I was watching it last night for the first time, and I must say I was blown away. Seriously, what an awesome show. The acting is incredible all around (Olyphant and McShane were the standouts, but the whole cast was stellar), the dialogue is realistic and brutal, and the direction is pretty solid for a TV show. I normally stay away from TV, but this show seems really good. Has anyone else ever watched it? I'm trying to gauge wether this one episode was a fluke, or if this show is really that good. I want to program it into my TiVo.

My old thread is at BOM

Deadwood is the greatest western ever produced and quite possibly the best show on television.

YOU HAVE TO WATCH SEASON 1

Most of the shows were beyond words. The rest, incredible. My favorite episodes from season 1 in no particular order, "Suffer The Little Children", "There Was A Man", "Plague", "Deadwood", "Mr. Wu", actually, all 12 episodes from season 1 were my favorite. :razz:

Do you know if the episode that was on last night was from season one or two?

I'm glad to hear that the rest of the show is that good. That episode blew my mind.

It was the season two premiere episode. I would set your season pass for it pronto.

If you did happen to watch the entire ep from start to finish, what you saw during the first minute or so was a recap of the major events from episodes 1-12.

I have never seen the show!

Season Pass is set. It looks like it's going to record the season two debut again tomorrow, so since I missed the first couple of minutes last night i'll be all caught up.

Libs, if you wanna sticky this so loyal and I can talk about the show every week, that would be very nice. :grin:

Im assuming the series is worth blind buying since I dont have HBO. 3 months ago I bought Carnivale over Deadwood since they were both expensive and around 80 dollars each.

I just brought Deadwood a few weeks back following my Carnivale purchase. :razz: Completely worthy of a blind buy.

What I would suggest though, is wait until another series is released on HBO, I don't know, Six Feet Under or Sorpranos. Generally speaking, most retailers offer sales on HBO boxsets at that time.

HBO sets are extremely expensive.

I have HBO on demand, so I've been able to watch the first 11 episodes so far. Needless to say, each one has been every bit as good as Loyal makes them out to be. Apparently, HBO has not yet renewed Deadwood for a 3rd season, so please convince HBO to do so by supporting what is deservedly known as the best Western ever.


Fun fact: The actor who plays Mr. Wu is not Chinese, he's Hawaiian.

LOL, that's great.

Here's my favorite exchange from last night's episode.

Swearengen: you would not wanna be staring like that at me
Bullock: be where i can find ya
Swearengen: i aint going no place

And how beautiful is Alma Garret? I felt bad for her once Bullock's "wife and son" rolled into town. The ending though was perfect.

The exchanges between Cy (Powers Boothe) and Stubbs (Kim Dickens) were shocking, that man scares me.

Calamity Jane's one line was hilarious.

Just watched the season two premier from beginning to end, and let me just say that i've found the best show on television. It took me awhile to get adjusted to the way of speaking and figure out exactly who was who and what was going on, but once I did, I was engrossed and didin't take my eyes off the TV. You're right about the ending, loyal. 'Twas perfect. I was wondering why they were acting so strangely to one another since they were apparently husband and wife.

I don't even consider them husband and wife. I mean, his brother died and he felt obligated to take care of them. He doesn't love her. The nephew farting in the carriage with the hookers was funny.

A word of caution for anyone else thinking about joining us in watching the best show on television. You won't understand all the dialogue. I've finally accepted that fact. The best you can possibly do is rewind a scene a few times (if you have tivo) and maybe you'll pick up some things.

The cast does speak english but it's a weird quasi-Shakespearean grumbling type of delivery.

The impression I got from the ending is that they aren't husband and wife. So, are they married or not? I thought he was just telling people they were. Either way, he's doing an insanely honorable thing.

And, yeah, after I had to rewind after very other sentence, I started to accept the fact that i'll never understand everything they say. Luckily the acting and direction is good enough to convey what's going on.

No, he did marry his brothers wife out of duty.

