"Sometimes I wish we could just hit 'em over the head, rob 'em, and throw their bodies in the creek."
"But that would be wrong."
In the
Drama category,
Frozen TV Dinner is very pleased to select the absolutely outstanding historical western...HBO's
Deadwood.
I agonized over this one in the first round, so I'm very happy that it's still available in the second round.
Deadwood was created, produced, and written by David Milch for HBO. It aired for 3 seasons during the springs of 2004 and 2005 and the summer of 2006.
The series is based upon the actual events and notable figures present in the early days of the settling of the town of Deadwood, in what is now the State of South Dakota. The characters of Al Swearengen, Seth Bullock, Sol Star, and many others (including the famous Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane) are based on actual historical figures who transformed Deadwood from a small and lawless mining camp into a bustling town.
Those who are wild west history buffs will know that Wild Bill was murdered in Deadwood while playing poker (holding 2 pair - Aces and Eights - the infamous "dead man's hand"), as he sat with his back to the door - something he usually refused to do for the very reason that too many people might look at it as an opportunity to kill the legendary Wild Bill. Hickok (played wonderfully by Keith Carradine) is a major character in the early episodes, but his fate is not to see Deadwood become a thriving town, and he does not survive the fourth episode.
At that point, the series really becomes about the struggles between self-righteous (former and future) lawman, Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and the rough and tumble Al Swearengen (played masterfully by Ian McShane) a man with a checkered past, and not-too-clean present, who owns the local tavern and brothel, The Gem.
Seth left his job as a Sheriff in Montana shortly after Custer's Last Stand and has moved to Deadwood to run a simple supply store with his friend and partner, Sol Starr (John Hawkes). Hickok's murder is the impetus for Al to realize that Deadwood needs some law and order (as long as he is personally exempt from it) and for Seth to realize that he can never really leave being a lawman behind.
The show, town, and characters evolved greatly over the course of its three seasons. Al is the villain of season one, but by the end, he's Seth's begrudging ally and you might even say a civic leader as Deadwood is set to join the Dakota Territory.
This is a show not for the easily offended, it is full of violence, nudity, profanity, and racism. The dialog on the show is a strange mix of almost Shakespearean eloquence, and extreme profanity. Apparently, someone actually went to the trouble of counting, and found that the "F" word was spoken 43 times in the first hour of the series and 2980 times over the show's full run, for an average of 1.56 times per minute of air time.
The only clip on Youtube that I could find that wasn't full of profanity was the opening credits...
The same could not be said of this set of clips (don't say I didn't warn you -- DO NOT PLAY IF THERE ARE SENSITIVE EARS ANYWHERE IN THE VICINITY)...
Unfortunately, differences between David Milch and HBO led to
Deadwood's cancellation, and the two follow-up movies that were promised by Milch and HBO look like they will never see the light of day.