March 16, 2005

• I'll be interested to hear responses on this. Since the wife and I don't have cable, I'd been thinking about renting the DVD and checking it out. I love me some westerns.
• Well, I think like most series, its draw is in the pull of the story over the whole season- watching one episode doesn't necessarily introduce you to the more interesting aspects of the characters or themes. On the other hand, it is a bit of a "love it or hate it" show, so you might never like it. My girlfriend can't get past the rawness of the language, but my mother thinks it's great... In any case, it sounds like you watched this season's premiere, which was thick with twisted plotlines from last season. Try some of the older episodes if you want to give it another try.
• Never seen it, but it has Ian McShane in it, which is just awesome. This probably has greater resonance for Brits, however...
• MCT: I like westerns too, which is why I was interested in seeing this show. And to give it it's due, it's *visually* very beautiful and engaging. Then the actors open their mouths, and one's sense of dismay begins. it sounds like you watched this season's premiere, which was thick with twisted plotlines from last season. Worse, I watched part 2 of the season premiere! But I'm familiar with the convoluted plots of HBO series' and I feel I accounted for that - if anything, I was paying more attention so as to pick up what was going on. But it wasn't the plots that sent me packing, it was the dialogue.
• Ian McShane = Lovejoy.
• Three reasons I want to see this: 1)Powers Boothe, whom I've loved in every western he's ever been in (and they are legion). 2)Brad Dourif, who brings his own special blend of creepy to every role he's ever played. I bought Myst III mostly because he's in it. 3)Jeffrey Jones, who I thought was dead. I don't know why I thought that, but he's clearly not, so I feel we should all celebrate that.
• There is a kind of magic to how often they can work "cocksucker" into a conversation, I'll admit...
• No doubt! There was one point where Mr. Bullock's business partner (?) who'd apparently been shot and was loaded up on some sort of pain-reducer, repeatedly called Mr. Bullock a cocksucker. "Cocksucker! Cocksucker Cocksucker Cocksucker!" he yelled. Riiiiight. Add that to the unimaginably everpresent overuse of "fuck" and it's variations (I would not have been surprised in the slightest to hear someone intone gravely: "Fuckity fuck! Those fucking fuckers are fucking fucked, motherfucker!") and I couldn't help but think that the writers took a script, nailed it to the wall, crammed a double-barrelled shotgun with "fucks" and "cocksuckers," fired it at the script and had the actors read it however it ended up.
• I've caught it once after seeing a great number of reviews praising it for its raw realism and "exploding the myth of the western." And, like you Fes, I thought that it pretty well blew (though I don't like the Shield either). It looked gorgeous, but I think that the myths that it's exploding are ones that have already been deconstructed better by others. I love westerns, both modern and classic, but Deadwood was bullshit and had the cloying personality of a middle-schooler trying to be cool. It's like they assume that their audience has never seen The Wild Bunch (which does nihilism better), The Unforgiven, The Searchers, High Plains Drifter, Tombstone or even Silverado. It might be shocking to someone who's only experience with the West is Gene Autry, but for me I wanted something smarter.
• 3)Jeffrey Jones, who I thought was dead. I don't know why I thought that, but he's clearly not, so I feel we should all celebrate that. Not dead, just got in a bit of hot water with some kiddie porn a while back.
• Jeffrey Jones, who I thought was dead. I don't know why I thought that, but he's clearly not... He had a little... difficulty (of the child-pornography-conviction variety), so he wasn't seen around much for a few years. But he's still great. Just a bit noncier than was previously suspected.
• The Preview button is for paedophiles.
• Because it stands for "View Prepubescent"
• Ah. So, not dead, just wishing he were.
• Do you really think the men of the west walked around with a broomstick up their arses, watching thier Ps and Qs, making sure that the ladies and the chillern never heard them cuss or swear? No siree!

  According to Milch, it's a much closer approximation of the language of the real West, that's what. "That's the way they spoke," he said. "I researched the show a good, long time - over a year - and went through a tremendous amount of primary material. And the one thing upon which everyone agrees was that the profanity and obscenity was astounding. It was overwhelming.
  —Quoted on Storytelling.

• (I ballsed up the HTML. Hope me, Monkeybashi!)
• Ok, assume for a moment that the language is spot on, historically speaking - so what? If the viewing public doesn't know this to be the case (and it sounds like they don't, I sure didn't, and to my ear it still sounds like way over the top overkill, fuckly speaking) AND it detracts from the storyline to do so (since many reviewers make mention more of the language than the plot, it seems like it must), what's the point? This isn't a documentary, after all.
