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Deadwood

Yes, that's Deadwood, not The Dead Zone.

I love DVDs. It wasn't all that long ago that the only way we could re-watch something we loved was by waiting for reruns. I remember hearing that in the early 70s, fans of the original Trek would make audio tapes of their favorite episodes so that they could at least hear them whenever they wanted. And of course, they wrote fan fiction. That's how fan fic started.

Anyway, I was talking about Deadwood. Dan talked me into trying the first season DVD. Heavy drama is totally not my thing, but after three episodes, I was hooked. I'm now up to episode seven.

There's something compelling about this show. It reminds me a lot of how I felt about Lonesome Dove. Lonesome Dove aired a millennia ago and I don't even remember the basics of the plot, but I do remember that it showed us in vivid detail how dirty, dark, short and brutal life actually was in the old West. Deadwood is just like that. There's disease and death. There's exploitation of children. There's no law, no morality, and clearly, not enough soap. Some of the characters -- like Bullock, Sol, Trixie, Calamity Jane, and the Widow -- are likable. Most are not. Swearengen, the main arch villain of the piece, was so utterly black that at first I didn't even want to watch him. They've softened him just a tad in the past couple, which was a smart move.

What do you all think of Deadwood? Post your comments!
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

8 comments:

  1. LoL @ the cassette recording! I did that to my fave movies in '95-98... I recorded movies such as LionKing, Balto, Anastasia, with a TalkBoy/TalkGirl (a la HomeAlone) and listened to em on my Walkman constantly... hehe.

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  2. It's a very good show though not my fave HBO outing. That would be Six Feet Under - what other cable shows float your boat? Did you ever see Carnivale?

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  3. I heard Carnivale was good but never got around to seeing it. Can't always afford HBO and Showtime. I'm a DVD girl. :) What do you suggest?

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  4. I love Deadwood. I think that it's a wonderful show. Yes, it is very slow moving, but the plot twists and turns are wonderful. I would strongly suggest you finishing watching the rest of the season. I know that I could not stop watching!

    cheers, Michael

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  5. I thought Season One of DW was very good. But Season Two . . . blew me away. Simply outstanding. Like watching Shakespeare set in the 1800's. It keeps getting better.

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  6. hey billie - I suggest renting out Season 1 of Carnivale on DVD because the writing, acting, special effects etc will blow you way. Outside of the brilliant Joss Whedon and J.J Abrams has there been a show so cleverly written. Also try watching the first four seasons of SFU before seeing the fifth and final season. It's does what Desperate Housewives tries to do, except more better and more believable IMO.

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  7. put the wire on your list of dvds to check out as well.

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  8. Finding Deadwood was one of those almost “never happened” accidents that I will forever be grateful for. It was on one night and I just gave it a try. The next thing I knew I was sucked into David Milch’s engrossing world. From Seth Bullock's barely controlled temper to Al Swearengen's use of graphic language to hit both his fellow characters and the views with an almost poetic shock. But what drew me further in was the same thing that drew people into Star Wars, what Lucas calls the "Used Universe". This show feels real; it re-defines a genre that has been, in my experience mostly sterilized. There are several resent changes to the genre that have made it seem less like a simple utopia, and more like real life. Movies such as Unforgiven and Tombstone stick out in my mind. And your example Lonesome Dove, but TV as far as I know has never had the simple raw brutality that this show delivers. Anyway I completely agree with the recommendation and feel that it deserves the Emmy nods that it has recently gotten.

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