Deadwood

[mrsl]

Ms. cutter; is this show over now? You convinced me that it was worth checking into, so I did last week when they started re-running from the pilot show. Although difficult to keep all the characters straight (all of them are so dirty and scruffy), by the end of the second episode, I had them pretty well lined up. NOW in the third episode, they kill off Bill Hickock! You're lucky you weren't around for me to slug! So I spent most of Saturday and Sunday reading all the previous episodes. It's like reading a book on the PC. Thank goodness for the page that pictures all the characters. Also, getting over Als mouth is hard to do. I can handle some of it, but I really get irate at the 'C' word, and Al is a leeeetle bit over the top in his use of vulgarity. He uses it at times when it really is NOT that necessary, but oh well. I haven't seen an episode of Sopranos in years, so I'd venture a guess they were the same way. I watched it faithfully in the first season, but dropped it about the third episode of the second season.

So, if Deadwood is over, I guess I have to rent the series, right?

Anne

[Lzcutter]

Ms. cutter; is this show over now? You convinced me that it was worth checking into, so I did last week when they started re-running from the pilot show.

Anne,

Deadwood ran for three seasons before HBO cancelled it leaving it without a proper ending. However HBO has promised to produce two tele-movies to bring the story to a proper conclusion.

Although difficult to keep all the characters straight (all of them are so dirty and scruffy), by the end of the second episode, I had them pretty well lined up. NOW in the third episode, they kill off Bill Hickock! You're lucky you weren't around for me to slug!

I feel your pain. I, too, was surprised that Wild Bill left the story so soon.

Also, getting over Als mouth is hard to do. I can handle some of it, but I really get irate at the 'C' word, and Al is a leeeetle bit over the top in his use of vulgarity. He uses it at times when it really is NOT that necessary, but oh well.

All three seasons (twelve episodes each) have some wonderfully written and acted moments in them.

So, if Deadwood is over, I guess I have to rent the series, right?

I believe it is available to rent from the usual sources.

Glad you are liking it, by the way!

[mrsl]

Oh, yes, I like it, and apparently they're running the whole thing on Saturday night, so I have it set in my TV timer to switch to it every week, no matter what I'm watching, so if I want to continue with whatever I'm on at that precise time, I can see it again at 11:00 that same night.

I'm doing the same thing with two other shows. Somehow I missed the entire Spring episodes of Dead Zone and the 4400, so I'm watching them here on the PC, instead of reading.

I'm also having fun changing my yahoo home page around with colors, and arrangement of items. I can't wait for my Lynzi to see the kitten playing with a ball I picked out for my cursor. I also learned how to do a changing routine of photos as my desktop. Now if I can just figure out the avatars, I'll be "in like Flint".

I can see that the writing and acting in Deadwood are tops, and that's what I look for in both TV series and movies. As we've said here though, the networks are running less and less of them, and they are going to the cable stations. I try to stick with the ones on HBO and Encore however, because they are commercial free, and I just don't care for Big Love (about the Mormons, and Entourage just isn't my cuppa).

Anne

[cmvgor]

mrsl;

I've wasted a couple of days trying to think of something clever to say about your discovery of Deadwood. That was the wrong approach.
I simply say: Stay with it. Its worth it. Tolerate the profanity and the low
view of Humanity that is sometimes on display; there are also some very
encouraging scenes . The subplots involving Calamity Jane and the
Doctor are examples.* And it probably gives a pretty accurate

picture of the
way people behaved on the frontier, where peaceful people were outnumbered and the Law as an institution was quite weak.

And it does involve some slam-bang, take-no-prisoners acting by some very talented people! Enjoy.

*Also, keep an eye on the whore Trixie.

[mickeeteeze]

Westerns were never my favorite film genre, but "Deadwood" was my favorite HBO show. Now they're saying they probably won't resolve it with a movie.
I'm sorry to hear that.

[cmvgor]

I took some notes in prep for putting this info into the nearby "Talk About
Sightings!" thread, but I changed my mind. It works better here.

I was not impressed by the new HBO series John From Cincinnati and I did not watch it. Last week, simply by not changing channels while
doing some other work, I exposed myself to a couple of episodes of the
new series. I noted with delight that a number of Deadwood Alumni
have found employment there.

Dayton Callie stalwart freight-man of Deadwood, is on hand in Cincinnati in a role that I am unable to describe, really, because
I came in too late, and saw too little. But I'm pleased the man found work.

Paula Malcomson, whose sympathetic performance as the Gem whore Trixie draws justified attention, also has a role. I had to Google
to be sure it was her, because her Cincinnati character uses her
real accent. (Ms. Malcomson is a native of Belfast.)

Garret Dillahunt plays a character in Cincinnati that I think
is a doctor. He has the destinction of playing two roles in Deadwood. In the first season he played the toxic Jack McCall, who murdered
Wild Bill Hickcock. Then in the seconcd season he showed up in the role
of Wolcott, the Hurst advance man with personal tastes that tended to
reduce the whore population, at considerable financal expense to himself.

And in a rerun of an old eplisode of CSI, Crime Scene Investigation
I spotted Robin Reigert, Deadwood's delightful Calamity Jane. In
CSI, using her own voice and looks, she portrayed a staffer at a
psychiatric facility who gave Grissom & Co. some useful information about
a suspect.

