OT: Deadwood HBO Series

[Nate C.]

I had the opportunity this evening to re-watch a couple of episodes from the HBO series Deadwood on DVD. I would like to say that whoever pulled the plug on this show after just three seasons ought to be fired off his job and then run out of town altogether.

[olyinaz]

I'd like to say that whomever wrote such filthy language into a series that would have otherwise been LOVED by a lot of folks should have been fired from his job...and I guess he was when it got canceled.

Oly

[wecsoger]

Wife got me DVD set of |"WKRP". About half way through, I knew there was something wrong but couldn't put my finger on it. Then I realized that all of the music the show originally used was taken out of the soundtrack. I read later because they were worried about copyright issues. (although I think 'fair use' would have covered it)

Watching the old shows is like having gumbo without any of the spices.

Same with "Deadwood". Yes, there is a *lot* of adult language. Same with adult situations. This wasn't done from some sanitized hollywood sound stage - it's drama written about (mostly real) people.

I'm sorry that you were offended by it, but I can't see the show being done any other way.

[Griff]

To have used the venacular of the day would have made it sound tame by today's standards, as it is, the series showed just how vulgar and disgusting the place really was. If it was only the language that put you off, you're... oh well, I'd just be pointing out the obvious. I do sorta wonder why so many people say they are offended by the language in this show, yet the other aspects (whoring, murder, theivery, gambling, etc. seemingly don't? There was, yes, much over-use of the f-bomb. However, for the general audience, if the writers had used the foul language of the day, it would have sailed right over 99% of the audience's heads; might have even sounded a bit comical. To expect other than foul language in an intended grittily real depiction of the location and time is only kidding one's self. In general, we have lost much of the variety and inventiveness in our colorful language to be sort of Sunday morning about it. Deadwod, Dakota Terr. was a foul place, full of foul people, doing foul things. That's really the long and short of it.

[Charles]

That series wallowed in verbal filth, moral corruption and gore way past the tolerance level of most folks after a season or two. It had some interesting story lines, but after watching an episode I felt the need to take a shower.

[gcs]

I guess you guys won't watch "Deadliest Catch" either.

First time I heard such language on TV, I was a little surprised, cause it was on TV, but I've heard it all before in real life and use it myself whenever possible, I ain't shocked by it, and neither are your children and grandchildren. I've heard language coming out of 12 year old girls that would stun a sailor.

Deadwood was an interesting show, sorry it's gone, at least you still have the Disney channel to purify the airwaves.

[olyinaz]

It aint about Bambi or Puritans or any of that insulting hoo ha. It's about wallowing in filth vs. knowing that it exists. I was a SGT in the infantry back in the day, I had a bona fide PhD in cursing, and I make a living today working hand in hand with old-school military men who call it like it is. Along the road of life I grew up a bit and found the Lord. I don't wish to immerse myself in the worst filth humanity has to offer for entertainment and I think anyone who wishes to walk a life that they can look back on without hanging their head knows what I'm talking about and also knows that I'm right.

Would "3:10 to Yuma" or "True Grit" or "The Unforgiven" have been any better if John Wayne or any of the other fine actors involved cursed like a drug addled street pimp? It's ridiculous. Anyone who can detach themselves from the pride of ownership of their own opinion knows it's ridiculous if they're going to be honest about it. I could name fifty films and TV shows as examples.

If you want to talk about a great show that lasted only half a season, which was a cryin' doggone shame, let's talk about "Firefly". If you want to talk about shows that are gritty and sometimes tough to watch, but still not as over-the-top disgusting as "Deadwood" then let's talk about "Breaking Bad" and "Justified".

Oly

[wecsoger]

Well, in Firefly, they still cussed, but it was in Chinese.

was a foul place, full of foul people, doing foul things. That's really the long and short of it.

Think you pretty much nailed it.

[Nate C.]

Each is entitled to his opinion, but if "immersing oneself in the worst filth humanity has to offer for entertainment" is accomplished by passively viewing a dramatic representation displaying gratuitous foul language, I reckon we have traveled some different roads and have widely varying definitions as to what constitutes the basest capacities of our fellowman. I too found the language distracting, but it was also one of the best cinematic productions in the western genre of the last several decades.

[vancelw]

I'm with you fellas! All of you. I see truth in everything said so far.

I always thought it funny that the whole town of Dodge City seemed to worship Miss Kitty - and she ran the brothel (this is 60s and 70s TV at that)

I liked the show Deadwood. I have been thinking of going back and watching it. It WAS filthy and disgusting-and entertaining. It was on HBO, where you have to have had a subscription to watch, so it was no one's fault but their own if it offended them. I sometimes felt like showering the filth off after an episode, but I watched it anyway.

But for the same reasons, I did NOT like Lonesome Dove. It was not as filthy as Deadwood, but pushed the envelope for me because it was on broadcast TV during "family hour."


