Deadwood - easier to watch on DVD

[Patiod]

We don't have cable, but I was on the road a lot on Sunday nights in hotels with HBO, so I caught much of the first season as it aired. The first ep I saw involved a murder, and was shown from the point of view of the victim (a young con artist). It knocked me over - I called home and told the S.O. "you HAVE to see this".

We rented the first season on DVD as soon as it came out, and viewed the episodes in order, with the abilty to rewind when people mumble -- he fell in love with the show, too.

This is an amazing piece of work, if you can stand the absolutely authentic language. The producer/author did years of research, and he claims (and historians agree) that the language is pretty much the way people spoke in a mining camp in the late 1870s. As in real life, the higher-class characters don't curse as much as the lower class characters (and NO ONE curses as much as the lead - Al Swearingen). Almost everyone is based on a real historic character, although liberties are certainly taken.

It is jam-packed with twists and turns - so much so that each episode's plot may not come together for you until a second viewing (I saw the last episode of the 2nd season in a hotel, and was only able to report about 1/2 of what went on --- we had to find a friend who had TiVOed it so we could pick up on everything that happened). They crammed into one hour what other shows would take 6 weeks to reveal. Even after I saw the tape, it was tough to completely suss out every little thing that happened ("Who is the guy hanging? Is that XX?? Are you sure?")

If you're looking for something completely different and wildly compelling to rent, I couldn't reccomend anything more highly. I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, but as long as you can stomach the atrocious language and the graphic sex and violence, you are in for a treat. Best thing I've seen since "Homicide, Life on the Street" went off the air.

[dr.strangelove]

1. Agree that Deadwood is a great show and worth watching, but ...

I disagree with many of the things you said. Whether the language is accurate is currently a significant dispute between "old west" historians, both professional and amatures. There is little or no record of the use of the work fuck being used with the frequency it is uttered on the TV show. The word cocksucker also does not appear to have taken common usage until much later int eh 19th century. Critics of these positions have pointed to some written journals that were full of these terms, but many believe these works are the extreme rather than the norm. While language at a mining camp would have been laden with curses and obscenety, there were far more common curse terms used at this time that are not in dispute. Alas most of these are simply no longer in use and would not sound as effective if used in a TV show today. While I know for a fact that David Milch and Gregg Fienberg conducted a massive amount of research for the show and indeed spent years researching the town and its people, the language issue is far from as open and shut as you claim. That miners cussed far more often that higher-class individuals is clear, but the choice of terms in the show may not accurately reflect the terms of the time.

Also, although almost everyone and everything in the show is based on a real historic character or place, there are extreme liberties taken. I'm not sure if you were implying that this creative aspect of the show was minor from your post. Assuming you were, I will respond. If you were not, please accept my apologies and ignore this. As for history, there are too many points to attack the accuracy in this thread, but I will selct a few. The Gem was not a bar, but a theater with dancing girls and a small brothel in the back. There is significant evidence that Al Swearingen was not anything like the gangster/town kingpin character he plays. Some suggest he was gay, but that evidence is mostly speculative. He did indeed bring theater and singing groups to the Gem often, but I find it hard to stretch a love of performance art into homosexuality. The layout of the town with the one main street and the location of Utters, The Gem and some of the smaller shops (like Bullock's hardwares) appear accurate from journal entries. The death of Wild Bill has garnered the most praise for its accuracy, but much else of the show is "hollywooded up."

I have been to Deadwood several times in the past ten years (I love the black hills and vacation there often). During my trip three or four summers ago the series was very much anticipated and Milch and/or Fienberg with a few others (no one knew there names but I am assuming it was these two because locals said among the researchers were the writer and director) were there only a few weeks before me on another research trip prior to casting. Most of the locals were talking about how great the show was going to be. Then everyone thought it was either a movie or a network miniseries. No one mentioned HBO. My last trip this summer had a different view. Many love the show, but many were pissed at the inaccuracies. Specific complaints I heard were the way that the chinatown section of the camp was portrayed, the smallpox epidemic of season 1 being far underplayed (it reportedly killed a majority of the miners and their families) and mostly how they made Bullock into a deep/thoughtful hero character when he was much more of a politician, well liked and respected enough, but always a politician. He actually built the first hotel in Deadwood and I have stayed in it a few times. He died there in 1920-something. Before his death he became close with Teddy Roosevelt, was a US Marshall and held several political appointment. He was generally viewed as charismatic and honest, but stern on crime. He is credited with "cleaning up" the town, though he was criticized for his abuse of cow town criminals who were usually just poor vagrants. He never shot or killed anyone while in Deadwood, but he beat several men for no reason at all (which was reflected in the last season). The affair with Alma Garrett (who along with her husband Brom are entirely fictional) angered many. Bullock was known to love his wife Martha deeply and not thought to have cheated other than with a prostitute. Anyway, the peopel we met were glad to make money off the show and tourism this summer was better than in years, so I don't think anyone out there minds too much. There are a few walking tours that show the TV series and how accurate it is, another shows how inaccurate it is.

