Meet the pros of cons!

The story of a group of elite con artists, who each week pull off a complicated scam with several twists. Mickey is the group's leader, who comes up with the plans. Albert is a veteran con man who in his later years is a "roper," searching out suitable victims and introducing them to his cohorts. Ash comes up with all the locations and equipment needed for the cons. Stacie steps in whenever she needs to use her feminine wiles. The group is rounded off by Danny, a young amateur grifter who Mickey takes under his wing.

HUSTLE is a very stylish and intelligent show, along the lines of MATCHSTICK MEN and OCEANS ELEVEN mixed in with a little GLENN GARY, GLENN ROSS to boot!  Taking place on the streets of London, HUSTLE revolves around five seasoned con artists, but their catch is they only cheat the desserving.  Yes deserving, of course by deserving I mean they rip off the morally lacking (basically the DEXTER's of the con world).  Of course this doesn't mean the police are oblivious to or are tolerant of any their activities as they know the players and are hot on all of their tails.

What I found myself most drawn to as I watched HUSTLE The Complete Season One on DVD (yet another show I am remiss I never watched in its airings), was how the characters seemingly read their targets to know what they would possibly ask for, inquire about or even obsess over.  The writers do an amazing job of creating "target" characters (i.e. the jerks who get ripped off) who seem together but at the same time you can easily see where they can be pulled, or where their weakness is in other words.  With out such depth it would be difficult for any such show to pull off such believable and envigorating viewing as one would be left with a lot to assume about said "target" characters.  So for that I must applaud the writers of HUSTLE for their diligence in realizing a there are two sides to every con and while the con artist is usually the more interesting character the taken advantage of are as crucial a part as advantage takers.  Don't take it the wrong way though, the writers spend way more time developing heir con artists and their relationships to one another (that is what the show is all about) than they do the "targets", but they don't forget about the supporting characters either and that is something I must say I ennjoyed!

Starring ROBERT VAUGHN, ADRIEN LESTER, JAIME MURRAY and MARC WARREN, and featuring 6 episodes (or CON's as they are called on the DVD's) HUSTLE The Complete Season One is smart, fun, intense and just good quality viewing in general.

M@'s REMARK:
It never hurts to have a "lil' Brit" in you... errr scratch that just pick up the DVD it's much less painful!