Over the course of his television career, David Simon has singlehandedly raised the bar for what to expect from a TV show.
His projects, from “The Wire” to “Treme” to “The Deuce,” share a pervasive yet subtle complexity; these are entertaining, character-driven tomes that transform granular research into vivid portraits of myriad systemic injustices.
“The Plot Against America,” Simon’s six-episode HBO limited series based on Philip Roth’s eponymous novel, has sadly not reached similar heights.Working for the first time from fictional source material, “The Plot Against America” has felt curiously devoid of the energetic frisson that marks Simon’s prior work.
Roth’s allegorical alternative history has much to say about society, but it is still — thankfully — a work of fiction.
Simon began his professional life as a journalist, and his work has always been in conversation with non-fiction.
He seemed obsessed with reflecting the real world as genuinely as possible,
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