I’m kind of a kiddy but I own ree seasons all love it! A little loop hole in the parental system.
Am currently half way through season 2 of this at the moment and am very glad to see the standard from season 1 maintained. Dialogue still top notch and characters still engaging. Just needs a few more pistols being fired for it to be practically perfect.
just finished the series…fucking amazing show…great actors, superb writing, amazing sets and costumes…huzzah!
Still waiting for the serie to hit blu ray, i simply refuse to invest in a DVD boxset at this point in time. I remember i caught some episodes on TV here in Holland. The series really has some great characters and an excellent raw vibe to it. I’m really excited to revisit it once it hit’s blu ray. Too bad the series was cancelled after only two seasons. 
I guess you could say that I am a fan of DEADWOOD.
I was a rabid fan of the first season, that is for sure!
But, I couldn’t help feeling that both the second and third seasons were heavily padded out as if the writer’s had no idea what they really wanted to do after the first season ended.
Great dialogue throughout the entire run of the show; however, the stories these dialogues appeared in didn’t do them justice, in my opinion.
If I could give separate ratings to each season I would do so, like this:
First Season: 5 stars all the way.
Second Season: 3.5 stars
Third Season: 2.5 stars
An interesting side note:
I once spoke at length with Powers Boothe about working on this show. He basically said it was a bit of a mixed bag.
The show was misrepresented to him to begin with. He was told he was needed for DEADWOOD because he could really ride and shoot. Once he was contracted and he got the scripts, he discovered to his dismay that he is never seen on a horse and that he rarely (if ever) fires a gun. He also hadn’t expected to be “killing children with a knife”.
He enjoyed being part of a sort of ensemble cast and he did enjoy working on the show, to some extent; but, he said he was “a bit relieved when the show was canceled”.
All of that was off-the-record.
nice bit of info Chris…even though your rating of the third season is a tad low (imo)…how’d you come across Boothe? work related? He really is a great actor…
First encountered Boothe at a couple of the Golden Boot Awards ceremonies/parties (which are now a thing of the past, sad to say). Then, I encountered him in Tucson (work related) and we have kept in touch since then.
[quote=“Dr. Menard, post:24, topic:336”]Too bad the series was cancelled after only two seasons. :([/quote]Three 
Well…the swearing isn’t really historically accurate. Yes, their language was coarse, for the times, but not anything like what we call coarse language, today.
But, David Milch’s idea behind using modern foul language was to convey to a modern audience just how “vulgar” a lot of these people were. The language is authentic only in spirit.
If they had used entirely period authentic swearing, it is likely most of the audience wouldn’t have understood that it was swearing–or, they would have just laughed.
Right, I that’s what I meant to say. But beyond that, the dialogue is probably the closest thing to shakespqeare on TV. Those are not my words by the way. But I agree wholeheartedly.
But I disagree with you Chris on your ratings. I myself like each season about equal. Their didn’t seem to be any shortage of ideas.
can understand why Boothe may have had his reservations about the show based on his character. As he plays a truly vile human being in the show. It’s the type of thing thats good for the artist but bad for the soul. But if you ask me those kids had it comin’.
I agree that the dialogue is solid throughout and I do feel it is often Shakespearean in quality. But, wait a few years and watch season 2 and season 3, again, amigo…and see if you don’t re-evaluate them. I think you will.
Those seasons are not nearly as well constructed as the first one and frankly the show craps out by the third season…story-wise…in my opinion.
That said, though, the atmosphere, costumes, and such were always perfect throughout the whole show.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the show quite a bit and it is probably one of the, if not the best things television has given us over the past 6 years, or so. But, the seasons are not even close to equal, in my estimation.
I mean, c’mon…how long did they drag out that bit with Al and his kidney stone problem? It was well acted and well executed, but did it really contribute much to any storyline? That is pure padding…even though it was somehow enjoyable to watch the first time around.
The first season was all killer and no filler. The other seasons just don’t hold up.
Sorry, but that is just my take on it.
Although you might be right about the kidney stones plot line…i thought the whole Hearst thing in the 3rd season was really compelling. Yea, the finale was a bit anticlimactic but I think it would’ve been really interesting seeing where the writers wouldve gone in the forth season
I tink the kidney stone idea had a purpose. It shows the relationships among the men in the saloon. It brings Al down to Earth more as he seemed so imprenetrable earlier. Also shows how the men care for each other and their boss who through all his abuse and mean spiritedness really does take care of these guys and is sort of a father figure to them
I watched the first two seasons. I loved how season 2 ended so much, I haven’t even started season 3 yet. I think the dialogue does indeed reach a level of Shakespearean greatness, even with the swearing.
I can see how the kidney stone angle could seem drawn out, but i enjoyed it. I was more bored with the Hearst angle myself in comparison.
I noticed there’s a couple of topics about this show, but this one seems to be the biggest. There are some interesting comments, so I thought I’d contribute my two cents.
Shoot outs are exciting, but that’s not really what the show was about. For a start, it’s based around true events, which means they can’t start throwing in a ton of gun battles which don’t gel with the real history of Deadwood. Also, I think they purposefully set out to debunk some of the myths created by westerns, one of which being that there were constant gunfights in old west towns.
If you approach the show expecting a traditional western, or a spaghetti western, and determined not to accept anything else, well, you’re going to be disappointed.
It was a TV drama, and I think if you felt like it you could pretty much dismiss any ongoing TV drama on the same basis; they all have to develop their characters and have interweaving plotlines like soap operas. However, I don’t think it’s at all fair to take that attitude, because the events in Deadwood are not trivial and the show is of such high quality.
Personally, I don’t mind the swearing as it gives a certain emphasis to a lot of the dialogue. Incidentally, the dialogue is stellar, which means that often the calm scenes, where it’s just talking, are among the most enjoyable.
Sadly, I think Deadwood ended with a bit of a whimper, presumably because they were expecting to do another season and were building up to some big events (like the fire). If you look into the history of the town and it’s principal characters, you will find there were lots of things which the show had in store. Shame it got cancelled.
I just acquired the third and final season, and I dread getting to that cliffhanger!
its strange Im a big fan of The Sapranos, The Shield & the new show BoardWalk Empire but I couldnt really get into DeadWood the female character who talks like a retard anoyed me alittle to much but maybe I should give it another shot I probably only got 4-5 episodes in…
I needed 5 to 7 episodes before I really began to appreciate Deadwood. So try again …