HBO's Horse Racing Drama Stalls Prematurely Due To Real Life Tragedy
HBO's prestige piece "Luck" was easily one of the year's most anticipated dramas. Its creator David Milch had been responsible for some groundbreaking shows including "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood." Film legend Michael Mann (director of Heat among many other great pictures) was also a driving force behind the scenes. And with Dustin Hoffman (not to mention Nick Nolte) stepping into television to take a leading role, expectations were through the roof with this pedigree of talent. The real life story of "Luck," however, made more of a noise than the actual program. Though the show opened to generally favorable, but cautious, press--the viewership numbers didn't exactly ignite a ratings maelstrom. Juggling dozens of peripheral characters, "Luck" was best appreciated by an adult audience with patience and fortitude. Its methodical pacing was a challenge to some and as various plot threads wound around each other, the early episodes seemed to lack a dramatic imperative. HBO backed...
HBO's Horse Racing Drama Stalls Prematurely Due To Real Life Tragedy
HBO's prestige piece "Luck" was easily one of the year's most anticipated dramas. Its creator David Milch had been responsible for some groundbreaking shows including "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood." Film legend Michael Mann (director of Heat among many other great pictures) was also a driving force behind the scenes. And with Dustin Hoffman (not to mention Nick Nolte) stepping into television to take a leading role, expectations were through the roof with this pedigree of talent. The real life story of "Luck," however, made more of a noise than the actual program. Though the show opened to generally favorable, but cautious, press--the viewership numbers didn't exactly ignite a ratings maelstrom. Juggling dozens of peripheral characters, "Luck" was best appreciated by an adult audience with patience and fortitude. Its methodical pacing was a challenge to some and as various plot threads wound around each other, the early episodes seemed to lack a dramatic imperative. HBO backed Milch and...
LUCK! CUT TOO SHORT FOR A REALLY GREAT SHOW
LUCK was a really great HBO show headed up and produced by Dustin Hoffman, with Dustin heading up a stellar cast including Dennis Farina. Although the cover proclaims this as the complete first season, it is in fact the complete series, because the series was cut short due to the tragic loss of 3 Horses during the filming of the 1st season. The animal rights folks went after HBO with a vengence, forcing them to shut down further production of the series,(something that to my knowledge has never happened to HBO before). There was nothing wrong with the story line and had the problem with horses not occured, they were well on their way to a 2nd season and possibly beyond that. Needless to say, although this is only one season, it is well worth buying and owning. Although it did not go beyond that, the way they ended the first season gives you at least a little closer and I think HBO owes that to Dustin Hoffman who went out of his way to make sure it closed out as best he could. ALso...
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