, I question - "Why is this not happening?". Lo and behold, it does. The Deuce is a wide panorama of every nook and cranny of the human condition in this context, which somehow seems impossible to achieve in a mere 8 hours.
People do bad things, people do good things, but no one is judged upon. The best shows do have characters with shades of grey, but they often burdened with sanctimonious back-stories and justifications. Not in The Deuce. Every single character are just people, getting by.
A common wisdom goes like so - you make your characters likeable, or no one will like your work of fiction. Of course, this is The Deuce, and there's absolutely no attempt to make anyone likeable. People are complicated, and depending on who you are, you'll warm to like someone or the other - but rarely would it be the same person. That makes it all the more fun to discuss - as everyone has a different view of a different character.
And so it is, at every turn, there's utmost respect for the audience. The audience must pay attention and engage with the show, and by doing so it becomes an utterly spellbinding 8 hours of entertainment.
This is without doubt the finest Season 1 in television in this decade, and may even be one of the finest in television history. The porn industry is just getting started, and so is The Deuce. If it keeps firing at this rate in subsequent seasons, this might just end up being one of the finest pieces of fiction humankind has produced. Hyperbole, of course, and have rambled on for quite a while, but I don't care. I just had to write about it.
(All images from HBO.com)