Pilot Review: Luck

Luck (HBO)
Premiered December 11 at 10pm

Some shows just take some time to get into, and I know better than to give up on an HBO series just because the pilot isn’t entirely thrilling. This show is set to launch officially at the end of January, and perhaps it’s best to wait to pass judgment until then on the fate of this series and whether it’s worthy of classification in the HBO canon. The pilot itself weaves a web of characters connected mainly by their criminal activities and their ties to the horse racing at the center of the show. The most memorable, by his very nature, is Dustin Hoffman’s Ace Bernstein, fresh out of jail and insistent upon using a tape recorder to keep his memory straight, and not, as one associate mistakenly suggests, to inform on his clients and partners. This is a role written for someone like Hoffman, and I’m sure he’ll be great in it, but it feels awfully familiar. I do like the idea of Dennis Farina as his loyal assistant, mostly because I don’t trust any character Farina plays, which means that there will likely be more depth to him in the future. In the cast, I recognized Kevin Dunn from “Samantha Who,” Ian Hart from “Dirt,” Jason Gedrick from “Boomtown,” and Richard Kind from “A Serious Man," so there’s plenty of talent embedded within that could shine, not to mention newly minted SAG nominee Nick Nolte. A strong cast won’t do much if the show doesn’t draw in viewers with intriguing storylines, so I’ll see whether episode two fares any better, since this well-photographed first hour wasn’t terribly enticing.

How will it work as a series? There’s a whole world of crime to be populated here with some suspicious characters, and then there are the new semi-millionaires. If the show can tie them together in an intricate, complex, and compelling way, this show could be interesting; otherwise, it could be scattered and less coherent.
How long will it last? Launching this show behind the season finale of “Boardwalk Empire” was smart, and now the question is whether it can attract viewers on its own when it returns in January. HBO shows always have a leg up on the competition, and if audiences want to watch Dustin Hoffman, I think that this show will make it to a second season.

Pilot grade: B-