From the moment she entered the bus terminal, I could tell there was something different about Brenda Peterson. She’s too sure of herself: Not in the way “Shit, C.C.” way that Lori gradually revealed upon her arrival in New York City, but a self-possession that’s a little more upfront. Even before she drops the hammer…
The Deuce, David Simon’s sleazy, big-hearted look at porn and prostitution in ‘70s New York City, returned for its second season last night, delivering a compelling hour reintroducing us to sprawling ensemble. Still, though the show may offer a raw, empathetic look into the era’s subculture, that doesn’t mean it…
It’s the end of 1977, and New York City is on top of the world. Subway-riding mayor elect Ed Koch is sweeping into Gracie Mansion. The Yankees are champs again, thanks to “Mr. October,” Reggie Jackson, and his three-pitch, three-homer performance in game six against those carpet-bagging bums that used to play in…
The divide between the haves and the have nots remains ever present in this extended trailer for The Deuce season two. Although the time jump to 1978 finds people like Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) daring to dream big enough to be an auteur in the porn industry and not just a bit player, those bubbles are bound to be …
As HBO’s new telecommunications overlords figure out how to mess with a good thing, the premium-cable network is over here conducting the kind of business that earned it the reputation that got AT&T’s attention in the first place.
The allegations of sexual misconduct that got James Franco expunged from Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood issue and disinvited from a New York Times speaking gig don’t seem to have affected his working relationship with HBO: Franco will return to The Deuce for its second season, as writer Megan Abbott told reporters at…
James Franco was honored with a Critics’ Choice Award last night for his work on The Disaster Artist, despite The Los Angeles Times publishing allegations from five women that he’d engaged in exploitative or sexually inappropriate behavior while they were his students or mentees. And it appears that HBO is also…
Clocking in at 70 minutes and change, the final episode of The Deuce’s first season stretches into its extra frames to bring some stories to a close, put ellipses on others, and indulge in a classic, The Wire-style bummer-parade montage. Maintaining the feeling of last week’s episode, it’s not all bad news set to Ray…
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, October 29. All times are Eastern. Don’t forget to pick up Halloween candy.
It’s still easy to rag on James Franco for acting like a pretentious grad student a few years ago, but it’s time to acknowledge the dude deserves our respect. Even if you didn’t like his brilliant turn in Spring Breakers, his reverent, nuanced performances in fare like 11.22.63 and The Deuce are proof that he isn’t…
It’s a strange sensation, feeling hope for the characters of The Deuce as an episode winds to a conclusion. But there it is: Ashley’s leaving town, Eileen’s taking control behind the camera, Alston has reasons to feel optimistic about his time at the one-four and about his relationship with Sandra. Things are working…
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, October 22. All times are Eastern. What’s that behind you?
“Payoff” is the long con of serialized television. Anybody who’s watched a show that’s trying to be the next Breaking Bad, the next Mad Men, the next Sopranos, hell, the next Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has felt the cheat. You give the show regular installments of your time, be they in weekly allotments or in big,…
Halloween draws nigh, and with it the annual parade of ghosts and goblins, trolls and Trumps, pumpkins and David S. Pumpkins, and other, equally obvious guises drawn from the well of contemporary pop culture. But you read The A.V. Club (or, at least, you scroll past it on the way to the comments). Your refined tastes…
The “Emmy for Maggie Gyllenhaal” train was already speeding its way down the tracks, and “What Kind Of Bad?” heaps a whole mountain of coal into the engine. Gyllenhaal shines in an episode that’s both a restatement and a validation of her character’s m.o., giving us Candy’s side of the story from beneath the jabbering…
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, October 8. All times are Eastern. I don’t feel tardy.
Chris Alston scans the line of property voucher-less women at the precinct, and Sandra Washington sticks out. She’s a new face, but there are other reasons she doesn’t fit in among the sex workers corralled for the latest round of show-and-prove. To my untrained eye, it was the fact that she’s dressed to…
Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Sunday, October 1. All times are Eastern. “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”—William Faulkner
There are plenty of smooth-talkers on The Deuce, but the show’s third episode prefers to be direct. In an episode titled “The Principle Is All”—so named for the ironic words of a guy who’s just broken the Mann act—Candy lays it out flat to a potential john with expensive tastes: “How do I know? Because nobody actually…
On last week’s episode of The A.V. Club Hosted By John Teti—which airs Thursday nights, only on Fusion TV—TV editor Erik Adams and host John Teti discussed the big fall TV shows of 2017. In this outtake, Adams and Teti go a little deeper on what Adams considers one of the best new series of the year. David Simon and…
