If nothing else, it is worth watching the series for the craftsmanship alone. I can't remember the last time I've seen something this well done. This show just oozes talent, David Simon and Paul Haggis make an excellent pair and do a great job creating a realistic of 80s-90s Yonkers. The acting across the board is also phenomenal, it seems every time I watch Oscar Isaac he is playing a totally different character, truly a talent. The show itself may be a little slow, but is totally fascinating and really keeps you interested with all of the different characters. Show me a Hero is not solely a political drama, thinking it is would be fundamentally misunderstanding the show. It's a show about real people and real politicians, which are both hard to come across.
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osanders6921 August 2015This is a completely compelling and gripping drama that successfully explores an event from all the sides involved. As the story unfolds the viewer gets introduced to what at first seems like a lot of desperate groups of people, the first being the protagonist. We are introduced as the episodes unfold to not only the antagonist but we actually get introduced to the characters who the event actually effects. So for once we get to see how effects of decisions made actually effect the characters lives directly as opposed to them them just being theoretical of just facts or figures. Thats the only way I can describe it without spoilers. Spoilers would not be fair to this great production.
The acting is top notch. Some of the character actors in this production who we've all seen in things in the past actually shine here and do their best work. I guarantee that 20 minutes into the first episode you are hooked. Once you gather who the players are you really get sucked in. -
Just watched the first two episodes, wow, unbelievable. I think I see where this is going and it's going to be fantastic. Oh dear, it's going to be so great, I can hardly wait. The feel of the thing, the shots in the city offices, people sitting around, the council meetings with people screaming, it so well done, it's scary, seeing those people yelling and screaming raises a lot of political, social issues, what is the right thing. Would I be screaming with them? What would you do? The mayor is pitch perfect, calm, controlled, when will he break? The old lady, what is she going to do next, everything depends on her, absolutely incredible.
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zkiko15 December 2019It will be left to a specific type of viewer to watch/give it a chance. This mini-series was a work of art. Portraying many facets of life, sociology and politics. And especially why a sincere person will likely lose in the race made for narcissists. There is no place in politics for a sincere being. Since a sincere being is able to truly feel , and a narcissist is only there for power. Ironically the masses always fall for the trap of the narcissist, due to their own insecurities. They have the sick need for someone who portrays (fake) security. They need to believe in it, even if it's a lie. The narcissist has no problem feeding them that lie. Also very interesting in this show is how it shows us the psychology behind buildings, neighbourhoods and how it has a lot of influence on behaviour! This was one of the best and a very painful mini series to watch. But pain is a part of life, and I applaud the makers for daring to portray that, since they also know most people do anything to avoid seeing and feeling that in tv shows/movies/art.
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Red_Identity31 August 2015Just amazing. It's rather understated and procedural many of the times (but nothing unsurprising if one has seen David Simon's TV series). What it does in the six hours is amazing though. Its character development is exquisite, and by the time it's over it feels like it was a run of an actual television series. Of course, it could only be this long, but that doesn't stop me from wishing it WAS a longer series. Oscar Isaac is an amazing actor. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's doing things not many actors right now are (or even can). The amount of raw talent he has, as well as the amount of warmth he can convey is staggering. That's what makes the end of the series so heartbreaking. I really hope this wins the Miniseries Emmy next year, and that Isaac also takes home the trophy.
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nil2418 August 2015First 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! -
johmil-1837420 August 2015I saw the first two episodes, and I really liked this show. Its similar to the wire but to me this is more entertaining. Its very realistic but not in a boring way, the tension of the housing project is building up more and more. The good people of Yonkers are not so good when this project is unstoppable. Racism, hate and death threats are all part of what the mayor have to deal with.
Its intense without overdoing it. People are not monsters but they trigger each other into a hateful mob. Its an impossible situation for the newly elect mayor, if he doesn't implement the housing project Yonkers is breaking the law and that will have severe consequences. But if he will continue he will have to deal with the pure hate the people of Yonkers feel for this project.
An interesting slice of history, very well executed with great actors and a director that knows what he is doing. -
caspian197830 August 2015Show Me a Hero is a six part mini series that takes six episodes to watch. The reason I say this is because I found myself changing my mind multiple times on what I thought about what I was watching. Unlike the Wire, there is a lack of action and climatic moments. This gave the Wire the suspense element to go along with the drama. Here, all we have is a political drama. Although the casting is perfect and the true reflection of politics is well defined, it lacks the grit that the Wire showcased. Still, both the Wire and Show Me a Hero gave a realistic account of our society. Oscar Isaac gives a perfect performance as Nick Wasicsko. His portrayal of the not so perfect, inexperienced, yet heroic Mayor of Yonkers gives the mini series the meat on the bone. His journey reflects what it means to have courage in a world of cut throat politics. Much of the audience will be on the ropes with this story. I found myself changing my mind about what I felt about Wasicsko, the people living in the projects, members of the city council and the protesters. The mini series does this perfectly as you become a spectator of what Yonkers went through. I feel the producers of the mini series did this for a reason. This alone makes Show Me a Hero worth watching.
