The Business
In ‘The Deuce,’ David Simon follows the money of the porn industry
When David Simon started shopping his new show The Deuce--about the rise and legalization of the porn industry--he quickly realized a lot of networks didn’t quite grasp his seriousness of purpose. The creator of The Wire and Treme tells us how The Deuce ended up back at his longtime TV home, HBO, and why he ended up making a show about porn in the first place.
By Kim Masters • • 28m ListenWriter-producer David Simon has a long history with HBO. He created Treme, Show Me a Hero, and the immortal series The Wire. Now he’s back with a new drama The Deuce. The show focuses on the rise of the pornography industry in early 1970’s Manhattan. Given the subject matter, it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of sex, but Simon didn’t want those scenes to be sexy. He tells us about walking the tricky line of making a show about porn, that’s not porn.
Photo: Writer-producer David Simon. Courtesy of HBO.
