Television series

The Get Down

Name: The Get Down
Genre: Drama, Music
Released: 2016
Cast: Justice Smith, Shameik Moore, Herizen F. Guardiola, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jimmy Smits

The Get Down is Baz Luhrmann's glittering, overstuffed love letter to the Bronx circa 1977 — a borough burning literally and creatively, where a crew of teenagers turn graffiti, disco and turntables into the first sparks of hip-hop. Part history lesson, part fever dream, it collides musical numbers with real poverty and violence. Loud, romantic, occasionally exhausting — you either surrender to the excess or you don't.

TVMaze rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love music-history sagas that treat graffiti, rhymes and dance as a kind of scrappy poetry, and you don't mind a show that sprawls with big, theatrical ambition.

Skip it if you want a tight, plot-driven story, since this one wanders through many characters and storylines and its loose, exuberant energy can feel unfocused at times.

What it asks of you: Eleven episodes of roughly an hour across two seasons, paced at a patient, sprawling clip that lets scenes breathe and rewards sustained attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Straight Outta Compton2015

Another hip-hop origin story, but a decade later and out west — N.W.A. turning rage and comedy into a genre that reshaped music. Fast, funny, unafraid of its subjects' contradictions.

But It's a much straighter biopic — no magical realism, no dance numbers, just a tighter, more conventional rise-and-fall structure.

The Deuce2017

Same decade, same city's downtown cousin — Times Square's sleaze and hustle rendered with the same eye for a place eating itself alive. Great ensemble, terrific period detail.

But Slower and bleaker, more interested in economics than spectacle — don't expect the musical highs.

Pose2018

NYC kids with nothing building an entire subculture out of nerve and glitter — ballroom instead of hip-hop, but just as much heart and even more heat.

But A later decade and a different scene entirely; if you wanted specifically hip-hop history, this isn't it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Get Down

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Wild Style1982

This is the real, no-budget original — shot on the actual streets with the actual pioneers (Grandmaster Flash, Fab 5 Freddy, Lady Pink) playing versions of themselves before hip-hop even had a name.

See the birth The Get Down dramatizes, filmed as it was actually happening, by people who were actually there — raw, funny, and strangely tender under the grain.

But Amateur acting, a threadbare plot, and a far cheaper look than anything Netflix would greenlight — this is document, not drama.

Empire2015

Music-industry melodrama with the same soap-opera pulse and love of spectacle — family, ambition and hits colliding at full volume.

But Present-day setting and glossier than gritty; the historical texture that makes The Get Down special isn't there.

8 Mile2002

Detroit instead of the Bronx, battle rap instead of block parties — the same story of a broke kid finding his voice through rhythm and nerve.

But Much smaller scale, no ensemble sprawl — it's one guy's story, tightly focused rather than a whole scene coming alive.

Fame1980

A scrappier, earlier vision of New York kids clawing their way into art and music — rougher, funnier and more bittersweet than the glossy remake.

But The performing-arts school setting is a world away from South Bronx streets; the vibe is more optimistic than gritty.

Vinyl2016

Scorsese's own take on the same 1970s New York music explosion, from the record-exec side rather than the street — punk, disco and greed colliding.

But Cancelled after one season and it shows; the ambition outpaces the execution more than a little.

Show Me a Hero2015

A different angle on the same crumbling city — the fight over housing and race in Yonkers, with the same unglamorous honesty about urban decline.

But No music, no spectacle — this is political drama, methodical and talky rather than kinetic.

Do the Right Thing1989

Spike Lee's hot, furious portrait of a New York neighbourhood pushed to its limits — the same anger and love for the block, distilled into one day.

But Brooklyn, not the Bronx, and a decade later — the connection is tonal and thematic rather than direct.

Style Wars1984

A documentary shot the same year, in the same city, following the real graffiti writers and subway culture that The Get Down turns into myth — the difference between legend and evidence.

Actual subway trains covered floor to ceiling, actual teenage writers explaining their own work — the grit and danger the show recreates, unfiltered and un-scored.

But No plot, no characters to follow — just interviews and footage; if you need a story, this won't give you one.

Summer of Sam1999

Spike Lee's film covers the exact same summer — 1977, the Bronx blackout, a city on the edge — but follows the paranoia and terror instead of the music, showing the darker underside of the same moment.

The blackout that lets looters (and future DJs) raid electronics stores for equipment happens here too, but from the side of fear and violence rather than creation.

But Genuinely upsetting in places — a serial-killer plot runs through it — and there's none of the joy or music-as-salvation the show offers.