The Corner

A striking six-week miniseries delivering one of the rawest, truest, most provocative and involving dramas ever beamed to Americans. And one of the most important, defining a seedy, destructive junkie subculture in vivid, aching detail in the tradition of such theatrical films as "Panic in Needle Park," "Drugstore Cowboy" and "Trainspotting." [14 Apr 2000, p.F1]

An unflinching and deeply affecting portrait of American tragedy. [14 Apr 2000, p.4F]

Relentlessly intense and depressing, ferociously written and spectacularly acted. [14 Apr 2000, p.135]

While The Corner may sound like just more preachy TV cliches about drug abuse and African-American self-destruction, it is so much more than that. It is about the life and death forces at war in that inner-city staple, The Corner, and it is a jarring introduction to the people behind the statistics and the cliches. I hope it finds an audience, despite its rawness. No one ever said great drama had to be pretty. [14 Apr 2000, p.D1]

The Corner is strong, solid storytelling, but it's more than that. It's an act of enlightenment, raw and shattering and strangely, inexplicably, beautiful. [15 Apr 2000, p.C01]

An astonishing achievement, a miniseries that manages to put human faces on the drug culture in American neighborhoods. [16 Apr 2000, p.F9]

The Corner is a marvel - a powerful testament to the crumbling inner city, the Catch-22 of urban social services, and the strengths and vulnerabilities of the human spirit. [16 Apr 2000, p.K-09]

Six hours of raucous laughter, bone-rattling suspense, and god-awful tragedy. ... The Corner is a marvel of craft.

Now that's daring television.

But what's amazing, maybe even revolutionary, about The Corner is this: as its narrative plays out in six laid-back, detail-packed, one-hour installments, you come to see that all the major characters don't belong in this place, in this life. [16 Apr 2000, p.1]

By opening up the drug world, transforming political constructs into complex, fascinating human beings as lovable (and hateful) as you and me, The Corner does compelling public service. It should be required viewing for public officials. [16 Apr 2000, p.101]

The Corner, which is more daring than "The Sopranos," deserves some of the critical hosannas showered on the mob series. [16 Apr 2000, p.F1]

Powerful stuff. [16 Apr 2000]

Despair and hopelessness form the intersection at which Charles Dutton studies a drug-addled world that's painfully real and overwhelming. [17 Apr 2000, p.37]

Human beings live on the corner, and "The Corner" makes us care about them. [16 Apr 2000, p.D15]

Even to an audience growing increasingly used to gritty televised fare,it's a tough look, indeed. [26 Apr 2000, p.3E]

One could build a college sociology course around whether The Corner does more harm than good. Either side could make a strong case...At last check, though, this is still a free country. And HBO is both unbeholden to skittish advertisers and seemingly impervious to pressure groups. On broadcast networks, that combination has spurred the quick demise of provocative series such as Nothing Sacred; The PJs; God, the Devil and Bob; and Wonderland...For better or worse, television has never seen anything quite like it. [16 Apr 2000, p.1C]

A powerful, engrossing yet sometimes hard to watch six-hour elegy. [14 Apr 2000, p.39]

The dialogue is at times stagey, and the characters are defined almost entirely through their addictions. But for this last, reality has to share the blame.