Luck

[sekrah]

Anyone else about to watch this?   I got a feeling there\'s going to be alot of unwashed who will never goto the track again after they see this.

[justwin]

I\'m trying to watch it but optimum only has it on HBO latino and I can\'t understand it.

[justwin]

I found it. Don\'t watch too much HBO and there\'s another set of HBO stations.

[miff]

Made players generally look like broken down valises,some are,some ain\'t.Obviously Luck will be looking at the darker side of the game.Wonder if we\'ll see any move up vets/trainers along the way.

Racing scenes typically weak with the forever stretch runs of racing movies.Like to know what those broken down valises put into the pick six,considering they all-ed the last race. Guy in the wheel chair has NY mouth.

Pretty good,but wonder what Curt Hoover(hrtv) was watching.Thought I was going to see something classic like after hearing his comments.


Mike

[Ntheiroff]

Miff,
I think that I heard the security guard/loanshark say that he wan not going to put $564 into that bet, on the say-so of the broke poker player.

[miff]

Nthereoff,

Thanks, was curious about the ticket amount and the payoff as there were 2 different \"only\" amounts displayed for the will pays.

Think Milch needs a broken down valise to consult with?

Mike

[Lost Cause]

sekrah Wrote:
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I thought it was bad.  Too many storylines that seemed all over the place.  I\'m hoping they start putting it together in the next couple of episodes or else i\'m tuning out.  They also made it tough on people who were not familiar with racing as I had to explain a lot of what was going on to my wife who stopped being interested halfway through and made me watch the first Game of Thrones episode to show me what a good HBO episode should be like.  She was right.

[TGJB]

All my girlfriend\'s extended family and friends tuned in because they know about me. She\'s concerned they think she\'s going out with a mobster or idiot.

I think it\'s going to turn out to be a pretty good show, from the coming attractions mostly a mob show that plays out around a racetrack background. Milch has written mostly good guys (albeit badboy good guys), now he gets to write the dark side. And he has one.

I thought Gary Stevens was very good in limited action.

[richiebee]

Some comments on \"Luck\"

1) It is the best racetrack themed drama currently on TV.

2) It will not make people currently not interested in horse racing get interested
in horse racing, and it is not designed to accomplish this. The only way that
racetracks and racing organizations can increase handle and attendance is by a)
thinking \"outside of the box\" and b) making certain that high level officials\' pay
packages are incentivized, ie more attendance/more handle = higher compensation.

3) I do not think Racing is an easy subject for TV or movies to tackle. The races
are over in an instant, yet the preparation for the races is measured in intervals
of weeks, months, years and some would say generations.

4) Do not think it was necessary to have a catastrophic breakdown (and an overdone
depiction of one at that) in the first episode.

5) With regards to the racing footage, these scenes can be rather difficult. I
remember once in the late 1980s I was stabled at Monmouth well past the close of the
racing meet with a lot of trainers waiting for Gulfstream\'s stable area to open. I
ran into Jay \"Frosty\" Walton, who was trying to get a bunch of horses together to
film a commercial for Sports Illustrated; the commercial was supposed to depict a
full field of horses and jockeys breaking out of the starting gate. Frosty was in
charge of wrangling some trainers who would be willing to have their horses used in
the commercial and finding some exercise riders.

The commercial was supposed to \"spotlight\" Greg McCarron, who was brought up from
Maryland and probably selected for his physical resemblance to his brother Chris,
whose career was peaking at the time. The problem was that, take after take, the
exercise riders were outbreaking Greg McCarron. After four such takes, Frosty had to
threaten the exercise riders with bodily harm and on the fifth take they were
finally able to get Gregg on the lead and the commercial in the can. (As usual, the
digression is longer than the post).

6) HBO and producer Dustin Hoffman have done something very crafty. The show\'s name
is \"Luck.\" The action (poor pun) will obviously be taking place a) at racetracks and
b) at casinos. If the racetrack storylines and characters do not prove popular, I
could see this morphing into a show which focuses on the casino action rather than
the racetrack action. Which storyline do you think would have more mass
appeal? (take into account the fact that Starzz seems to show \"Casino\" no less than
25 times per month).

