Ever since the state of Georgia enacted the nation’s most generous tax breaks for film and TV production, Atlanta has become what’s often considered the “Hollywood of the South.” But for all the movies that use the city as a backdrop, few actually center it as a dynamic metropolis worthy of its own mythology. (The list basically begins and ends with Donald Glover’s eponymous FX series and a handful of reality shows.) The Peacock miniseries “Fight Night,” adapted by creator Shaye Ogbonna (“The Chi”) of the 2020 podcast of the same name, is a welcome change of pace from the status quo, using one fateful night in the 1970s to explore Atlanta’s rise as a center of black culture and prosperity — even if some of the architects of that rise weren’t exactly savory characters.

But "Fight Night," subtitled "The Million-Dollar Heist," doesn't lure viewers in with the promise that it will, according to its title card, "show something that really happened." The eight-episode limited series boasts one of the star-studded casts this side of "Big Little Lies," led by Kevin Hart and Don Cheadle as two men stranded between worlds. Hart plays Gordon "Chicken Man" Williams, a small-time businessman hoping to impress black mob boss Frank Moten (Samuel L. Jackson) by hosting an afterparty for Muhammad Ali's comeback boxing match. Williams leads a double life punctuated by his two romantic partners: his wife Faye (Artrece Johnson), with whom he goes to church every Sunday, and his mistress Vivian (Taraji P. Henson), with whom he engages in all sorts of secret activities, mainly illegal gambling. Cheadle portrays J.D. Hudson, a detective who began his career as one of the first black recruits to join the Atlanta Police Department after integration. Hudson's white colleagues are predictably prejudiced, while most black Atlantans regard him as, to quote the show's fictional version of Ali (Dexter Darden) when Hudson is assigned to his security detail, "a supervisor."

When a gang of armed robbers crash Chicken Man’s party and rob Frank and his fellow mobsters, the pressure is on for both protagonists: Chicken must clear his name before the victims exercise vigilante justice, and Hudson must contain the violence before it spirals out of control. The fight with Ali was meant to generate positive PR for the up-and-coming city, a trajectory Chicken hoped to capitalize on by pitching Frank as a “Black Vegas.” Instead, the robbery he took the fall for has generated all the wrong headlines.

“Fight Night” sits at the intersection of several TV trends with diminishing returns, from the madcap war for true-crime IP to an escalating arms race for star power. But Ogbonna and co-showrunner Jason Horwitch have delivered an engaging, briskly paced series that makes the most of a packed roster. “Fight Night” lacks the detailed minutiae of more compelling Nixon-era entries like “The Deuce”; its soundtrack of perfunctory cuts, from the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” to Darondo’s “Didn’t I,” reflects its expansive approach to world-building. Still, “Fight Night” compensates for its expert blueprint (true story + big names = win) with nuanced ideas and engaging performances.