There's a great 4 page article and 2 page photo spread of Deadwood in last week's EW. Apparently this season will have a 12 episode story arc that takes place over 3 weeks.

http://www.maximonline.com/entertainment/articles/article_6294.html

We Want Answers: Ian McShane

As the star of HBO’s Deadwood, this native Brit is rewriting American Wild West lore as Al Swearengen—the foul-mouthed, murderous brothel owner and all-around nice guy.

Maxim, March 2005

By Liane Bonin
How’s it going, cocksucker?
Very well, thank you. You know, they’ve started a drinking game where every time someone says “cocksucker” on the show, you slam down a drink. It must get you incredibly drunk.

Guys love Deadwood even more than The Sopranos. Why do you think that is?
I love The Sopranos, but after five years, I think people take it for granted. So HBO is looking for the next great white hope, and we’re in line.

Describe the smell on the set.
It ain’t Chanel No. 5. I’d say old long johns. I don’t let them wash mine. Al wouldn’t, you know…

So that brown stain around the collar is all you, huh?
That’s completely natural! I’ve got one pair I’ve been wearing since we started the show. I let the costumers wash them once a week, but I try to time it when there’s a scene where Al is feeling fresh. It gives me a certain clean feeling.

When the first season ended, the altruistic Seth Bullock became the new sheriff in town. Good news or bad news for Al?
They’ve come to an unholy alliance, but our second season gets off to a real bang with me and Bullock beating the shit out of each other. You have to have that conflict, because we ended as friends and you can’t remain friends for long.

Deadwood’s a parable for many American cities, where the black market and the law conspire to build infrastructure, supply services to citizens, and make a profit on the sly. Do capitalism and crime go hand in hand?
Oh, absolutely. Capitalism is all about survival of the fittest, whereby the weak fall. On the other hand, people go on about taxes, but they want Social Security, they want roads. So there has to be a happy medium. If a country is totally capitalistic, it will eat itself.

The Wild West was full of murder, sex, and theft, and now it’s a hotbed of morality. How’d America get so square?
Towns sprang up, and the people denied their history. It was suddenly all about religion and people’s fear of the red man. He was the savage, and they were the chosen people. But they knew they’d murdered the people who owned the land in the firstplace, so they had to go to church to convince themselves that God had forgiven them.

Do you think God will view your offing the preacher as a mercy killing?
Al’s tough and ruthless, but times were tough in the West. Even something like the way he gets his prostitutes from the orphanage…He truly thinks he’s giving them a better life, and maybe he is. On this show nobody wears a white hat, but nobody wears a black hat either.

What could today’s black hats learn from a guy like Al?
He runs a very tight ship. Instead of meeting the girls at the train, Al brings them with him. He’s very hands-on that way.

How’d you get into acting, anyway?
My father played soccer for Manchester United in the ’50s. I loved soccer, but I wasn’t good enough to play at that level, so that was out. But I had a geography teacher at school who said he wanted me to sign up for the school play. It was quite successful, and there was even talk of taking it on tour. Later this teacher asked me if I’d ever thought about being an actor. It sounded good to me, so he arranged for me to audition for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I went down there at 17, got in, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

In episode 11, you told the story of your childhood while getting a blow job from one of your girls. Why didn’t you win an Emmy for that?
You know something? I found out the Emmy cutoff was one episode before that. So maybe they’ll send it to the Academy [of Television Arts & Sciences] this year.

Are people surprised to find out that you’re English?
Actually, they gave Al an English background in the pilot. Al is asked, “Is it true you’re from the old country and related to all the aristocracy over there?” And he says, “I’m related to all them cocksuckers.”

Why is it English actors can play Americans better than Americans can play limeys?
The women are rather good, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon. But I think it’s because the work is in Hollywood. And here, if you want a good baddie, get an Englishman.

Of all the sick bastards you’ve played, pick a favorite.
Teddy Bass in Sexy Beast is just the sickest guy. A total psychopath. People always ask about the scene where he’s on his own in the room covered in sweat, was he giving or taking? What the hell was he doing? But I’m not going to tell.

