SERIES PREMIERE: The newest series from David Simon and company, once again, examines a specific place, time, and set of political and social circumstances, while following a generously large contingent of well-realized, seldom-presented characters. It’s the basic formula – big ideas, large issues, street-level people – utilized so brilliantly in The Wire and other Simon projects. For The Deuce, the setting is 1971 Times Square, and the “big picture” topic is how the encroachment of a new, more “acceptable” type of pornography made its way into the city and the culture. The story is smartly researched and very well written – Simon’s collaborators here include the powerhouse writers George Pelecanos and Richard Price – and you really do get to know this world, and its characters, very well, even before the times, and Times Square, begin to change. James Franco plays twins (it’s not a gimmick, and is based on twin brothers who ended up as key players in the transformation of the two-block 42^nd Street stretch known as “the Deuce”), and the anchor of this series is Maggie Gyllenhaal, playing a streetwise hooker named Candy who’s very wise even when she’s not on the street. For my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website. And for other full reviews by TVWW contributors, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower and Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes.

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