Plot Synopsis

Created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, THE DEUCE is a one-hour fictional series that follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York's Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry that is now an elemental component of the American cultural landscape. Beginning in 1971, the show follows a cast of barkeeps, prostitutes, pimps, police and nightlife denizens as they swirl through a world of sex, crime, high times and violence and the porn business begins its climb from Mafia-backed massage parlors and film labs to legitimacy and cultural permanence.

Vincent Martino is a successful and astute barman with a knack for promotion who finds himself -- with increasing reluctance -- in the center of the city sex trade after he attracts the interest of a well-connected mob player, Rudy Pipilo. A Gambino captain, Rudy represents that New York family's financial interests in the midtown sex business. After Abby Parker drops out of NYU, she and Vincent begin a relationship that ultimately challenges them both. Vince's identical twin brother Frankie is Vincent's freewheeling, free-spirited counterpart, who gets by on his brother's support, but is increasingly drawn toward Pipilo's business interests.

Candy works as an independent prostitute, refusing to work under any of the multitude of street pimps who control much of the trade along Eighth and Ninth Avenues. She has a son who lives with her parents in the suburbs, but her ambition and intelligence -- as well as a weariness with street life -- lead her to the emerging porn business, where she sees potential for herself and, perhaps, her fellow streetwalkers.

Darlene, a young but street-smart woman from North Carolina, uses her savvy to manage her volatile pimp, Larry Brown, while Lori, a 20-year-old fresh off a Greyhound from Minnesota, is taken into the fold of dapper pimp C.C. immediately upon her arrival at Port Authority. C.C. is equally capable of charm and brutality in managing his prostitutes, while Larry Brown controls his stable -- Darlene, Loretta and Barbara -- largely through intimidation.

Chris Alston is a cop on the midtown beat who questions his superiors' methods, if not the entire premise of trying to police the sex trade amid a culture of unrelenting demand for sex and institutional corruption within the New York Police Department. When told to stop policing a particular swath of his precinct, just west of Times Square, Alston starts a quiet inquiry that brings him together with Sandra Washington, an aspiring reporter who is probing the sex industry.

Meanwhile, bartender Paul, inherited by Vincent Martino as he takes over a Mob-backed midtown bar, traverses the early years of the increasingly open post-Stonewall culture of gay New York, all with an eye to running a nightspot of his own. All these storylines merge as some of the streetwalkers, excited by the prospect and promise of stardom, find new work amid the rapid acceleration in pornographic production in New York.


Season 2 of THE DEUCE premiered on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT on HBO. Resuming five years after the culmination of the first season, the new season moves to the world of 1977, capturing the Times Square area of midtown New York at its most garish and volatile. Amid a city that is as culturally dynamic as it is dystopic, the show finds its protagonists living at the apex of the Golden Age of Porn, when the dream of a mainstream X-rated film business is a suddenly a credible reality, and the culture of pornography and its blatant commodification of sex is finding increasing traction among more and more Americans. Disco and punk are in full swing, and police corruption and political tolerance for New York's midtown demimonde is at its height. And the Mafia, the early backer of pornography at the moment when courts declared for its legality, is now seemingly poised to reap great profits. A comparable -- and, in some ways, more professional - porn industry is rising on the West Coast as well. But for now, New York is holding its own in a city flush with movies, music and art, as the drug-fueled party rages around the clock. Guest stars for Season 2 include: Zoe Kazan, Ralph Macchio, Mustafa Shakir, David Krumholtz, Don Harvey, Cliff 'Method Man' Smith, Daniel Sauli, and Sepidah Moafi.

The eight-episode third and final season of THE DEUCE premiered on Monday, September 9, 2019 at 9pm ET/PT on HBO. Picking up seven years after the the second-season finale, Season 3 brings viewers into the world of 1985, just as VHS overtakes film as the primary medium for porn production and distribution. The lure of the California sunshine, the city's aggressive takeover of commercial sex properties in Times Square and the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic mark the end of an era. With the party of the 1970s winding down, 42nd Street has deteriorated into a hive of uncontrolled violent crime and seedy video stores, making urban renewal seem more unlikely than ever before. In the season opener, "The Camera Loves You," written by David Simon & George Pelecanos, on the eve of 1985, a worn-out Vincent reconnects with his ex-wife, Andrea as his open relationship with Abby grows more distant. Despite becoming a family man, Frankie continues his risky side hustles. With the newly dominant VHS format shaking up their industry, Candy and Harvey travel to Las Vegas for an adult film convention where they disagree on how to navigate a fast-changing future. Fresh out of rehab in Los Angeles, Lori (Emily Meade) is put back to work. Alston makes a very specific request of Goldman in their quest to revitalize Midtown. Now a bartender at the Hi-Hat, Loretta becomes an active member of Women Against Pornography.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Tuesday May 26, 2020 Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released THE DEUCE: The Complete Third Season on DVD with all eight intense episodes plus special features. Boasting a superb ensemble cast the series chronicles the rise of the porn industry that began in New York City in 1971-72 and ends with the deterioration of NYC's Times Square in the 1980s. The 3rd season brings us into the world of 1985, just as VHS overtakes film as the primary medium for porn production and distribution. The lure of the California sunshine, the city's aggressive takeover of commercial sex properties in Times Square and the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic mark the end of an era. With the party of the 1970s winding down, 42nd Street has deteriorated into a hive of uncontrolled violent crime and seedy video stores, making urban renewal seem more unlikely than ever before. Following the interconnected lives of Times Square's barkeeps, prostitutes, pimps, police, mobsters, porn actors and producers, the eight-episode third season of THE DEUCE brings the series' arc to a dramatic conclusion. Shot on location in New York, THE DEUCE features remarkable '70s-era production design, costumes and music that capture the thrilling, pre-sanitized aura of Times Square during this decade. ALSO RELEASED On Tuesday May 26, 2020: THE DEUCE: THE COMPLETE SERIES. A must own for THE DEUCE fans! Buy and binge now! (Click the red "Buy DVDs" button on this page.)

Special Features Season 3 DVD
- Stage Setting Piece
- Eight "Inside the Episode" Featurettes