MGM+ Premieres 2 Episodes of J.K. Simmons Crime Drama 'The Westies'

Q: Why was a key 80s NYC developer erased from a series about Javits Center profits?

He was left out deliberately, not accidentally. Co-creator Chris Brancato said the show chose not to include Donald Trump, even though the Javits Center era was part of the “go-go ’80s in New York” in which he was a major developer. Brancato’s explanation was blunt: “No, we decided to leave him out. He gets enough press.” That means the omission was a creative choice aimed at keeping the focus on the Westies, the Gambinos, and the criminal ecosystem around the convention-center construction rather than pulling attention toward a famous real-estate figure. In a series already crowded with real and fictional mob players, law enforcement, and labor-corruption storylines, adding Trump would likely have shifted the center of gravity away from the gang drama. The decision also fits the broader criticism of “The Westies” as a conventional, tightly bounded genre piece. Reviewers say the show stays within familiar mob-drama lines and concentrates on the truce over Javits Center profits, not on widening the canvas into a fuller portrait of 1980s New York power brokers. So the “erasure” was less about historical denial than about narrowing the narrative to organized-crime characters the creators wanted front and center.

3 articles · Updated · Variety · Jul 12

Two episodes of “The Westies” debut on MGM+ at 9 p.m. ET on July 12, launching the 8-episode crime drama with J.K. Simmons as Hell’s Kitchen boss Eamon Sweeney.
Set in 1980s Manhattan during the Javits Center buildout, the series follows an Irish gang trying to profit through fraud and alliances with the Italian Mafia, including a rising John Gotti.
The review says that premise never becomes distinctive, arguing the show leans on familiar mob tropes, thin period texture and an unconvincing IRA subplot instead of sharper social or historical insight.
Simmons and Titus Welliver bring veteran presence, but the ensemble is portrayed as too unsympathetic to sustain interest, leaving the series more dull than gripping despite bursts of violence.
Remaining episodes will air weekly on Sundays, with the premiere arriving as MGM+ adds another period organized-crime series from “Godfather of Harlem” collaborators Chris Brancato and Michael Panes.