New series Luck not a sure bet
There’s a difference between wanting a new series to be good and it actually being good.
Luck, the wildly ambitious horseracing ensemble drama from HBO, Deadwood creator David Milch and Collateral and Miami Vice filmmaker Michael Mann, doesn’t stumble out of the gate, exactly, but it isn’t a sure bet to win Sunday night’s race of must-see TV.
True, on paper, the odds would seem to favour it.
Luck’s cast includes Dustin Hoffman as a wealthy, unrepentant gambler newly released from prison; Nick Nolte as a weathered, sentimental racehorse owner looking for that one last shot at glory; Dennis Farina as a suave, sophisticated driver-fixer; Richard Kind as a nervous, Ocd-afflicted jockey trainer who’s losing his grip; and, as a quartet of lifelong losers who are about to strike it rich, Kevin Dunn, Ian Hart, Ritchie Coster and Jason Gedrick.
The attention to detail is exquisite, from the breath of horses being exercised at first light — Luck’s production team was granted unfettered access to Southern California’s world-famous Santa Anita racetrack — to insider lingo that taps everything from claim slips, bug boys and condition books to “drifting out,” “breezing” and “in the money.”
There are moments in tonight’s opening hour when Luck looks as if it’s about to land in the money. Mann, one of feature filmmaking’s most distinctive visual stylists, thanks to genre-defining crime thrillers like Thief, Manhunter and Heat, can capture the speed, frenzy and violence of a horse race like nobody’s business.
Luck looks good and sounds even better: There are sound effects here as effective as anything in any big-screen blockbuster, and the use of background songs is inspired.
Luck may be iffy as TV drama, but it will make one hell of a soundtrack album. (HBO Canada — 9 p.m.)
Vengeance is a dish best served with popcorn. Spartacus: Vengeance follows the over-the-top trail blazed by Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with a new face — Aussie actor Liam Mcintyre — in the title role, but the same old blood and gore. (Movie Central — 10 p.m.) ◗◗ Richard Schiff, late of The West
Wing, appears as King Leopold in tonight’s episode of the warm, surprisingly inventive Once Upon
a Time. The night’s tale revolves around Sidney’s (Giancarlo Esposito) efforts to expose Storybrooke Mayor Regina (Lana Parilla) as the corrupt, evil person she is. (CTV, 7 — p.m., ABC — 9 p.m.)
You may be fed up with award shows, but here’s a good reason to catch the 18th Annual Screen Actors
Guild Awards. Alone among the high-profile award ceremonies, the SAG Awards present a trophy for ensemble acting, in both film and television, drama and comedy. And, as any actor will tell you, the best acting is often about making the other guy, or gal, look good. (Global — 9 p.m.)