Filthy, profane, pornographic, misogynistic, bloodthirsty, chimerical.
Innovative, ingenious, inspired, realistic, unflinching, imaginary.
Whatever your view of the HBO series "Deadwood" - if you even have one - you can find ample support on either side. I, for one, consider it just what the HBO original series advertisements call all their creations: “original, groundbreaking, award-winning,” etc. Deadwood (with its season two finale scheduled for May 22) is the unpolished, warts-and-all truth about the settling of the American frontier.
I freely admit I am terribly prejudiced as I have been a fan of Deadwood's creative force, David Milch, for decades. I was hooked with "Hill Street Blues." I was reeled in with "NYPD Blue." I fought against drag of the reel when he struggled through addiction and a creative fog with "Murder One" (1995), "Total Security" (1997), and "Big Apple" (2001) which he put together without his long-time partner, Steven Bochco. But David Milch has landed me, hook, line and sinker with Deadwood. He has - but I really hope he hasn't - reached as high a creative arc one can reach with this view of the Dakota territories, circa 1880. While I am not much of a television-aholic as I once was (thanks to the spate of reality detritus clogging the airways), it is the one show that I actually plan an evening around. Fortunately, that evening is Sunday and easy enough to clear out.
The addiction started simply enough when the first season of Deadwood came out earlier this year. I had seen the occasional advertisement on HBO and an occasional review that sounded promising but it was the "Created by David Milch" that cinched the deal. Popping the first DVD of the set into the player was not accompanied by any real preconceptions since, while I knew Milch could write cop dramas very well, I had no idea how he would work with a western. The answer, quickly apparent, was that classic "Milch-speak" works as well in Deadwood, South Dakota as it does in New York.
And the formula Milch has developed over 25 years of writing and producing is not only geographically nonspecific it is time-insensitive as well. Dialogue is used to convey not just information but mood. "Anyways" is Milch-speak to signify either "it's time to change the subject of this conversation" or "you are boring me and I am going somewhere else with my thoughts and, possibly, my body." It means the same thing whether it is spoken by Andy Sipowicz in 2004 or Al Swearengen in 1880. To David Milch, dialogue just gets in the way of the actors and the action and is to be kept at a minimum. Storytelling and acting are the keys and they are at the center of all of Milch’s work.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Shouldn't this be under Video?
Fine post
2 - Eric Berlin
Somebody switched it over, Aaman.
3 - gonzo marx
watch Deadwood or i'll toss all you cocksuckers feet first into the woodchipper...
nuff said?
Excelsior!
4 - Eric Berlin
I don't get HBO and can only get three Netflix DVDs at a time, so Deadwood has been on my list for a while now. Trying to get through Carnivale Season One, then Sopranos Season Five, then...
If only the wife would stop insisting on mixing in a movie every now and again!
5 - Nicolette Rivers
I love this show. Swearengen is a character you can loathe and like in the same episode.
You can do a whole drinking game based on how many times they same "cocksucker" per episode.
6 - dietdoc
Nicolette write: You can do a whole drinking game based on how many times they same "cocksucker" per episode.
Reply: You would be pretty drunk after each show. (grin) Maybe one shot for every 5 for Al, and one shot for 3 from Jane and Trixie, and one shot per utterance of "cocksucker" from every one else. There would be a bonus of two shots for every utterance of the word from Alma or Seth. Keeping up with Al and Jane would be enough to put me under the table.
Al is the most lovable villain ever, IMHO. Just when you start to think he is totally corrupt, you see him do something so off character it is downright tender.
I just love the writing. It is truly becoming a lost art. And Milch has the touch. The scripts turn the whole cast of serviceable but ordinary actors into complete stars.
Stars are made from scripts and script choices not just talent. I watched one of our generation's best, DeNiro, recently in "Godsend." Even an actor of his quality couldn't save that crap. And then you think back to "Godfather II" and "Raging Bull." It's the writing, not the acting, that makes stars. And the script writing never gets enough credit.
Sorry for the tangent.
Cheers,
Ron
Cheers,
Ron
7 - Nicolette Rivers
If you really want to get drunk fast you do the drinking game during the episode called Mr Wu. That's the one where Wu is in Al's office trying to explain that someone stole the dope.
8 - dietdoc
Postscript:
Season 2 ended 05/22/2005 and the ending bodes well for the future of the series.
In the finale, Al gets what he wants from Yankton, Alma marries Ellsworth, Mr. Lee gets taken out by Mr. Wu (with a big assist from Al's henchmen), Mr. Hurst arrives (the only disappointment was his seemingly banal character), Mr. Wolcott is discovered by his employer (Mr. Hurst) and hangs himself and, to my great joy, Powers Booth (the evil Tolliver) gets gutted by the new preacher who earlier in the day married Alma and Ellsworth.
I am sure this make no sense to anyone who has not followed the series but it was a classic setup for Season 3 and I thought I would give it a notice in this thread. David Milch continues to excel in writing and the series remains a classic tale of the real old west.
Cheers,
Ron
9 - Temple Stark
From two weeks ago -- Blogcritics' editors liked this one. It's a pick of the week. Congrats. Put the news up proudly on your site.
Here's a link to the rest of this week's picks where we say why we chose 'em.
10 - Paul Dennis
For fans of the magnificent HBO Deadwood series there is a new source of all things Deadwood, both real and fictional -- The Real Deadwood Podcast. Hosted by Paul Dennis, it is a variety show from the real Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota for fans of the award-winning Deadwood series all over the world combining interviews, entertainment and news from both Deadwoods.
11 - Jesse
long time coming but i love this show, three years since the last post uh oh, best drinking game, dress up like cowboys, (with a modern twist if you have to) take a shot when they cocksucker, or they themselves take a shot, choose a character and drink along with them. 4 or 5 of us all above 23 years of age up to 35 get sloppy with Deadwood classic, I can't wait to do it again.