Critically acclaimed HBO drama series The Deuce is set to return for a second season, streaming on Foxtel and screening on showcase next month.
Created by George Pelecanos and David Simon (who also collaborated on The Wire) and featuring a fine ensemble cast lead by James Francoand Maggie Gyllenhaal, this powerful drama traces the evolution of the porn industry in New York City’s Times Square in the 1970s.
Season one, set in 1971-72, explored the gritty world of sex, crime, high times and violence, as the porn business began its climb towards legitimacy, cultural permanence and billion dollar profitability, driven by the gradual legalisation of porn and a politically motivated effort to clean up Times Square.
Vincent Martino (James Franco), is a bartender with vision and connections; Vincent’s identical twin Frankie Martino (played again by Franco) is a dangerously freewheeling counterpart to his entrepreneurial brother and Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a self-made sex worker eyeing a new career in porn filmmaking. Joining them are a vivid assortment of characters trying to cash in on the booming porn business.
Season two picks up the same characters and location five years later, finding its protagonists living at the apex of the Golden Age of Porn, when the dream of a mainstream X-rated film business is suddenly a credible reality, and the culture of pornography and its blatant commodification of sex is finding increasing traction among more Americans.
Disco and punk are in full swing, and police corruption and political tolerance for New York’s midtown prostitution scene is at its height. And the Mafia, the early backer of pornography at the moment when courts declared its legality, is now poised to reap great profits. A comparable porn industry is rising on the West Coast as well. But for now, New York is holding its own.
Tuesdays from September 11 at 9.45pm on Showcase.