• I dunno; I haven't seen it. It is, however, the one HBO show I will give a good run for its money. Why? It's about time my romantic notions of the wild west were soundly shaken. And it's about Wild Bill Hickok, goddammit!
• I don't know how I didn't realize season 2 had started. After you watch a few episodes, you notice the cussing less. You just get used to it. I think it also helps if you get in early on and get caught up in the characters.
• Some fuckin' trails are happy ones, Others are fuckin' blue. It's the way you ride the mofo trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you, cocksucker. Happy trails to you, cocksucker Until we fuckin' meet again. Happy trails to you,cocksucker Keep smilin' until then. Who cares about the clouds when we'ere fuckin' together? Just sing a song, and bring the sunny fuckin' weather. Happy trails to you, Til we meet again. cocksucker
• The cursing doesn't bother me (though I believe the "primary source" research they did to be largely bullshit), the emphasis on the cursing does. To put it another way: I listen to a lot of rap. A lot of rap is even more profane than Deadwood, but Dead Prez does it well while 2 Live Crew does it poorly, based mostly on the amount of actual content within the swearing. Motherfucker.
• Huh? Who? Who? Me?
• Huh? Who? Who? Me?
• I hate timeouts!
• A good essay on Deadwood's profanity. To sum it up the the profanity is inaccurate, but only for the words not the amount (there is only one Lady in the whole town!). Back then religon not sex was the taboo ground, so hell and GD were the stand by curses. I agree w/ the essay that if they had used the old curses they would have sounded like Yosimte Sam, comical, which is the opposite of the desired affect. As for the show it is excellent. I watched the first four episodes of season 1 and was bored so I stopped. When I found how historically accurate the show is I tried a couple more. Then I recognized how deep the characters were. Everybody with their own drives and motives. Quite entrancing. I would expect Bullock to act stiffly in such a situation. He is the type who tries to keep an iron grip on his emotions. As such his stiffness shows his characters stress. The moments when his emotions overwhelm him are awesome. Think angry god full of retribution.
• I love Geoffrey Nunberg.
• At the risk of being long winded here is a favourite moment in the 1st or 2nd episode from 1st season. Bullock and Swearengen are talking business. Bullock obviously doesn't like Swearengen. Bullock says something. Swearengen trying to cut to get to the meat of Bullock's statement says something like "So what you are saying . . .". Bullock like a creaking pressure cooker states "Dont you FUCKING put words in my mouth". That FUCKING was delivered so perfectly it was like a shot of hot boiling water escaping from the pressure cooker. Bullock didn't otherwise move but you knew he wanted to throw Swearengen to the ground and beat him until he stopped moving. Big emotions, iron grip.
• The word 'fuck' was not well used in that era or place.
• The creators had a choice between recreating the vernacular or the atmosphere. Either way would have been a valid choice. IMHO atmosphere (emphasizing the crudity of the population via modern language) is more important to the story.
• Wait a sec Fes. You read all those reviews about the foul language used in the show, then you watch the show and act all surprised? It sounds like you watched the show just because you were looking for an excuse to be righteously indignant about it. I've never seen the show (or even heard of it until today), but I'm positive I would find the cussing to be distracting. But then again, I used to be a sailor, so a mouth has to be pretty dirty before it even registers on my radar.
• Atmosphere more important than story.. don't you really mean atmosphere is more important than historical accuracy? Atmosphere enhances a story.
• Well, without atmosphere the actors would suffocate. /derail
• I agree, I have tried to give this show several chances. When someone said "harelquin" that hit it on the nose- the whole is thing is overwhelmingly stilted and fake- the acting is shockingly bad. Maybe not their fault since they are being asked to perform that way... and I agree the cursing, accurate or not, rings of a middle schooler trying too hard, but then if that's an issue for people, why does Quentin Tarantino remain so popular? (it has always been my contention that he has no talent)
• It's my favorite show on television, bar none. I'll drop by sometime later when I'm not on the clock for my own blog to extemporize why.
• Atmosphere more important than story.. don't you really mean atmosphere is more important than historical accuracy? Atmosphere enhances a story. I think you might have misread Proteus' statement. It's not that atmosphere is more important than story, but rather that it is more important than "recreating the vernacular" when trying to tell a good story.
• Tell your god to ready for blood.
• Now we can all play along!
• That being the good news. The bad news is there's no season 4, though it does look like we'll at least get a miniseries. (via SaveDeadwood.net)
• Truly awesome show.
