The Deuce Series Premiere

David Simon, acclaimed journalist, writer, and director of what many consider to be the greatest television series of all time, The Wire, has just released his newest project on HBO. Chancing tack from his view of the drug war in turn of the century Baltimore, the macarthur genius grant winning director has set his sights on the birth of the porn industry in New York during the 70s.

The series premiere was released this past weekend, and features James Franco in the role of a bartender at a drop bar. The costume and set design is superb, and the writing and plot are what you would expect from anything created by David Simon.

The most remarkable thing about this series is the amount of research that went into it. Simon and co-producer George Pelecanos interviewed hundreds of people involved in the seedy underworld of adult films in the 70s. What many Europeans may not understand is that America had only recently been transformed by revisions to obscenity laws by 1970, and the status of Pornography was not that of the multi-billion dollar industry that it has become.

The first episode laid the groundwork for another epic series, and fans all over the world will be eagerly awaiting the rest of the series.