HBO's 'Luck'

[It's Damn Real!]

Premiere aired last night (and will be airing throughout this week, in case you missed it).

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My take:

The drama is there. The star power is there (Dustin Hoffman as Chester "Ace" Bernstein, Dennis Farina as Gus Economou, John Ortiz as Turo Escalante, Richard Kind as Joey Rathburn, Kevin Dunn as Marcus and Nick Nolte as Walter Smith). The complexity, though, is almost overwhelming for a show trying to get it's wings off the ground. Anyone who knows little to nothing about racing (myself included) would have easily struggled trying to understand how it all works.

Gonna need to give this a few more episodes before I can really make a decision on it, though.

Anyone else giving this a go?

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I reckon I'll be giving the show a try.

As you mentioned, the acting pedigree is definitely there but I'm completely oblivious to the ins and outs of horse racing. However I don't think that will be a massive factor to be honest as it is essentially a context for the story so as long as the writing, direction and acting are all of a good quality then it should be a good and interesting watch.

Or it could bomb and the phrase 'Luck is for losers' may take on a new meaning. We shall wait and see.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I really enjoyed the pilot, and I think I'm going to give Luck a chance, because this show does have some real promise.

First of all, the cast is just excellent, and this show should feature some great acting. Dustin Hoffman was a fine choice for the lead role, and he really did deliver an impressive performance in the first episode. And Kevin Dunn really shocked me. Over the past few years, I've become used to seeing him as this comical and goofy guy, who portrays Shia LaBeouf's father in the Transformers films. Dunn could still make me laugh during the pilot, but he's portraying one of those shady gamblers, who you wouldn't want to trust with your money, and Dunn did provide a very believable performance.

I'm enjoying the show so far, but the horse racing stuff almost kills it for me. I've never been able to get into horse racing, and I'm not a fan of this sport at all. But I'm going to try and look past the horse racing this time around, because Luck does have the potential to become a great show.

The debut episode did hook me in, and I will come back for more. The first episode was well written, and this show does have a nice set of colorful characters. I want to learn more about Nick Nolte's character, because for the most part, he was too quiet in the debut episode. Luck could be one of the better drama series on TV, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

 

[BlueLightning]

I'm PVRing the season and waiting until most of the episodes are out before delving in and watching a bunch at once. Something tells me if I end up liking it, it will be hard waiting each week.

 

[DRP]

i am looking forward to seeing this when it starts on Sky Atlantic as i am a big horse racing fan

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Second episode was a lot better and did a much better job of establishing the characters and the depth of the story IMO.

Still a few episodes out from a real critique though.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Luck delivered another good episode this past week, and I'm really starting to enjoy this show. Kevin Dunn continues to impress me, and Marcus has become my favorite character on the show so far. Jerry has a serious gambling problem, and his addiction to high stakes poker games could cause some serious problems in the next episode. Also, John Ortiz is slowly rising as one of the more entertaining characters on this show, because Turo Escalante did provide some of the more memorable moments on this episode.

The story is still progressing at a pretty slow pace, but I'm still enjoying this show. They did reveal some more details about Ace's past, and Hoffman's character is planning something big for the future, you can clearly see this.

The cast is just great, and I am looking forward to the next episode, but the horse racing stuff is still bothering me a little bit. I do feel lost, when they begin to focus on the horse racing material. I'm not familiar with the terminology for this sport, but I'll try to learn more as the series progresses.