This looks pretty good, trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj5Nt-HoBhw

Written by David Simon, directed by Paul Haggis. Cast includes Oscar Isaac, Jon Bernthal (SHANE), Winona Rider, Terry Kinney and Catherine Keener.

Airs in August.

Will watch.

Anything David Simon will ever do automatically gets a full series commitment from me!!!!!

+1. HBO can't seem to do right with their shows so might as well start killing it with miniseries and movies.

Reminder it starts tonight

Cliffs?

Just watched the first episode and about to watch the second. Not sure what to think yet. Just wanted to say that I still don't believe Oscar Issac and David Krumholtz are different people.

I was super skeptical of this because the subject matter(housing politics of Yonkers) seemed more Treme than Generation Kill, but 2 episodes in this is really good.

I'm not sure why there are three distinct "regular person" subplots, none of them seem to connect to anything else, and the show does a great job of making the A plot "pop" despite being so dry so it's not a pacing thing.

But still, everything works. After watching True Detective, it's just incredible to have a bunch of characters with motivations I understand and problems I can relate to.

I thought it started slow, but picked up in part 2. Public housing seems like a boring topic, but I found it really compelling by the end of the two episodes.

These are all the people who are going to be most directly by the housing being built (people moving in or out). The Keener character is set up to take a major 180 on her views. I already have feelings about all of the characters in the "B" storylines, and that's just plain good character development. I'm actually hesitant to read about the real story, because I don't want to know the outcome yet or whether Wasicsko is a good guy or bad guy (he's really toeing the line in character right now).

I thought this was a great start, and subject matter like this is really difficult to carry off without it seeming like pandering, preaching, or ending up unbelievable and unconvincing (a good compare/contrast was the Russo storyline on season 1 of House of Cards, which was done fairly well but looks like child's play in comparison to this).

The sound in the council scenes was amazing. I'd be shocked if the first two episodes don't end up with an Emmy nom in the mixing category.

It was okay, but it wasn't as good as I'd expected. Seemed to go event by event by event. Slow buildup of characters. Nothing complex. No highlight reel scenes.

I didn't know this until doing some googling on the subject (not sure if that puts me slower than the rest of you) but this is a true story, the characters (at least the city hall ones) are real people and the housing desegregation case against Yonkers was a real thing.

white people be wildin

Oscar Isaac is so good.
the whole cast is awesome (can't remember his name but the actor who plays the very vocally anti HUD bill councilman is so great) and I'm really bummed this is only 6 episodes.

testament to Simon's genius that he can take such a seemingly boring subject matter and make it must see tv.

Alfred Molina?

I watched the first one, kinda on the fence. I guess we're supposed to think these white people who don't want a project next door to them are all vicious racists.

Yeah, pretty much. Cities in New York and Boston are pretty scary in relation to that kind of stuff.

yes!
love him.

he's like Oliver Platt, fantastic in every role and most ppl can never remember their name.

When will white people ever catch a break from HBO? First they canceled Entourage, then True Detective sucked, and now they let David Simon do the reverse racism?

You know what you should do, kioshk? You should write a letter to your city councilman.

Oh man Oliver Platt would've been a great get for this cast. He could've played, well, pretty much any character.

dunno, one thing I've always appreciated about simon is he doesn't pander or preach and he strives for accuracy.

generation kill was incredibly accurate down to very minor details, and he managed to make an epic series detailing the war on drugs and political/social corruption in a major us city without succumbing to clichés n stereotypes or pandering to any particular political demographic.

I don't think it's fair to criticize him for portraying the climate and feelings surrounding this issue.

do you think he's unfairly characterizing the ppl portrayed on the show?

I don't think enterouge was cancelled, was it?

I have no idea, I just needed a third thing

As you described, the specific way he's telling the story is exactly why the show works. That makes it more effective, because it actually feels real/realistic/believable (and I'm sure there was a ton of research material to recreate what happened, though I don't want to see any of it yet). Watch any documentary about busing in Boston in the 70s, and you'll see exactly how accurate that vitriol is/was. Boston is the most segregated city I've ever lived in, and I doubt cities like Yonkers were any different.

The 2nd one was a lot better. All those frothing mobs! High drama. Very appealing lead character, kinda reminds me of a beardless Serpico.