Deadwood

Raoul Duke · 22-05-2004 4:12am #1

Hi anyone watching this on HBO Sunday nights. It's a western set in the town of Deadwood late 19th Century. The characters are real e.g. Wild Bill, Calamity Jane.
Ian McShane is in it and he absolutely rules in this show. Forget everything else he's done (like that antique thing he had).

Just wondering as there's been no mention of it here before and with 24 it's the only show I bother grab from the States.

Also, anyone have any idea if/when it'll get shown over here?

Raoul Duke · 28-05-2004 12:59am

Obviously not then. Well ye don't know what ye're missing. Keep n eye out for it though if it airs over here.

ixoy · 28-05-2004 11:52am

I have a few episodes but ain't gotten around to watching them yet. For those of us who aren't generally fans of the Western genre - could we still like this?

Go Figure! · 28-05-2004 12:07pm

Sky One have just bought the rights to it, no decision yet on when it will air!
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1226915,00.html

Raoul Duke · 28-05-2004 12:19pm

I'd imagine so. I'm not an avid western fan. The show hardly ever leaves the confines of the town of Deadwood so you don't see many people on horseback. It's more about the characters in the town and their vying for money/power/just getting on. It's got a bit of controversy due to it's "vulgar" language which it can get away with due to it being on HBO but I found the use of it fairly funny sometimes especially coming out of Ian McShane's mouth who is the main character.
Deadwood, at the time shown, is not under the jurisdiction of the US government so the town has it's own law - no law. There is no sheriff either. The townsfolk get their money from gold.
If you want any spoilers just look up the history of the town in real life.

TheSonOfBattles · 28-05-2004 8:17pm

This is without a doubt in my mind the single worst tv show I've ever seen, EVER! I watched the first episode with a few friends and within 5 minutes I knew it was crap, but I held out and watched the entire episode, and at the end I just wanted to slap whoever wrote it for bringing this idiocy to the world.

The entire purpose of the show, the ONLY reason it exists is to fit the word COCKSUCKER :eek: in as much as possible, and thereby up the controversy. High controversy means media attention and viewers. I don't mind swearing in any form of media, after all, its a reality, so if its in there, it'll make the show just that bit more realistic, but a show based solely on the idea of ratings through controversy is just plain WRONG! :mad:

Several times during the episode I noticed characters pausing mid sentence, and every time, they followed up the pause with the word cocksucker. My theory is, the word isn't even in the script, they're just told to say it as much as possible, and the worse actors in the show keep remembering it halfway through a sentence, and fcuking up the integration.

There's no characterization whatsoever. All the characters are dull, badly acted, boring and really, really, REALLY badly cliched. Take for instance the Irish woman. Shes a short, fat, ugly, drunkard with a hostile attitude toward most people and seems to love fighting and kids :rollseyes:

The plot itself was boring, and barely existant. I know i'm only judging it on one episode, but honestly, with that bad a start, I really can't see how they're gonna improve without changing the entire cast, as well as writers directors, producers and probably the stagehands, understudies and dogs bodies as well.

Save yourself some grief folks, don't watch this show, not even if you are a fan of the genre, because it'll undoubtadly put you off it for life tbh.

Raoul Duke · 28-05-2004 11:00pm

Not sure who you mean by the IRish woman but I presume it's Calamity Jane and how she is represented here is how she's always been represented.
You might think it's boring because not much happens in the first episode. In fact if it's action you want you won't find it here. The show is all about the characters and there is alot of humour there once you get to know them.

Like I said, you have to be able to get over the effing and blinding to be able to enjoy the script.

TheSonOfBattles · 28-05-2004 11:14pm

Originally posted by Raoul Duke
Not sure who you mean by the IRish woman but I presume it's Calamity Jane and how she is represented here is how she's always been represented.

Grand, I'll let that slide so, if that's how she's supposed to be historically. Howeverr....

Originally posted by Raoul Duke
You might think it's boring because not much happens in the first episode. In fact if it's action you want you won't find it here. The show is all about the characters and there is alot of humour there once you get to know them.

Like I said, you have to be able to get over the effing and blinding to be able to enjoy the script.

...this is just rubbish. One of my favourite tv shows ever is called Haibane Renmai. There is no action at all in the entire 12 episodes of the series. It's all characterization, and much the better for it. The series grips right from the start, and you instantly connect with the characters, curious to find out about them, and the odd situation they're in.

Deadwood however doesn't do any of the above. It's just plain bad, with or without the swearing.

ChipZilla · 10-06-2004 12:33pm

I have to agree with you Raoul, it's a great show. There's one episode left in the first series and I'm looking forward to the next series already. It's going to be be on Sky in the Autumn according to Ian MCShane on Richard and Judy :rolleyes: the other day. Filming for the second series starts next month, so maybe it'll be on HBO before Christmas.

TheSonOfBattles, you should watch a few more episodes. The first episode was laying down the story for the viewers who didn't know the history or the people who were around at the time - Swerengen, Calamity Jane, Hickock, etc...

Some would say (myself included) that anime is a load of crap too, but there ya go. Horses for courses, eh?

MarcusGarvey · 10-06-2004 12:47pm

Seen a few episodes and the characterisation is very good. Each character get's fleshed out more and more as the episodes proceeed. Looking forward to seeing it on Sky.

How many episodes are there ? 12 ?

Raoul Duke · 10-06-2004 1:01pm

Glad to see I'm not alone in liking this and yeah there are 12 episodes.

Who would have thought that I'd be loving something Ian McShane was in.

ChipZilla · 10-06-2004 1:02pm

Yep, twelve episodes. The episode guide is here:

http://www.hbo.com/deadwood/

The last one is on this Sunday night.

MarcusGarvey · 19-06-2004 5:51pm

Saw the final episode. Good end to it and looking forward to the next intrigue filled season.

valor · 05-08-2006 8:07pm

Massive bump...just got this show series 1+2 and really enjoying it so far

protos · 20-03-2007 6:22am

Another big bump. Just watched series one and two as part of my Paddys weekend recovery program. Excellent show, excellent characters, excellent stories. I'm not interested in the genre so much but I do like this show. The fact that its (loosely) based on real life events is good as well.

And TheSonOfBattles I don't think they're trying to court controversy to up ratings. The 'adult' language, violence and nudity is par for the course for HBO now and I'm all for it.

el dude · 06-07-2011 11:23pm

Just getting to the end of my second time watching it. Still as brilliant. So much depth there and so many truly wonderfully fleshed out characters.

One thing that bugs me though, why not just ****ing shoot Hearst? And why kill the hooker on his say so? At that stage he was "bringing hell" anyway, why not get the jump on him, it was left to Trixie to finally show some balls and have at him.

It's still as frustrating too knowing we'll never get to know what would have happened. Damn shame.

Deadwood

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