A Show About Porn Is In The Works For HBO

HBO has a great track record of creating fantastic television, truly living up to it’s slogan “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” More recently with shows like Game of Thrones, Girls, Hung, and Boardwalk Empire there have been some people jokingly changing their slogan to “It’s not porn, it’s HBO.” Well, that new saying might be a little closer to the truth. David Simon, the creator of The Wire and Treme, is currently working on a new show all about the porn industry.  

The Deuce will follow the rise of the porn industry in New York's Times Square back in the 1970s and 1980s. Of course porn won't be the only thing discussed in the show, it will also focus on the rise of HIV, drugs, and real estate. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Simon and his writing partner George Pelecanos were a little unsure if the show was for them.  

"George and I looked at each other and said, 'I don't wanna make a porn show.… I'm married with kids and lawn furniture. I don't want to go there, man. That's dark.'"

Simon's other major concern is that he doesn’t want the show to come across as exploitative.  

"You don't want to make porn to critique porn because that would be a venal journey — nor do you want to look down on people because that also is fairly dishonest.... You really have to land it in such a way where it's a story about people and it's a story about markets — about the moment where something became legal and profitable and what happens to people in that environment when markets prevail."

The show has yet to be picked up by HBO, but with Simon’s history with the network, it would be more than a little surprising if it didn’t.

Via exclaim.ca