Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte join 'Luck' cast
 

Dustin Hoffman in lead role as 'Ace' Bernstein.. Dennis Farina signed on last week as Bernstein's sidekick/chauffeur. Trades don't seem to have it yet but Nick Nolte will join the cast as well. Shooting starts in about a month.

Might have to get HBO again. That's how they got me before: "Rome" was awesome.

Ahhh.... Rome. I loved that show. First season was better than the second, but I loved both.

Bump. The pilot is coming on HBO in about 2 minutes.

Uh oh.... :(

I only watched the first 10-15 minutes during halftime and I wasn't very impressed. I kind of got that same uh oh vibe when I saw that the one guy put his disabilty check up for use on their pick 6 ticket. I'll watch the full episode tomorrow.

I really enjoyed it.

I thought it was lots of fun.

What exactly are people expecting?

I think people are gonna bitch about it but it was typical HBO. Bunch of sub plots that end up tying together at end of season. My only issue is the snapping of the leg, they could have at least waited till the 3rd episode for that.

Agree on the subplots part. I know people are going to focus on the leg snapping but I think and I'm just guessing that they put that in to just get it out of the way. I thought it was handled well with the jock being there with the horse and showing how shaken up he was walking back.

How about Chantal? Move over Meryl Streep :rolleyes:.

Typical HBO...yes, but in my opinion, that's a good thing.

Overall, enjoyable...and also, the first time I feel like the science of ticket structure in horse racing ever made it to mainstream. It was caveman, but at least there was logic and it wasn't babied into the script. I saw that as a breakthrough.

In the end, I most want to hear about what non-racing people have to say

I watched it with three girls and another dude, who is primarily a sports gambler. My girlfriend had a small clue, my sister was sleeping, and the other girl had questions about the 'front', the IRS, and some of the trainer speak, which I thought was great. The dude had questions about if they actually did that in the mornings and the p6

I think the characters were very well thought out and interesting, which is what non racing people will grab onto, the sunday 9pm cst slot is pretty much unbelievable though, you cant get better exposure then that imo

Some mainstream reaction..

Luck, Ep. 1.01: “Pilot” admirably faces down expectations
by Simon Howell in Spotlight, TV

More than most series – and even more than most HBO series – Luck is facing down a hell of a set of expectations. Most crucially of all, Luck centers around a millieu that evokes the grimy hopefulness of Deadwood‘s lawless camp: the world of horse racing. It’s safe to say expetations may be unreasonable. As it turns out, Luck‘s pilot is precisely the sum of those aforementioned parts – and for now, that’s likely good enough. (Those are some pretty strong parts, after all.)

Maurenn Ryan 'gets it' right away..

'Luck': Dustin Hoffman And David Milch Debut Their New HBO Drama
By Maureen Ryan, Huffington Post

It doesn't officially premiere until Jan. 29, but the pilot for 'Luck,' David Milch's new drama, debuted Sunday on HBO, and if you caught it, I'm betting it made you want to go to the racetrack.

Watching the first hour of a Milch drama on its own is a strange experience; the best way to experience his shows -- especially the all-time great drama 'Deadwood' -- is to marinate in his world, to let several episodes wash over you and ensnare you with their tales of compromised, corrupt people who nevertheless can't stop hoping for a big payday, a big score, some kind favorable outcome or judgment. What gives me hope about 'Luck' is that its intensity and trajectories were apparent from the start, even when I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

Love the time slot especially since football will be over when it starts up.

I loved it.. How great was the line "that horse run really really good"? I laughed hard. Poor girlfriend was still shook up that Jimmy was dead in Broadwalk. We are in for a lot of fun.

I agree with this - I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but found it difficult for a non-racing fan to "get" or more importantly stay interested in.


Most importantly, for all the sub-plots, it really could have ended last night with no real interest in dragging the viewer back. Pretty obvious that the P6 guys will find nothing but trouble, Dustin Hoffman's character is uninteresting and really no one cares about him or his horse that he's not allowed to own, Richard Kind's character as a jock's agent is over-the-top ridiculous, and the whole thing was kind of forced.

All of the technical inaccuracies aside, (2 panned backstretch shots with the tote board in the background, and no way that P6 ticket was 845.00 (an impossibility by the way) - I recall seeing at least 2 legs where they were 4 deep and a all button selection in the last (8 horses - more like 2.5-3K)

I'll watch, I hope it gets better, but if it was about anything other than horse racing, I doubt I'd tune in again.

Dammit Freddie! How bout a spoiler alert?

I think the overall function of getting people all excited about a big jackpot score is key, and glad it started out there instead of one-off win bets.

