Gird Your Loins: HBO Orders James Franco's Porn Drama 'The Deuce' To Series

The Deuce sounds like a dare gone horribly right. Here is a television series created by the great David Simon of The Wire fame, starring the never-not-fascinating James Franco, and set in the in the New York City porn scene during the '70s. It's like HBO said to Simon "Go ahead and pitch us anything!" and he called their bluff.

Because the TV gods are apparently real, The Deuce has been given a series order by HBO, which means this strange combination of talent and subject matter will eventually be something you can witness with your own two eyes.

The news arrives on our doorstep courtesy of Variety, who report that the series has been given the go-ahead from HBO brass, even though they have yet to specify an episode number for the first season. 13-eipsode seasons used to be the standard for dramas like this but 10 episodes have become more common in recent years, so we'll just have to wait and see how that shakes out. In any case, this will be Simon's fifth collaboration with HBO, following The Wire, Generation Kill, Treme, and the miniseries Show Me a Hero.

Variety also supplies this plot synopsis, which makes The Deuce sound like something that needs to be injected into our eyeballs as soon as possible:

"The Deuce" follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York's Times Square from the early '70s through the mid '80s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence of the area. The series is partly inspired by the career of twin brothers, Vincent Martino and Frankie Martino, who were players in the Times Square world and became fronts for mob control of the volatile and lucrative sex industry. Franco will play both twins.

There is so much to love there. There's Simon once again entering social commentary mode, using his skills as a former journalist to explore the rot at the core of the American dream. There's the subject matter itself, which sounds ripe for drama of all kinds. And then there's Franco, a messy renaissance man of an actor (just look at his IMDB page!) who has never been afraid to put himself out there. And now he's playing twins! Simon's steady hand and Franco's insane fearlessness should make for a bizarre and wonderful combo.

Maggie Gyllenhaal will co-star as Candy, a Times Square prostitute who falls into Franco's web. Simon wrote the pilot with George Pelecanos, a writer and producer on The Wire and Treme, while the great Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead) provided her expertise behind the camera. Nina Noble and Richard Price will executive produce the series alongside Simon.

So go ahead and get your jokes about Franco starring in a porn series on HBO out of the way now. The Deuce is stacked with extraordinary talent and we cannot wait to see what comes of this.