You have one of the scariest glares on the planet. Have you ever stared someone down until they broke?
Now that I’m identified with Al, people tend to leave me alone on the street. I do get requests like, “Can you just sign this, cocksucker?” Women like to say that word to me.

For instance…
A teenage girl came up to me once and said, “My mother says you say ‘cocksucker’ like no one else.” And I just wondered, What else does your mother say?

What’s a day off in the life of Ian McShane like?
I live on the beach, so I walk or bike along the shore. If you live in Southern California, you do those sorts of things. You have some sushi, go to Tower Records and buy a load of albums, go to Barnes & Noble and buy a load of books.

What’s in the bags?
I like Rilo Kiley and Brian Jonestown Massacre. Dave Alvin from the Blasters is a friend of mine and he suggests things. And I’m reading the Bob Dylan book right now.

You can use only one curse word for the rest of your life. What word would you choose…and could you please use it in a sentence?
Cocksucker is so funny because it’s become part of my persona. But the C-word I also use a lot. In Europe it’s used for everything, for a man, a woman, anything. It goes back to Chaucer.

That’s two hurt words. You have one.
I’d have to pick the C-word, because it’s such a great word. There’s this line in the show where Al’s talking about a nanny who’s arrived in town, and he says, “Someone from Farnum’s, that cunt with the long Kraut moniker.” I love that line.

While we’re on the topic, who are the real-life cocksuckers?
Politicians. Producers. The money people. People who run things, or believe they’re in charge. People who promote the trickle-down theory of economics. Team owners who demand that taxpayers build new stadiums for them. And anyone who has anything to do with running a Wal-Mart.

Why does being bad feel so good?
I think it’s a given that the devil gets the best tunes. Still, it’s all in the writing. On Deadwood no one is what he seems, so everyone has great stuff to do. But I’d much rather play a baddie.

\:D/ \:D/ \:D/ \:D/

Well I finally gave in and shelled out $85 for season 1. The saloon owner sure loves to say "cocksucker" alot. It isnt too bad but kind of slow on some scenes. Im almost done with disc 4 but its not as good as Carnivale was. Hopefully it gets better from episode 4 and after but at least the sex scenes from Deadwood dont give me nightmares like Carnivale does

Don't worry, the series gets a lot better.

For example, there's that awesome huge twist in Episode 6 when Bullock leaves Deadwood and is nearly run over by an Indian in a Jeeo Grand Cherokee. Bullock is shocked to discover that it's not 1876, but actually the year 1996. When he threatens to tell the rest of Deadwood the horrible truth, the Indian, who is a security guard paid to watch over Deadwood and make sure planes don't fly over and stuff, shoots Bullock in the head and kills him to keep him quiet.

Things really heat up in episode 8 because now, Bullock's only connection to Deadwood is through the only person that can see his ghostly spirit: the minister. Can the minister convince the town that he can truly see dead people? Well, I'm not going to spoil everything.

[/i]

Oh, Calamity Jane. Her story was pefection.

Am I the only one who sometimes presses the SAP button for subtitles on the remote? Seems like a simpler solution to your problem than rewinding a lot of times. I use that feature now and then if a show is hard to understand.

Downside to HD is no SAP.

Did episode 9 happen to have a priest in it who lost his god but only to renew his faith when he encounters some aliens trying to take over the Saloon. Is Bullock also looking for some average Joe who happens to have super human strength but in order to find him, he dynamites most of the stores to get his attention?

Heh. I still have the new episode saved to my TiVo. I just need to find the time to watch it. I've heard good things, though. I'm catching up with Carnivale right now, though. Second best show on TV.

I love Carnivale as well. Looks like Brother Justin pulled the old backseat trick.

Good to see Al up and about following the sickest surgery I've seen in recent memory.

This week's ep had a large hooker death toll, thank god for the Chinese.

Last week's ep proved that Calamity Jane needs her own spin off (perhaps with General Nigger)