Deadwood Appreciation Thread
Deadwood is my favorite show of all time. I love the Wire as much as the next guy, and I loved the Sopranos for years. I can watch Arrested Development for days on end. But when it comes down to it, I consider Deadwood the GOAT TV show.
I don't think there's much argument that the dialogue in Deadwood is as good, if not the best, of any TV show ever made. And the cinematography and music is downright beautiful from the first episode to last.
Recommending Deadwood to someone isn't difficult. There's a ton of sex, violence, and language. The setting takes place in 1870s Deadwood, South Dakota, in a time where a lot of western land was finally being annexed and civilization was pushing westward. Deadwood was a town primarily for men who came out west in search of gold, very few children and women. Most women in the town were whores of servants of some sort.
While there's not necessarily a main character of the show, the two central characters are Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and Al Swearengen (Ian Mcshane). Bullock is a lawman and Swearengen is the owner of the most popular saloon in town, but you quickly realize he's more of a mayor/owner of the town more than anything.
Swearengen is written and acted as well as any character you will ever see on television. He's cruel and selfish mostly, with actions that range from beating women to cold blood killing for financial gain. However there are the moments of insecurity and selfishness. The monologues he delivers while getting 'services' from his saloon whores are some of the greatest in any medium, film/tv/whatever. It's pretty excellent writing when a viewer can be genuinely moved by the words of a character while a prostitute is going down on him.
It'd be tough to get in to every character here, but there are so many wonderful ones. From the syphilis struck reverend to Wild Bill Hickock to George Hearst, nearly every character is written and acted well.
Hopefully this thread will generate discussion on the 3-season series and the still slim chance of future developments from the show. There are a ton of themes to work with, as many as the Wire imo. The beginnings of what's very similar to modern day Capitalism is a huge theme in the show.
David Milch is a genius. For those who don't know his work, he started out at Yale (actually was in fraternity with George W Bush) but was eventually expelled for shooting up a police car. He spent years poor and claims to have spent nearly all of his money on LSD, which he did very often for years. His career got kicked off finally when he wrote a script for Hill Street Blues that was turned in to an episode. He then wrote and created NYPD Blue, and soon after began research and work for Deadwood. After Deadwood he wrote John From Cincinatti, which had only a brief run on HBO. His new project is a cop drama being pitched for HBO.
From everything I've heard, he would write Deadwood episodes mostly the night before shooting. And he wouldn't write anything down. Some writers account that he would lay down on the floor around a team of writers and speak out the dialogue and the team of writers would jot down all he said and collaborate at the end of the night. The actors had no practice with the scripts until it was time to shoot. I imagine this is deliberate, one of Milch's best writing qualities if that he doesn't judge his characters, and by not giving actors time to read and prepare a script, it doesn't allow them to as much either.
Anyway, here are some good clips from the show for those who want to try it out.
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I'm doing yet another rewatch of this masterpiece. I've been fighting it all this time not to declare as my favorite show of all time, being that Breaking Bad has meant so much to me. But I can't do it anymore. It's Deadwood. End of story.
That said, as much as I consider it perfection, there is a scene in episode 8 of season 2 where Alma and Miss Isringhausen finally have their standoff. The scene is great and I like that Isringhausen is able to throw a few nice jabs, but something about it... Just seems a bit... Off. Almost like it was an attempt at Milch instead of actually Milch and the Shakespearian influence is a bit too strong. I can't tell if it's the dialogue or the delivery but it takes me out of it. It's quick and painless, but this particular rewatch it really jumped out at me.
