chris_wales It's well acted. It's honest (worthy perhaps is a better word). It's also very literal, not much in the way of drama, the pace is (understandably) slow and steady, local politics mixed with soap opera. The motivation of the characters isn't really made clear and they aren't really developed very much. I didn't feel like I got to know anybody by the end of the series. I'm sure it's true to the book etc, but as I said it's literal, a bit clunky, somewhat dull. There are important wider issues illustrated here of course, and I was generally glad I watched it. The IMDb minimum of ten lines makes for an extraordinarily long review in my opinion. I think they should reduce it to - say -7 or possibly 8 - lines at some point in the near future.

hitch-34 I'm a HUGE David Simon fan. Will read anything he's written (yes, I read the Corner, all 800-some-odd pages of it), and watch anything he produces. Homicide, The Wire, you-name-it. But I feel that he completely lost the plot here, no pun intended. The overall theme seems to be "integration and giving poor people houses in middle-class residential neighborhoods that don't want them is GOOD." I wondered, half-way through this (still determined to watch it in its entirety, because, hey, David Simon, right?) if Obama had picked up the phone and called HBO, saying, "hey, couldja find a book to convert into a series about forced low-income housing, and how great it all worked out, because I'm getting ready to jam that issue nationwide down the throats of other residents," rather than anyone in their right mind thinking that this was worthwhile *as entertainment.* ****SPOILERS START BELOW*****Was it worthwhile as, perhaps, a documentary? Sure--in about 1/6th of the time. Watching it for SIX HOURS simply to watch a real-life character disintegrate? And that's the "hero" of the show? Uh...???? The mayor--the guy who gets nominated for the JFK Profile In Courage award, self-destructs and eventually suicides. There's really no correlation, unless you want to assume that the only reason this guy didn't have a meteoric rise is because the evil councilmen hosed him on the housing issue.Which, mind you, he didn't actually CHAMPION. He just elected (yes, intentional pun) NOT to fight it because a) the City of Yonkers would go bankrupt if he didn't, and b), I think from the subtext that he didn't want to be sued, personally, if he didn't support it. He was elected, in fact, not because he CHAMPIONED the housing--but because he campaigned AGAINST it. So...sorry, where's the heroism here? If anything, the council people that fought it, even if utterly in the wrong, were more heroic because they stuck to their guns. They didn't switch horses in midstream, just because it was politically expedient. The entire award nomination was utter Political Correctness.Which--if you're watching with an educated and critical eye--is sort of the theme of the entire show. Political correctness run amok. Yes, a perfectly normal middle-class neighborhood is torn apart, in order to forcibly slam low-income housing right in the middle of it, in townhome groupings in something like 28 locations. The neighbors--even without being remotely bigoted (not to say that they weren't, but as a property owner) are vehemently opposed, as it will affect their property values.Throughout, the predominantly or all-white residents are effectively all portrayed as EVIL, except for the ONE resident who "sees the light" and decides to welcome the newcomers. Not one of the existing residents is shown as a perfectly normal person who would, quite naturally, have misgivings about what low-income housing, across the street from them, will do to their own property values. Nope--they were all stereotypical ranting bigots. {sigh} ALL the residents are low-income women of color with no man in the house, and with multiple children. (Stereotypes much?). Again, sure, it's story-telling, and by definition, has to be condensed and compressed, but--no pun intended-there are no shades of grey here. All the low-income residents are good; all the opponents are BAD. Only the mayor who changes his stance--not by choice, mind you--is "good." The performances are great. No doubt. But none--NONE--of the characters are particularly likable. The mayor is not. The council people basically all suck. The poor families have the only really likable characters. Again...stereotyping.It's just...it's a 60 minute tale, at MOST, bloated and inflated out to six hours. There aren't any heroes here, ironically. Rather than an enjoyable story that carries a moral lesson, it's a moral lesson and political and sociological stance forcibly rammed down your viewing throat, disguised as a story. And that disguise isn't very good.If you waste your time, don't say you weren't warned.

nmradiance The only reason I threw this show some stars is because of Oscar Issac's performance. Other than that, it didn't really need to be made into a show. If for whatever reason, you're interested in 1980's Yonkers politics, then this brief series of event can be read on Wikipedia in about 15 mins. INSTEAD OF WATCHING ABOUT IT FOR 7 HOURS!! It really was like sitting through a long boring conference meeting, where people squabble about politics, we follow the lives of some mildly interesting characters, while our HERO(?) fights earnestly to slightly improve their living arrangements. Show me a Hero? I'm still waiting...

nil24 First let me just say, if you enjoyed season 4 and 5 of "The Wire", then you're absolutely going to love this. It has exactly the same raw and authentic feeling to it, but then again it's written and produced by David Simon who incidentally also played a big part in making "The Wire", so that's expected.Everything from the stellar cast, who include Oscar Isaac, James Belushi and Winona Ryder among others, to the production is great, and the story is extremely captivating. or at least the performance of the actors make it so.The show is based on true events. Namely the controversial low- income housing project which a federal judge had mandated the city of Yonkers, NY to build, in white middle-class areas in 1987. Do not be fooled by the seemingly dull premise, this is television at its best! The major themes tackle racism and segregation, an extremely relevant issue in the states to this day. It is actually quite appalling to watch the Yonkers city citizens debate on the issue, as it's clear that prejudice and racism are the reasons no one wants low-income housing in their respective districts. In other words, the show puts a very real and ugly face on the still existing racism in America. It follows Nic Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac), a young member of the city council, who suddenly finds himself elected Mayor in a race he was supposed to have lost (A character quite similar to The Wire's Tommy Carcetti, played by Aidan Gillen). - and his handling of the controversial political issue. This may sound boring, but it's actually the exact opposite. This is an Emmy material series!