7) Nice touches: At one point, the two storyline horses are shown in a wide angle
shot: the horse being jogged by the bug boy in the wrong direction on the outside
rail and Nick Nolte\'s trainee working on the fence. Also the scene where everyone at
the track simultaneously seems to recognize that Nolte\'s horse is doing something
special was kind of neat.

I\'ll wait and watch a couple of more episodes. Wasn\'t expecting much and wasn\'t disappointed.

[moosepalm]

Occasionally, introductory episodes will have you right out of the gate, so to speak.  \"Homeland\" comes to mind.  Usually, there will be an expository element which enables you to catch up with a situation that, theoretically, has been going on for many years.  I think there was less of that than normal with \"Luck.\"  In some respects, it assumed you were up to speed with the story, which, for many of us, wasn\'t hard to do, because of our intimate familiarity with so many aspects of it.  Even the Hoffman piece of the storyline wasn\'t spoon fed to the viewers, which is typical of Milch, as he doesn\'t dumb down for anyone.  Basically, he will expect the viewer to play at his level, which in the case of unconventional police dramas, was less risky because most of the viewers were conversant with the milieu, at least from a televised perspective.  Horse racing, not so much.  However, he always spiced the formula with sex, and some strong female characters.  So far, no so much of that, either.

On the other hand, it was sumptuously filmed.  Here, we see the hand of Michael Mann, who exploited to the fullest the possibilities of televised style over substance with \"Miami Vice.\"  In this instance, he will have considerably more substance with the scripts of Milch and the acting of Hoffman and Nolte.  There is enough raw material there to make this a tough bet against, even at a relatively short price.

As for the notion of this being a boon to the game itself, it could be, but won\'t.  It would need to be concurrent with a concerted effort for change, which isn\'t remotely close to happening, and probably goes well beyond anything ever suggested here, though much, or even most, of that would be eminently helpful.  A transformative element needs to take place in the sport, a \"you had me at hello\" phenomenon.  Some of it will be technological, some of it perhaps cosmetic.  There needs to be a spark, perhaps even subliminal, that gives the sport cachet to which a show like \"Luck\" could attach.  However, it\'s not there now, and I\'m not holding my breath.

[aceriley63]

I thought it was good, just a bit dark.  Gary Stevens is a good actor he does profanity well.  \"That\'s why they make Jim Beam\" reminded me of richibee.

[plasticman]

Excellent writeup Richie, enjoyed reading that.

One part of the first episode i didnt understand was the scene in the barn area where the spanish trainer (ozzie guillen lookalike?) was talking to the exercise rider and the \'vibe\' in the barn area was one of \'lets hide something, lets be quiet because we\'re breaking the rules\'. Than, they show Ozzie cashing for 24 grand after his horse wins. My question is what was going on in that barn scene? What were they trying to hide? I didnt get that whole part where they were being secretive.

[MonmouthGuy]

The horse was coming of a 2 year layoff and was probably going to be ignored at the windows. The trainer knew he was going to run and wanted to bet him at or near his ML odds of 12-1.  The bug chirping on the backside threatened his odds if people started listening.

[plasticman]

Aah, thanks MG, Appreciate that.

[sekrah]

Lost Cause Wrote:
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>
> I thought it was bad.  Too many storylines that
> seemed all over the place.  I\'m hoping they start
> putting it together in the next couple of episodes
> or else i\'m tuning out.  They also made it tough
> on people who were not familiar with racing as I
> had to explain a lot of what was going on to my
> wife who stopped being interested halfway through
> and made me watch the first Game of Thrones
> episode to show me what a good HBO episode should
> be like.  She was right.



It was definently a unique approach.  Usually pilots would focus on the main character (Hoffman) and slowly work the other characters in over the next few episodes.  They decided BAM, we\'re throwing them all at you at once.  It was kinda difficult to keep up with at first, but after another show or two it may prove to be a good move.