The Night Of

HBO continues to lead the way with high quality TV programming, this time with the miniseries, The Night Of (2016), based on a BBC crime series Criminal Justice. Apparently, James Galdolfini (listed as an executive producer) was slated to play a major character, but died before production was finished. The creative force behind the series was Richard Price (novelist and co-writer of The Wire) and Steve Zaillian. The story takes place in New York in the present where a Pakistanian college student Naz (Riz Ahmend) finds himself a circumstantial suspect for a brutal murder of a troubled young woman, Andrea (Sofia Black D'Elia). The thorough detective Box (Bill Camp) has a glimmer of a doubt, but over rides his gut in favor of charging him with murder-his last case before retiring. A ambulance chasing lawyer, John Stone (the always reliable John Tuturro), who is afflicted with eczema, ingratiates himself onto the defense team as an act of redemption. The prosecutor (Jeannie Berlin) is a long-time professional looking for a conviction. There are a score of otehr minor character actors that add to color and depth to the the intricate story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, including: Michael K. Williams as Freddy Knight, Riz's protector in Riker's prison, Chandra Kapoor (Amara Karan) a young lawyer who is thrust into the main chair of the defense, as well as the family of Naz, suspects, witnesses and other periphery characters add to the overall story of crime and punishment in modern day America. It's a whodunnit that keeps you guessing until the final episode-it is another homerun for HBO.