Deadwood

[RomaVicta]

Wow. Thanks to the guys on this board, I gave it a second chance after seeing a single random episode a couple of years ago.

I almost bailed after the first episode this time, but now I'm hooked and through the first eleven episodes. I love the depth that characters are given over time and how the film makers don't hammer you with a close-up of a tear going down an unexpected cheek or even the development of the town which sort of happens as a backdrop.

I remembered Ian McShane from Sexy Beast even though it was not a huge role. Great. I don't recall seeing Timothy Olyphant, but I'll google his name just in case. Another terrific lead. The supporting cast is first rate.

I'm tempted to compare this to the immortal The Wire. I like the same things about both series, but the Wire still gets the edge over just about anything I've seen produced for TV.

And the last season of Dexter comes out on Netflix in less than two weeks! Going to have some fun TV watching to close out the hot weather.

Again, thanks to the guys around here who inadvertently steered me to Deadwood.

 

[FAST FRED]

I posted this a few years ago:



I really enjoyed "Deadwood."

However, it can be hard to follow and understand.

But I watched it all on DVD and don't believe I missed or misunderstood much of it at all.

Because I had help.

I always turned on the subtitles, in addition to listening, because I just couldn't catch all the stuff that's said or alluded to otherwise.

With the subtitles on, at least I could see all the words and then the meaning was much easier to understand.

To me, the dialog in "Deadwood" is like Shakespeare's plays or his sonnets in the sentence structure, the phrasing and in the rhythmic way they speak about things and talk to each other.

The characters often don't say things in the simplest or the most straightforward way.

And their language has analogies and references larger and more varied than you have reason to expect from their life experiences.

The words aren't old English, of course, but the style and rhythm's similar to how the Bard of Avon wrote in iambic pentameter.

And the characters and the humor and tragedy are somewhat Shakespearean too.

"Lonesome Dove" had some of this vibe and spoken rhythm too.

And so do the lyrics and singing delivery of John Fogerty.

It often sounds kinda backassswards like Yoda talks, but the sentences in "Deadwood" are longer, more formal and compound and complex with metaphors and similes.

Just like Shakespeare.

 

[Mesohorny]

"If I bleat when I speak it's because I just got fuckin' fleeced."

Al Swearengen is great.

 

[90 Grad]

Deadwood is up there with Rome at the pinnacle of greatness of HBO shows

 

[HornBud]

**********.

 

[Dionysus]

In reply to:

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---

 

[BigWill]

came to say "**********".

beaten to the punch.

 

[The Eyes of Texas]

Ian McShane is on a new series on Starz, Pillars of the Earth, based on Ken Follet's bestseller of same name. I couldn't finish the book, but the series is moderately interesting.

 

[halsteadfrost]

Sort of off-topic, but...

I've been watching the entire series of LOST these past few months, and it's fun seeing nearly every Deadwood cast member cycle through the show.

 

[RomaVicta]

Watched the last episode tonight. Maybe better than The Wire.

I hate that the series ends.

 

[Harri McDog Horn]

I heard one of the writers interviewed one time and he said the language in Deadwood is modeled after Victorian English; actors speak in prose that mirrors the literature of the time which was often stylized and highly elaborate.