» Old Deadwood Thread Options

[JuniperBerry]

HBO's new show Deadwood starts soon, and I can't wait myself. Hopefully, it won't turn out to be just another show about dirty people in the old days. I mean, it's right up Aaron's alley, but still. Has anyone heard anything more concrete about what it's going to be about?

For anyone that hasn't heard of it yet, it's set in the Old West, in a town called Deadwood. So far, it looks interesting, but I'm still waiting for HBO to add it to its site. It starts Sunday, March 21st at 10 pm.

I watched the special that aired yesterday, Feb 29. So far, so good. It's set in a town that actually existed, Deadwood, in the Black Hills. It was a goldmining town that had an influx of thousands of people all at once, because supposedly there was gold in them thar hills. People were discouraged from going there, because the claim land was on Indian territory; the Indians themselves didn't want them there, either. Deadwood got a reputation as being more or less lawless, and it's going from there. The big characters are a former sheriff named Bullock, a saloon owner, pimp, and all around baddie named Swearengen, and ... Bill Hickock. and Calamity Jane. The last two make me worry, but supposedly they're trying to base this in reality as much as possible. I'll still give it a shot.

This post has been edited by JuniperBerry: Mar 1, 2004 @ 6:10 am.

[farinacus]

So far, it looks interesting, but I'm still waiting for HBO to add it to its site

It's on there now.

Any show with Larry, even without his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl, is worth a look.

[iluvrupert]

I'm a big poker nut, and it looks like card playin' is a central theme of the show, so I'm excited. I can't wait to see how they handle Wild Bill Hickock and the origin of the "dead man's hand".

[JuniperBerry]

iluvrupert right there with you. Did you see the poker contest HBO is running to promote the show? 6 winners will be flown to Vegas to play, and the winner of that game gets flown back to Vegas again in April to play in the World Poker Championship.

[gwgisel]

Deadwood looks great from what I have seen (the "Making of" and the ads). Someone already posted a link to the HBO site where there is a ton of information about the show, which premiers March 21 at 10:00 pm.

[arachne]

FYI: Deadwood, South Dakota is alive and well. I visited there during my cross-country RV trek a couple years ago, but was a bit disappointed. I guess I was expecting some historic restoration (like Williamsburg, VA) but all I found was a touristy town with a casino on every block.

Back OT: Deadwood the show sounds interesting, and I imagine I'll watch some of it - especially since I got bored with The L Word.

[prozac4mommy]

I can't decide whether or not it looks good. I will give her the old college try for a few weeks and then make a decision. But, honestly, anything with Powers Boothe just makes my day. Loved him as Curly Bill in Tombstone, I hope he plays western along those same lines again............Yee ha!!

[Slashgirl]

I can't decide whether or not it looks good.

Almost anything with Tim Olyphant, Keith Carradine, Ian McShane and/or Powers Boothe looks good to me! (LOL)

This post has been edited by Slashgirl: Mar 15, 2004 @ 11:54 am.

[prozac4mommy]

This is from my local newspaper, today's issue (3/16/04), I couldn't find a direct link to the AP story, so I will paraphrase. [They] quoted Olyphant (yummy factor x2).

Olyphant plays marshall-turned-businessman Seth Bullock. The show does not follow convential romantic notions of the early wild west. Olyphants direct quote is read thusly "Everything you knew about television westerns goes out the window with this show".

The show focuses on the brutal realities of everyday frontier life.


Okay I definitely have to watch now, I am intrigued.

[Ruvane]

Brad Dourif is in it, which means I'm there. Jeffrey Jones too, although the whole child pornography thing makes me less excited about seeing him in stuff.

[Nocona]

I'm pretty excited about this show, I'm a westerns junkie. Is TwOP re-capping it? I hope so, my HBO crack is wearing thin with SaTC over and SFU and Carnivale taking so long for new seasons. I hope this is good.

[JuniperBerry]

I'd love it if TWoP recapped this show, but if they haven't announced it by now, I'm betting they won't. Poor Aaron's got enough with Sopranos at the moment, taking on another hour long show would probably be the death of him.

The show looks fantastic, and I completely can't wait. I want to see Calamity Jane, a truly kickass old west female. I'm confused on one thing, though. The HBO site says she's devoted to Wild Bill, and he's married, but they don't state that she's his wife. Does anyone know the story behind that?

[Eliot]

There was an article about the show in this week's Time Magazine which compared it to other HBO shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, where the lines of good and evil are not clearly drawn. The jist of the article seemed to be that these shows represent a more sophisticated take on a particular genre, i.e., cop shows that are more about the political corruption at the top echelons, mob shows where the bad guys are not always totally bad, etc. It also drew a lot of parallels between these shows and movies from the '70s like The Godfather, Chinatown, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller, which all represented a similar departure from the traditional "good guy vs. bad guy" themes.

It made me very excited to watch Deadwood. There are very few HBO shows I don't like anyway, but I love every one of their dramatic series.

edited to prove I DO know the difference between "cut" and "paste."

edited again to remind myself that maybe it's not such a good idea to have wine with lunch.

This post has been edited by Eliot: Mar 17, 2004 @ 4:20 pm.

[justsmile]

HBO Goes in Search of 'Deadwood' From Zap2it

[JuniperBerry]

Perhaps the only thing dirtier than Deadwood itself is the language, which is salty even for HBO.

Saltier than Six Feet Under? Damn. That's salty.