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framersqool4 June 2019There are two basic problems with extremely well-done propaganda. One, is that it is extremely well-done. The other, is that it is propaganda. Owing to the former, it is all too easy to overlook the latter, in other words.
Here we have a thoughtful, compelling, well-acted human drama about some really nice people, and the whole thing could easily be taken just as entertainment rather than as the carefully crafted infomercial for paternalistic social engineering by an all-knowing federal regime that it is.
Public housing really is the human calamity its opponents in the story here said it was going to be. Making it more pretty on the outside or mixing it in among "nice" neighborhoods does nothing to mitigate the corruption, vice, crime and especially untenable family life that it breeds.
Only near the end of these six episodes does the script actually touch briefly on a valid point about the real effects of these socialist warehousing projects, when it is pointed out in passing that most of the residents of these comfortable prisons are single women with children, who would lose their eligibility for the programs if the authorities ever found out there was a man in their house. This alone is probably the single most catastrophic consequence of the laws and regulations and agencies which oversee this massive undertaking to keep the slaves on the plantation: that men, as husbands, fathers of children and legitimate heads of households, are basically just in the way. The conditions for securing and then keeping these units work the same way as any other welfare program, which is that one is essentially punished for one's life situation becoming better, and so anyone who has such a home at public expense has every incentive to sustain the illusion of their "underprivileged" status or else be kicked out.
I worked for a public housing agency myself for a short time, and the phenomenon of the Invisible Man in these households was one of the constants. Not only do all the benefits of such programs go primarily to women, so does the status as a real parent and adult and citizen, since the man of the house's very existence is at best an open secret and at worst an act of fraud that has the whole family thrown out in the street.
Whatever other illusory and entirely cosmetic benefit to society these rowhouses may have brought, their primary effect has been to erase the relevance of manhood and fatherhood as an unnecessary and even criminal nuisance. As is made clear from the interviews and comments in the episode reviews after each segment from the production people, this show was done within a certain ideological and sociopolitical framework by true believers in these "theories" about how best to box up poor people to keep them out of the way, and they present the idea of a federal judge threatening to jail city council members for not voting the way they are ordered to as right and good and moral.
Naturally none of the production people would want to raise their own families in such a setting, but as always, the supercilious moralism of middle-class armchair socialists such as the movie industry is made up of assumes that what they think is best for their inferiors really is best for them whether it is or not. But gosh, it sure is a well-made TV show. If I didn't know better I would not have even noticed what a piece of liberal-progressive standard-issue agitprop it is. -
Nick Wasicsko was a councillor in the city of Yonkers, New York, when he went for the allure that power wields and became mayor. This was at a time when the council was being told that it had to build low income housing and 'affordable' homes. The problem was that these had to go in the nice part of town where all the white voters loved. And if you want to be re-elected then you do what the voters want.
Now this sounds like the usual tale of haves and have nots but it is more than that. The series follows the lives of some of the 'would be' new tenants and the people objecting and all the lovely Machiavellian politicians and their scheming ways. It is a warts and all kind of approach and at times you find it hard to single out the god guys and indeed the gals.
It is very well made as you would expect from HBO but it does take its time to get going and find its stride, but at 6 episodes long it does have the time to do that. All acted really well with good period detail and a kind of inevitability about it that made me keep coming back for more. A social drama with a heart but it kind of wears it on different sleeves and is all the better for it. -
SnoopyStyle10 April 2016It's 1987 Yonkers, New York. Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) is a rookie Democratic councilman. He is the sacrificial lamb sent to run against a powerful incumbent mayor. Federal judge Sand had ruled against the city forcing it to built low income housing. This set off the electorate and Wasicsko surprises in an upset win. With the city facing bankruptcy by the judge's imposed fines, he tries to pass the housing laws enraging the voters and sending the town spiraling.