Now, with all that said, don't take this as an attack on the show. It may be the best show on television right now (Carnivale was better in my view, but HBO canned it). It certainly ranks up there with The Sopranos and The Shield for the best writing, directing and acting. The show draws you in and I can not speak highly enough of its entertaining and thought provoking value. My wife and I love it and have watched every episode. We have Season 1 on DVD and plan to buy Season 2 and future season. I would also encourage everyone to rent or buy the DVDs as it is money well spent if you enjoy good drama and don't mind the violence, sex/nudity and profanity. So we will have to agree about the show being great, but disagree about some of the historical details and their accuracy.

[dr.strangelove]

2. Things to come

There are several huge events that the show has yet to address, the biggest being the fight between Wyatt Earp and Bullock, the fire that destroyed most of the town and the arrival of Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt. Also, the mayoral race between Sol Star and Farnum (who was no babbling idiot and lackey of Al, but a great business man who was well like and elected mayor) should be shown.

I have heard that the Earp and Bullock confrontation is in the next season. They need to do some creative writing on this one. Bullock and Sol Star only arrived in Deadwood one day before Wild Bill was murdered. The rest of Wild Bill's actions in season one were fictional. The murder triggered outrage as Wild Bill was somewhat of a celebrity. The miners and families demanded law and order in the camp. Bullock was made Deadwood's first Sheriff by the town leaders. Shortly after he became Sheriff, Wyatt and Virgil Earp came to town looking for work as lawmen. Bullock and Wyatt reportedly had a confrontation and Bullock beat him badly. Earp lovers tell the story differently and maintain Earp left without an incident. Who knows what really happened. I suspect it was violent since Bullock was known as an overly aggressive lawman and would have likely gone far to protect his reputation. I can't wait to see if/how they play it up.

[Patiod]

3. Definitely fiction

Didn't mean to imply that it's non-fiction history. I watched the series before I knew anything about the real town or its history, and was just surprised that ANY of it was true - that there even WAS an Al Swearengin or Seth Bullock, much less whether they wereas accurately portrayed. It's first and foremost a ripping good yarn, and it's "based on" historical events, but as I mentioned, lots of liberties (the fact that Bullock and Hickock only overlapped one day is certainly one of them, the fictional Mrs. Garrett is another)

I was reading one of the local papers when we were in Deadwood in September, and I got the idea that, given the idea that it is presented as an HBO fiction series rather than a History Channel or PBS special, the historians were okay with it. The article I read had two historians quibbling about whether the town on the show was too clean -- that actually the mud would have been really deep "on the thoroughfare", as Al might put it. The girls at the Bodega bar seemed to think tourism was up thanks mostly to casinos, but that the series sure didn't hurt (we're sure proof of that -- we would never have set foot there otherwise, as we had to drive up all the way from South-Central Wyoming).

We spent part of our vacation the previous year in Tombstone, and read a lot about how wildly conflicting all the stories are surrounding Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp and his wife, and the Cowboy Gang, so compared to that, Deadwood seemed a little more straightforward, even if there are plenty of fictional or fictionalized characters. Will be interesting indeed to see how they handle Wyatt & Bullock!

On the subject of language, I've talked to a lot of folks who didn't think anyone cursed "back then" -- that the cursing and scatology in "Deadwood" is totally unrealistic and would be more accurate if it were in line with the language used on "Gunsmoke" or "Shane". I merely meant to say that Milch has at least some basis for making the miners' language as raw as it is, as opposed to the cleaned-up wild west we've all come to know through mid-20th-century film & TV.

On one of the DVDs, the commentary mentions that E.B's use of "MotherF$#r" in one of his rants was 100% modern and definitely historically inaccurate, but they left it in because they loved the take it was part of -- which tells you where the creators fall on the accuracy vs. good drama continuum.