David Simon on The Deuce series finale: "We literally wrote the last scene first" - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 10-29-2019, 07:58 PM

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-f...erview-903622/

"The last scene of the show was the only one we had written in our heads when we started the project," says Simon." It came from talking to the original Vincent (played by James Franco) not only about his life in Times Square, but what had happened to all the people that he was telling us stories about. All the anecdotes, when you would ask, 'What happened to her? What happened to him?' none of them ended with, 'She married a psychiatrist and they’re living in Scarsdale.' There was a lot of attrition, and a lot of dislocated people, and there was some sense on the part of the guy we were with, who was in his sixties at the time, of having outlived most of the people he had come up with. So there was a sense of nostalgia mixed with regret and loss that was pretty powerful for (co-creator) George (Pelecanos) and myself."

ALSO:

Co-creator George Pelecanos says The Deuce's original plan was dropped because it took away the element of suspense
For a show—and for a final season—so haunted by decline, decay and death, The Deuce finale is surprisingly sedate
Among The Deuce's most impressive achievements was how it conveyed such affection for this world, even as the cast and crew were depicting all the ways in which it could be terrible

The Deuce's "cheesy" finale undermined the entire series

In the David Simon HBO pornography drama's nostalgic final moments, "I felt a pang of betrayal from a series that forged itself through violence and never looked backward," says Robyn Bahr. "The Deuce thrived because it refused to romanticize the pre-Giuliani era, denying its viewers any erotic pleasure from its on-screen indulgences. The series was rooted in grim, Spartan realism — a far cry from the uncharacteristic cheese and unearned nostalgia of its dreamlike epilogue." Bahr adds: "The scene only lasts about 10 minutes, yet undermines almost everything the series argued about complicity in an abusive industry...For a show that hellbent on shoving your snout into the muck, The Deuce suddenly came across as a goopy rom-com about the caprices of fate."

ALSO:

The Deuce's epilogue failed what made the series great, succumbing to nostalgia in its final moments
The Deuce showed it was a story unique to television, and now it’s harder and harder for shows like it to exist

10-29-2019, 07:58 PM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 126,010	David Simon on The Deuce series finale: "We literally wrote the last scene first" https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-f...erview-903622/ "The last scene of the show was the only one we had written in our heads when we started the project," says Simon." It came from talking to the original Vincent (played by James Franco) not only about his life in Times Square, but what had happened to all the people that he was telling us stories about. All the anecdotes, when you would ask, 'What happened to her? What happened to him?' none of them ended with, 'She married a psychiatrist and they’re living in Scarsdale.' There was a lot of attrition, and a lot of dislocated people, and there was some sense on the part of the guy we were with, who was in his sixties at the time, of having outlived most of the people he had come up with. So there was a sense of nostalgia mixed with regret and loss that was pretty powerful for (co-creator) George (Pelecanos) and myself." ALSO: Co-creator George Pelecanos says The Deuce's original plan was dropped because it took away the element of suspense For a show—and for a final season—so haunted by decline, decay and death, The Deuce finale is surprisingly sedate Among The Deuce's most impressive achievements was how it conveyed such affection for this world, even as the cast and crew were depicting all the ways in which it could be terrible The Deuce's "cheesy" finale undermined the entire series In the David Simon HBO pornography drama's nostalgic final moments, "I felt a pang of betrayal from a series that forged itself through violence and never looked backward," says Robyn Bahr. "The Deuce thrived because it refused to romanticize the pre-Giuliani era, denying its viewers any erotic pleasure from its on-screen indulgences. The series was rooted in grim, Spartan realism — a far cry from the uncharacteristic cheese and unearned nostalgia of its dreamlike epilogue." Bahr adds: "The scene only lasts about 10 minutes, yet undermines almost everything the series argued about complicity in an abusive industry...For a show that hellbent on shoving your snout into the muck, The Deuce suddenly came across as a goopy rom-com about the caprices of fate." ALSO: The Deuce's epilogue failed what made the series great, succumbing to nostalgia in its final moments The Deuce showed it was a story unique to television, and now it’s harder and harder for shows like it to exist