At first, I didn't realize this is a true story about real people. It would have helped. Who knew that city council could be that exciting? It overshadows the stories from the black community. It's obvious where the intersection is going to be but those stories have a slower start. They are also two different pacing. Even Wasicsko's story has two very different tones. His story in the first three episodes are thrilling and harrowing. Then the last three episodes are more deliberate and melancholy. It's not the traditional pacing of a fictional story and it would help to know its docudrama nature. The acting is amazing. Oscar Isaac shows some of his best work but is only the tip of a vast compelling cast of characters. There are compelling emotional beats throughout. -
XYZContagion28 August 2022Another excellent, daring and absolutely fabulous work of David Simon, creator of 'The Wire' and so many other quality TV series. Extremely political, as always, and an almost to the letter depiction of the events. Racism, segregation, poverty, politics machinations, corruption, class issues, social and political structure problems addressed, not by lecturing us but as a piece of our lives. "Low income doesn't mean low class. The problem begins with the language that's used." An important point. Language is a powerful force in this society, especially when it comes to empty political speak.
If you liked 'The Wire', you'll love this one. Don't miss it. I gave it a 10, with all of my heart. -
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.
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bob the moo6 March 2016It was the name recognition of David Simon that brought me to this mini-series, although if I am honest little else from the plot summary really appealed to me. The story of Yonkers' objection to a court order that they must find sites for affordable housing to be built; it is a true story that unfolds over decades, has lots of council meetings, politics, and a large ensemble cast. While part of you will want to focus on the potential for big showboating scenes in those council meetings, with people fighting the good fight, the truth is that this is not a show that has heroic types, or big moments – so the 'true story' and 'decades' bits are really what you should consider. In this way the mini-series is not the most thrilling ride, and I say that as someone who enjoyed it. There are no big explosive moments and no barnstorming courtroom moments.
Instead the story unfolds through fines and political pandering, and really those politicians 'pushing' the housing in Yonkers are really just those who realize they cannot push back. In and around this we have the residents of the area, and those who would become residents. This gives the show a feeling of depth, but at the same time gives it the problem that it cannot spend too long with anyone, and also has too many plates spinning to be able to move the story with a sharp pace. That is what it has to do though, and it is impressive how well the decades-long narrative, with its complexity and commentaries, does manage to hang together and make for an engaging story.
I don't think it is perfect, and it does overextend its reach in how much it tries to bring to the table. However it is a quality piece of story-telling and I liked it as such. The quality is there in the writing, and the way such complexity is made accessible in an unsexy, unglamorous way – with real, flawed characters everywhere, just like real life. Performances are strong across the board – Isaac, perhaps being the one grabbing the headlines with his tragic character, but the cast is deep in good performances (and many HBO faces from Oz, The Wire, and other shows). It does have the feeling of a show you 'should' watch rather than one that you really 'want' to watch, however for its flaws, it is consistently solid in its story-telling, and it delivers a realistic, nuanced, and balanced presentation of the situation, where few are villains, even fewer are heroes, and mostly people are just flawed in whatever they are trying to do. -
Camoo13 September 2015Against the tidal wave of television series released since 'the Wire' first premiered almost ten years ago, Show me a Hero quietly aims for the head and makes very few compromises to its trajectory. A show like this is way more content to jog its way steadily towards the finish line ahead of a pack of exhausted red faced sprinters who run out of steam well before the race is over. It knows that a story this fascinating but also so full of bureaucratic nitty gritty and highbrow social commentary can't start out the gate sprinting - it needs to build, and to grow, and to settle in your heart and your head in order to make its case for greatness. And it has nothing to prove. Much like the Wire and Treme, the payoff will come to those who wait it out, and unfortunately the series will probably suffer (or enjoy, depending on how you look at it) the same fate as those aforementioned shows because of it. A core group of loyal fans will stay with it from day one, and then countless other attention deficit disordered viewers will tune out until after the series has aired will come back to it later and wonder why the hell they waited so long to watch it.
Oscar Isaacs is phenomenal here, I would count this as his best work on anything, television or film or otherwise. He creates a complicated, conflicted character who gradually comes to tragic grips with his role as mayor presiding over a controversial housing development in Yonkers in the 1980's with a subtleness that I'm not sure many other actors would have delivered. Even my description doesn't really pay his character justice, it is never really made clear if he ever did grasp the importance of his political stand when he was in office. I'm not sure that is really the point. The point seems to be more that institutions can tower over men who think they control them, and that they do eventually have the power to affect positive change, in the same way that Simon's previous series showed us that institutions can be cold and inhospitable to anything but failure.
The show has a wonderful cast, and a lot of 'oh wow, I haven't seen that guy in AGES' moments - in roles that often play against type, and give these actors a lot of thoughtful, intelligent dialogue to work with.
And finally Paul Haggis. I haven't been the biggest fan of his work in the past, but paired with David Simon's wonderful naturalistic dialogue the directing feels masterful here, less gritty, more evocative than the Wire but stripped of the over the top melodrama found in Haggis's other work. There's a restraint here that I really appreciate.