Last time I took people who had no background in the sport to the track was in Hong Kong, where there was a US$12 million carryover in what is, essentially, a triple-trifecta (as opposed to a twin-tri). You can play it many different ways, and you don't earn exchanges, but we were alive for a reduced chunk of the pot going into the last leg and the two newbies with me were stoked, and both have gone back to the track since. We lost, but the consolation we got back was more than the bet, so they felt like they won.

Big jackpots stoke the fires of the youth that are used to such scores through Vegas, poker, etc...from the betting angle of the game, I'm glad they started there.

Thanks dude.. I Dvr'd it.

Come on man, give a spoiler alert, I'm a little behind!

You can't blame Freddy....he rightfully assumed everyone had him on ignore.

A Handy Guide to Understanding HBO’s Luck
By Aileen Gallagher

There are not enough horse-racing fans in the world to sustain Luck, the new Michael Mann–David Milch show on HBO, which had a special premiere after the Boardwalk Empire finale last night (it will return for its first full season on January 29). The rest of us need to tune in, too. But unless you spend a lot of time at Belmont or Aqueduct (and we sort of hope you don’t), Luck was a bit difficult to follow. (It is a David Milch production after all.) We suspect you spent much of last night’s premiere saying, “Huh?” Watch it again and consult our Vulture guide to the questions you probably asked about Luck, in chronological order.

also Margaret is also next in line to be killed by Nucky, she will be the major character to go next season

I didn't get a chance to watch it but will.

However -- I don't understand why anyone would do a drama on horse racing in this era instead of the era between Plunger Walton and Pittsburg Phil.

Horse racing has been mercilessly strangled by extreme government regulation.

The late 1880's and 1890's was the wild west for horse racing ... and wasn't Deadwood from around that time?

Plunger Walton was one part Tony Soprano and one part Sam "Ace" Rothsetin and though as schemeing and devious as they come... his life story was as amazing as it gets. He was a tabloid sensation in both the United States and England.

This was how his obituary in the New York Times ended...

I'm sorry to hear they hope people aren't spending a lot of time at Aqueduct and Belmont. I hope they are.

This person clearly doesn't get it.

Yeah.. Not sure why she felt compelled to take that shot when she seems to know a bit about racing and seems to like it. That was odd. Otherwise, the Q&A has utility for the uninitiated..

Matt Hegarty with a good summary in the From:

Review: HBO's 'Luck' gets down and dirty at the track
By Matt Hegarty

A trainer hides a horse off a two-year layoff and puts him over at 12-1. A trio of degenerates gets a hustler to bankroll an $864 pick six ticket and takes down the whole pool. A high-level mob associate gets out of the clink and instructs his aide de camp to check up on his colicky, $2 million horse, whose true ownership is hidden. A longshot breaks down and is euthanized on the track while comforted by his bug-boy jock. And a gruff old trainer mutters to his promising new charge that the horse’s “daddy” was killed.

And that was just the first hour.

That scene with Jimmy and his mom gets my vote for the most creepy thing I have ever seen....

Luck
 

My DVR was set but didn't record Luck last night. I didn't read the other thread on the show because I don't want to know details of the show that I missed. Thus, I am sorry if this was asked over there already.

I can't find it on demand or in the listings for a replay. Does anyone know if it will air again before the official January 29 premier?

Paul

I cant check now, and this might be wrong.... But I think I saw it on HBO on demand.

It will not air again before the premiere. It's not on demand or Go. It was a one time sneak preview airing.

You can watch it here:

http://www.putlocker.com/file/2F58A920562FCB04#

Watched it last night. Really enjoyed it, had to pause a few times to explain things to the wife but she liked it too.

Wondering if ATR will be discussing the show on Monday mornings which means those watching will need to stay up late on Sundays to stay current to the discussion? Old farts like me need our sleep...sounds like Steve does too. :-)

Maybe make Tuesday morning the "Luck" show?

I watched it too last night. I thought it was pretty enjoyable, although I could do without the Dustin Hoffman character. I know that's going to develop into something big down the road. But I liked all the on-track storylines.
Unfortunately while the show is probably going to be entertaining, I'm not sure how good for the sport it's going to be.

People need to calm down about it being good for the sport. I read somewhere yesterday that there will be plenty of goodness attached to this thing as far as characters are concerned.

I absolutely think it will get people to the track, especially Santa Anita, but we'll see how many of those actually turn into bettors, which is always the tough thing to do.

Watched it....
 

Last night on dvr as well. I thought Milch's writing fine, it was just an introduction to the characters and storylines. My wife and I found it very intriguing to see where he takes these characters. The previews were very good, and who doesn't love a series with multiple characters. Milch's track record is genius, he will layer these characters and I think it will be very good.