The Deuce, premiering Sunday night, takes you for a tourist stroll down New York’s 42nd St. to gawp at strolling prostitutes, strutting pimps, small-time drug dealers, addicts, X-rated bookstores, massage parlors, peep booths, and your random street person peeing in a phone booth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7YMlL8x8GE

The central characters are twin brothers, Vincent and Frankie Martino. Vincent is a decent fellow, a bartender who falls under the patronage of a notably kindhearted organized-crime figure who sets him up with his own Times Square bar, the Hi-Hat. Frankie, more of a disreputable hustler, gets involved in the then-aborning massage-parlor business. The brothers are both played by James Franco. Maggie Gyllenhaal is Eileen, a prostitute who uses the street name “Candy” and who, from the start, is presented as smarter — more savvy and independent — than the sea of female flesh around her. She’s the only hooker here who isn’t under the command of a pimp, and as the series progresses, she evinces an interest to move from in front of the porn camera to behind it as a director and producer. The pimps themselves are also vividly portrayed.