I, too, have gotten the news that there will be no more Deadwood,
not even a movie. And I regret that. But it's nice to spot the fact that
some of the performers are still showing up elswhere.

[Lzcutter]

Dayton Callie was also on CSI this past season as one of the suspects in the Minature Killings. To say more would be a spoiler.

Am heartbroken over the news that there will likely be no Deadwood movies.

HBO, I curse you!

It was a great show that deserved closure.

Just like that other great HBO show that was ended before its story played out, Carnivale.

[mrsl]

I guess I need closure. You can put something away if it's finished. When they just cut off a series you are on a constant merry go round of who did what, and where did so and so go, etc. At least with a closing episode or movie, you're left with a feeling of completeness.

I was so enraptured by Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, I never dreamed it would not find an audience, but it never did, but at least they wrote a great final episode and wrapped up all the loose ends.

I remember the old days when you would tune in to watch a regular show, and suddenly it wasn't there anymore. That was in the days before letting the viewing audience know what was going on. All those great shows where you watched the kids grow up every week, but never saw them graduate, or marry, just disappear. e.g. Did What did Bud do after college on Father Knows Best, or did Lucas and Miss Mallory get together on the Rifleman, or Matt and Miss Kitty, or did any of the wives of the Bonanza guys live long enough to have families? When any of them fell in love, the girl always got killed before the end of the show, or on their wedding night.

I think it's even worse now because the writing is so intimate, you know so much about the characters, it's like losing a friend.

Anne

[Lzcutter]

Anne,

Even without the proposed two Deadwood movies, I hope that you will watch all three seasons of Deadwood. If for no other reason than the last season and Gerald McRainey's wonderful performance as George Hearst (Willie R's dad).

It is a side of acting that McRainey does not often get the chance to show off and he was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor Emmy nom in my opinion. Yes, he is that good and completely different from his role on Jericho.

Don't miss it!

Practising hope,

[sandykaypax]

Anne, I was watching a special on TVLand recently and they spotlighted the finale of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Did you know that was the first tv series to have a series finale episode? It seems odd, doesn't it, that tv shows just used to fade away with no explanation before that.

Sandy K

[cmvgor]

Another sighting! Just a glimpse, but more to come!

Keith Carradine is coming back! Our lamented Wild Bill Hickcock
has found work. Ads for the new season on SHO reveal that Mr. Carradine is joining the cast of Dexter as an FBI profiler, on the trail of my very favorite vigilante/serial killer. I honestly don't know which
one to root for, but this should be good.

[mrsl]

Sandy:

I guess people didn't get so into their TV characters at the time, and whether they did or not, the producers just probably didn't care.

lzcutter:

I'm hanging in there, but it's really getting hard to do. The language is totally unnecessary, and I'm getting tired of learning little slices of Al's life while he is being 'serviced' at the end of the show. To be brutally honest, I never knew a man who could talk so clearly and at such length while certain little 'favors' were being doled out upon him.

In addition, an awful lot of time is wasted in discussions using extremely upper crust verbiage, making the distinction between language forms so outstandingly vulgarly apparent. (ie. They talk too much and counteract the cussing with high class words)

Anne

[mrsl]

I'm copying a quote from Ms Goddess which she posted in reference to seeing the new movie 3:10 to Yuma, not Deadwood, but it says something that makes me understand why it's so hard for me to get really involved.

" portrayed as, at best, venal and generally criminal, vicious, psychotic, and dangerous. I mean entire towns were portrayed this way---mine workers, farmer, Indians, townfolk, Everyone! Basically, the director is saying everyone out west in those days was absolute trash who'd shoot you down for a quarter. That is rubbish---what about all the decent, honest, hardworking people who just wanted a new start in life---I think they vastly outnumbered the scavengers"

There is nobody on Deadwood that I care about. I mean, who I care lives or dies, they are all so vile, including Bullock. The acting is good, but like Ms G says, there had to be good people in that town - where are they? There had to be decent people who ran grocery stores, and laundry other than the Chinese, and restaurants. Even though its a tent city, some good people had to live there. I realize the story is concentrating only on the unsavory edge of town, but often it drifts over into areas where these unseen decent people would be.

I never knew it before but I guess in addition to liking the actors in order to watch a movie or a program, I guess I have to like at least one or two characters also, but then I've never come across a movie or program that dealt with only reprobates. Even the little immigrant girl doesn't evoke any real sympathy because I know if she doesn't get sent out of there soon, she will end up as another Trixie or Joanie, because that bimbo who is taking 'care' of her is not much better than either of those prostitutes. (senior moment, can't recall her name)

Anne

[Lzcutter]

Anne,

All I can say is that you will be rewarded if you don't give up on Deadwood.

Season 3 is filled with wonderful performances, especially Gerald McRaney as George Hearst. Both he and Ian McShane were robbed of deserved Emmy nominations this year.

[cmvgor]

Heads up: Allegation, hearsay, rumor and innuendo.

It is being announced locally that the History Channel program on Wednesday, 9/19/07 at 9:00 PM will be devoted to Old West sites that were known for corruption. The town of Deadwood was mentioned specifically. It may give some insight on the factual basis behind the
fictional treatment. Personally, I would like to see Hist. Ch. do one of
their "History Vs Hollywood" numbers on the series.