The Deuce (2017 - 2019)

Let me write to you about The Deuce. It has finished its compact run of three seasons in as many years and I can now commit it to the site (TV shows need to have completed their run to warrant inclusion on LIW - Ed). Everything about The Deuce has bells on. It starts as a 1970s period piece, where downtown New York is painstakingly recreated on the dime of big budget backers HBO. The series is created by David Simon, one of the visionary minds of modern television (he did The Wire), in collaboration with esteemed crime author and The Wire writer George Pelecanos. Big name movie stars such as James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal signed on, delivering, arguably, career defining performances alongside a stunning ensemble cast.

So why, prey tell, is NOBODY talking about The Deuce? I don’t know if something has been lost in translation over on this side of the pond, but it is almost insulting that this unflinching goosey at the rise of the porn industry from the seedy underworld of crime and prostitution into your cinemas and living rooms has gone mostly under the radar. 

If you loved The Wire, then this is a no brainer, but The Deuce also packs a bit of class and swagger; maybe it’s the costume design, but The Deuce feels much more like a TV show than The Wire did, the latter having an almost documentary feel to it.

Twin Peaks’ return aside (as I don’t suppose that counts as a “new” show?), The Deuce is hands down the best TV show to have been made in the last five years, if not longer. Massively underrated stuff.