I hope those people who might have tuned out after the first episode pick it up again. Show me a Hero is completely worth your full attention. -
MovieHoliks14 September 2015I'm just about all the way through this terrific six-episode mini-series off HBO GO, and this is television at it's finest! "Show Me a Hero" is based on the 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by former New York Times writer, Lisa Belkin. The book detailed a white middle-class neighborhood's resistance to a federally-mandated scattered-site public housing development in Yonkers, New York circa late '80s/early '90s, and how these tensions affected the city as a whole.
The show is fueled by the performance of Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicsko, a former police officer, then Yonkers City Council member running for election to be mayor of Yonkers- eventually the youngest big-city mayor (1987–89) in the nation. This series really shows how that radical loud minority can sometimes rally political and public attention to negative stereotypes and misinformation- all based on unrealistic fears. Hmmm....sounds like what's kinda going on now with this whole "war on terror", ISIS, Iran, the Middle East, etc..???
Isaac's performance as Wasicsko is the heart of the project, but also look for some really good performances from veterans Peter Riegert, James Belushi, Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina, Wynona Ryder, Bob Balaban, "The Walking Dead"'s Jon Bernthal, etc... Also, for Springsteen fans like myself, a total of TWELVE of his tracks (especially the earlier ones) were used in this to represent Wasicsko's mind set! -
rahulgreenday826 September 2015Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. The entire point behind the series is to show the fallibility of modern day's heroes. Nick Wasicsko is a well meaning politician who is much of a hero within his head. Luck changes for him very frequently and most of the time he is on a roller coaster ride. His inability to look beyond himself and giving himself the credit for victories and failures of others proves to be his downfall. The other part of the screenplay is focused upon the larger picture and viability of innovative social engineering and with how much pain and effort it can be achieved. It also shows the dichotomy between justice and popular politics in this scenario. The plot, characters, screenplay are raw and authentic and sort of inspiring. Good job HBO!
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phd_travel10 January 2016The forced building of public housing in a mainly white middle class in Yonkers is the background for the story which follows councilman Nick Wasicsko's journey through the despite. So many issues of race and class and politics merge together. This true story is so good that it left me reeling after it finished. The title is simplistic but the story is much more complicated.
Who would guess city council politics and real estate disputes could be so tense and make such compelling viewing. So much dirty politics in such a small city with it's betrayal and loyalty. There is a lot of jumping between the different characters on the many sides of the dispute. There are the local politicians, the people from the projects who would benefit from a better place to live and some of the residents of Yonkers who feel threatened by the new housing. It's a bit difficult to keep track of the different characters at first. Paul Haggis does a good job of including the different points of view but I think he could have reduced completed more of one plot line before jumping to another.
The acting is award worthy. Oscar Isaac is very watchable as the viewer follows the up and down trajectory of Nick's tragic life. His earnestness, courage, despair are so utterly convincing that the ultimate tragedy is really painful. Supporting cast are worth a mention. Winona Ryder has become very good at showing conflicted emotions and when she is on screen she steals the show. Catherine Keener is unrecognizable as one of the Yonkers residents who changes her tone.
Do watch this even if you think you might not be interested in the subject matter - it's better than you could possibly imagine. -
monte-hayward15 January 2019Several characters change throughout. Nick starts out a non-hero, and the times change him.
Is it lost on viewers that segregation was happening in New York State 30 years after the civil rights movement? This is an important story, and only "boring" if you don't realize what's happening.
Bigotry defeated. Old-school high-concentration housing projects shown to be problematic - Newman's theories of distributed homes proven true. The characters are living it.
If you came expecting The Wire or a sensational soap opera, you didn't read the description. -
asc8524 September 2015I suppose you know when a show is so good that you keep thinking about it and thinking about it after it's over. That was my reaction to Show Me a Hero. I thought it started out a bit slowly, but kept building and building, and the final episodes were just great.
I lived in Northern NJ at the time of this, so I remember this story a little bit in the local news. I had no idea how Nick Wasicsko ended up, and it is indeed tragic.
This could have been a VERY politically slanted film if it wanted to. However, I think it tried hard not to be, and for that I applaud it. I just wanted to watch the story, and not be preached to.
As others have noted, Oscar Isaac is amazing in this role. When I first saw him in, "Inside Llewyn Davis," he was so unlikable that I figured he was either a jerk or a great actor. It's definitely the latter.
And I don't think we've seen the last of Carla Quevedo, who played Nick's wife. She's gorgeous AND, she can act!
