Finished this teleplay by John Ridley for the new HBO show based on the life of Mike Tyson.
I liked it. It's gritty. You can see the rage in the lead character. Coming from a highly-dysfunctional home, growing up on the streets, hustling to make money. It's edgy, it's real.
However, is it entertaining enough to make you want to tune in each week? If it's going to concentrate on the rise of this troubled youth to heavyweight champion of the world then yes, it's entertaining. If it's just going to stay in this period of time where the young Mike Tyson is a street thug with a powerful punch then no, it cannot sustain an audience.
It'll have the same problem that HBO's HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA has. Poverty isn't entertainment. Lowlife, street-level living is gritty for a film but the subject matter is a turn-off for a weekly series. No one wants to spend a lot of time there. ENTOURAGE works because we all want to live the high-life. No one wants to see the gutter.
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