• I just got my hands on season 1. I've only seen the opening hanging scene of ep1, and if they're keeping that level of quality going, I'm going to get hooked quick.
• To drag up the name of McShane again, this has been a bit of a resurrection for him. Lovejoy made him a heartthrob for the elderly, and he had a mullet for longer than was necessary. Vic & Bib did a great skit on Lovejoy, with B wearing a mullet wig, and cowboy boots, and with lines drawn on his face in marker pen.
• Who the fuck are Vic & Bib? Oh, don't tell me: pommie tv comedians, right? They're all called Tic & Dan or Bob & Fuck now. I have a .gif of McShane from Space1999, which he was on. Little known fact: he was going out with Carol Cleveland when she was in Monty Python.
• Vic & Bib are a little-known Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer tribute act that live in my mind. They put shows on for me and make me laugh in meetings. I think I know the gif you mean - is he walking down a corridor forever?
• yes. I've posted it before, so I abstain this time. I have a lot of rather amusing Space1999 gifs featuring that guy from To The Manor Born.
• Have you got the one where Mrs Poo flies an Eagle Transporter right into the Vicarage, and witnessing the explosion, Mrs Frobisher turns into a cats and says to Brabinger, "Oh crikey!"?
• Yes.
• CODE NAME DIAMOND HEAD!
• Straight shootin' Ian McShane
• HBO are cunts. The end.
• So I'm only two episodes in, but I agree. Why the fuck are these fucking cocksuckers fucking ass-fucking this show into goddamn fucking oblivion?
• I think this show is a bad influence.
• THEY KILLED DEADWOOD????? NOOOOOOO
• The fight.
• why does Quentin Tarantino remain so popular? Well, it could have something to do with the fact that he's made some of the most innovative and influential movies of the past twenty years. Kill Bill is one of the true masterpieces of American cinema. When he's at this best, as with Kill Bill, his movies have depths that the average plebian pedesterian is unable to appreciate.
• *agrees (in the main) with Berek* Tarantino is not a hack.
• > When he's at this best, as with Kill Bill, interesting, kill bill struck me as one good movie spread out over two average ones. maybe i'm a pleb; i certainly walk most places. tarantino's writing and directing can be outstandingly good, but can also be pretty average (jackie brown, some of his tv stuff). i think pulp fiction is his most successful combination to date, though the writing in true romance is possibly sharper. reservoir dogs works best as a stage play, a compliment to its sublime dialog.
• I disagree totally with youse on this. Kill Bill is a true masterpiece of world cinema. There is not a wasted frame in the movie. It is one of those movies, like David Lynch Lost Highways or Mulloholland Drive, that you can get something new out of everytime you watch it. I will agree with you about Jackie Brown. The problem with that one is that Tarantino was making the wrong movie. His two stars, Robert Forste and Pam Grier, had real chemistry. If he had just stuck to making a movie about two adults in a grown up relationship he would have had something.
• as far as Deadwood goes, they have this new thing called Viagra that will take care of it.... no shame, no shame. i hAve no shame
• 100 Acre Deadwood
• Apropos of nothing (save for the word "sopranos" in the threadhead), did y'all catch the last episode? These two students at my lab wouldn't shut up about it over lunch today. I gather it made a few controversial choices or something but I can't tell my Jack Bauer from my Nathan Petrelli. How many of you cancelled your HBO scrips?
• Bwuh?
• Sorry, I guess I wasn't lucid enough. I'm talking about the end of The Sopranos.
• I didn't see it, and I haven't seen much of the last four+ series. I thought it had ended a few years back. There are about 2000 articles compiled by google news on the finale. It seems it was ambiguous, so some people are wondering if there's going to be a movie. Someone or several people were going to kill Tony, but the screen went blank before this. Opinion is divided as to whether this was a cop-out or very clever.
• Fukken-fukken-caw-ksukken courtesy of a monkey.
• That was fucking beautiful, you beautiful fucker.
• Peeping 'tom' frightens Deadwood woman
• Every time this goddamn fucking cocksucker of a thread keeps getting updated, I keep getting my motherfucking hopes up that one of you cocksuckers will be linking to goddamn announcement of either (a) revival of the series, meaning them clueless cocksuckers at HBO went and got some goddamn sense in their heads, or (b) the much-rumored goddamn movie is in production, meaning one more two-hour delve into whiskey, cunt, and Jack Langrishe's theatre, may God bless him for a fuckin' fibber. But you goddamn cocksuckers always let me down. Um, celestial.
• Yeeeeeee-haw! *fires six-shooter into ceiling of thread*