My only minor criticism of this was in its presentation during the initial run on HBO. I would have preferred six one-hour episodes rather than three two-hour episodes. Although it's the same amount of running time, it was a bit ambitious to try to watch the show in two hour chunks. Thank God for the DVR so I was able to break it up a little. -
grantss21 September 2015Not as profound as it takes itself.
The true story of Nick Wasicsko who successfully ran for Mayor of the New York city of Yonkers in 1987. He took over in the middle of a crisis - the city was being forced by court order to build low- cost housing in middle-class suburbs, a decision the city council strongly rejected.
You really have two stories here, and the two aren't connected enough to make an engaging and coherent series.
On the one hand you have the plight of people on the poorer end of the economic scale, and the promise of cheap housing in a decent neighbourhood. Even when they get it, their struggles aren't over. This part of the story was reasonably interesting, though disjointed and sometimes very superficial, sentimental and manipulative.
On the other hand you have the Nick Wasicsko story. This is just pure city-level politics, and dull. He is painted as the saviour of the poor people, but, just from watching the series, you see he was much more an ambitious political opportunist than a man with a burning desire to help the poor. He even ran on the platform that the city wouldn't build the low-cost houses!
Oscar Isaac does put in a great performance as Wasicsko, however. Good supporting cast which includes Winona Ryder, Alfred Molina, James Belushi and Catherine Keener. -
elia_b22 November 2021I liked the way story goes at many levels: politics, mass psychology, racism, ordinary people's lives, Nick's life. Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicsko was great, also liked that i get to see Alfred Molina again.
This was a very good show. Acting and story are at their best. They don't make it like this nowadays. -
"Show Me a Hero" (2015 release; Ep 1-5 running about 55 min. each; Ep 6 running about 80 min.) beings the real life story of Nick Wasicsko, an up-and-coming politician in Yonkers, NY. As Episode 1 opens, it is "February 1987" and Nick is 28 and a Democratic member of city counsel. He is urged on to run for mayor against a long-standing Republican incumbent. Meanwhile there are major rumblings in the background, resulting from a federal court-mandated public housing desegregation order. It appears everyone in the city is against it... At this point we are 10 min. into Episode 1, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this TV mini-series is based on the book of the same name by Lisa Gelkin (which I haven't read), and directed by none other than Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis ("Crash"), working from a script by David "The Wire" Simon. The issue of public housing desegregation is also an issue of race and of economic inequality. The series does a great job examining these complicated issues in a nuanced way and with great storytelling that draws in the viewers and before you know it, you can't stop watching. The series benefits enormously from a top-notch all-star cast, none more so than Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicoski (for which he won a Golden Globe), but he gets strong support from many others. Check out Jim Belushi (as the long-serving Mayor of Yonkers), Catherine Keener (as the life-long resident who opposes the desegregation), Winona Ryder (as the City Council President who favors the desegregation), and last but not least the lovely Carla Quevedo (as Wasicoski's romantic interest). The series is set in the late 80s and early 90s, and hence in that sense is also a period piece at a time when many cities were still in serious urban decline.
This TV mini-series premiered on HBO in 2015 to immediate critical acclaim. In the current COVID-19 stay at home climate, I've been looking for good TV shows to catch up on, and I recently binge-watched this at HBO On Demand. So glad I did! In fact, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to these characters at the end of the 6 episodes. The fact that this series is based on actual events only made it that much more compelling. If you have any interest in politics or urban desegregation issues, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion. -
imseeg14 November 2019I usually dont watch tv series, but I made an exception for "Show me a Hero", because of Oscar Isaac great acting performance. This movie has got a really good story about a subject no producer usually wants to make a movie about, because the subject (seemingly) is incredibly boring. But the execution of this political, bureaucratic story is quite mesmirising and real.
The story is simple: by law the city of Yonkers (in New York) is obliged by law to house poor people in a white, rich neighbourhood. Because mixing rich and poor people has (scientifically) proven to be good for preventing the growth of ghettos. However all hell breaks loose among the inhabitants of this rich, white town when they hear about these plans of housing for the poor. And although no direct racist comments are made, racist feelings undeniably play an important role.
Fighting for a public cause of decent housing for the poor is what makes this movie stand out. And Oscar Isaac as a new mayor, has to stand strong to defend the rights of the poor. But will he morally be strong enough to withstand rich, white people's pressure to keep the poor away from entering this white, rich closed community? -
thoughtsfromshelley13 October 2019This is one of my all time favorite mini series. Beautifully written and acted. Such a powerful and tragic story. This is one of those that when you see it you can't help but be changed. I learned a lot by watching this series. Have tissue close by.