Alexander, who crafts a compelling mix of street toughness and desperate need in playing Fran Boyd, quit NBC's NewsRadio sitcom in frustration over a lack of screen time. Carter, a veteran of second-banana roles on series such as The Sinbad Show and Punky Brewster, speaks volumes with knowing glances and longing looks. Nelson's DeAndre is a mass of percolating needs, masked by a veneer of offhand cool. For actors often relegated to the background of network TV, they are the roles of a lifetime, even if the black characters are mostly victims and victimizers. The Corner doesn't shrink from realistic images of drug use and addiction.
Needles pierce flesh with brutal clarity.
Longtime junkies are shown with infected abscesses covering their arms, their bodies a mass of scars from the search for new veins. One addict, Fat Curt, struggles with extremities swollen by infection to grotesque proportions. There's a humor that leavens the bleakness . . . I didn't think we were telling an unremittingly grim story. That is a big chunk that demands to be served.