Now, back to "Firefly". I loved it. It was filthy, too. But by the time it was on TV all my senses had been numbed by the race to shock us by all networks. I'd love to see another FireFly movie (even if it would be hard to picture Inara as anything but a lizardbreath V)

[jcw]

Wife bought me all three seasons on DVD. Think I'll keep her. One of the best westerns ever made. Heard an interview some time ago on the radio with one of producers. Said that the show was too expensive to make and there was no chance of HBO doing more seasons.

[GoatGuy]

That series wallowed in verbal filth, moral corruption and gore way past the tolerance level of most folks after a season or two. It had some interesting story lines, but after watching an episode I felt the need to take a shower.

+1 Charles. We've not had television in our home for the last 7 years. When traveling and/or visiting family, we had one or two occasions to see an episode of Deadwood. What a waste of time that was. Found it embarrasing to watch in mixed company and was glad we had no TV to watch it at home. Very little of redemptive value and only added to the mainstream entertainment industry's assistance in the rapid coarsening of our country, IMO.

I'm a US Navy veteran and have frequently used coarse language as much anyone on this forum. I try to limit it to when around other adult males who might use it as well. But, I grew up in an era, with family, and within southern envirions, which didn't embrace and deem such language and thematic material as appropriate for entertainment. That type of entertainment, Deadwood, seems to send a message to a younger generation that morality, ethics and respect for others is unimportant in our current cultural times. I weep for us as a people when that message is common and accepted.

[gundownunder]

I've got the first two seasons, I need to get the last one.
It was a bit raw, but from what I understand, the whole wild west was a bit raw and nothing like Hollywood painted it in the old movies.
Little house on the prairie was nothing like this, but it wasn't about whores, gamblers and gunfighters either.

[Rube Burrows]

I'd like to say that whomever wrote such filthy language into a series that would have otherwise been LOVED by a lot of folks should have been fired from his job...and I guess he was when it got canceled.

Oly

I understand that feeling 100%. When I first started watching the series I could not take the language either. It turned me off for a while. No other western I was ever used to talked like that. I didnt think they really talked like that back then.

Well I started doing lots of research on that and found out they did talk like that in some of the rough towns. There were some regular filth mouth talk going on in tough towns such as Deadwood. Im not sure if it was to the extent of the show but it was def out there.

I decided to give it another go and once I got past the language I seen that the show is absolutely amazing. The plots were great.....the attention to detail was great......the props were great. The whole thing was great.

Sure, they could have toned it down on the language some but that is HBO for you. I think it would have done a lot better drawing in a bigger crowd if the language was not as bad but I still think it was a great show and was made they took it off the air.....equally mad that they never went through with the Deadwood movie.

I hope this new Hell On Wheels Western series coming out on AMC will be good. I really need new westerns to watch.

[L_Kilkenny]

When I first started watching the series I could not take the language either. It turned me off for a while. No other western I was ever used to talked like that. I didnt think they really talked like that back then.

Well I started doing lots of research on that and found out they did talk like that in some of the rough towns. There were some regular filth mouth talk going on in tough towns such as Deadwood. Im not sure if it was to the extent of the show but it was def out there

And thus is my problem and why I only made it thru 1/2 an episode. Just because something actually happened does not mean we need to recreate it to have a good and fairly accurate accounting. I don't need close ups of Indians mutilating bodies of U.S. Calvary members, I don't need to see close to real life footage of civil war operating rooms and I thought that some of the Omaha beach footage from Saving Private Ryan was added for shock value and nothing more. A good movie can leave you knowing what happens and feeling what happens without dwelling on it for multiple frames. I think Braveheart was done very well when it came to the blood and guts. Someone got a limb severed they showed that and IMEDIATLY cut to the next frame. Or when he was on the table at the end of the movie they had the celebrity midgets pulling the rope outta the gut of a fellow celebrity midget before the actual execution. They didn't bother trying to show them pulling fake guts outta Mel Gibson and they could have. As gory as it was they could of made it much worse and today it most likely would be. But they didn't and I still felt everything that he was going thru because it was well done. It's the same with sex scenes and all the other stuff they show. Un-needed for the story if they do a good job telling the story. Not that I'm an ol fuddy duddy. If someone smashes their hand with a hammer by all means toss in an f-bomb or something but there is "real" and then there is "real real". I don't need "real real" especially if it adds next to nothing to the story..

Deadwood could have let you know how raw and untamed the town was with a fraction of the foul language and without making the language the MAIN PART OF THE SERIES. If they had skills they wouldn't needed to. As it was, just more hollyweird crapola.

LK

[Rube Burrows]

When I first started watching the series I could not take the language either. It turned me off for a while. No other western I was ever used to talked like that. I didnt think they really talked like that back then.

Well I started doing lots of research on that and found out they did talk like that in some of the rough towns. There were some regular filth mouth talk going on in tough towns such as Deadwood. Im not sure if it was to the extent of the show but it was def out there

And thus is my problem and why I only made it thru 1/2 an episode. Just because something actually happened does not mean we need to recreate it to have a good and fairly accurate accounting. I don't need close ups of Indians mutilating bodies of U.S. Calvary members, I don't need to see close to real life footage of civil war operating rooms and I thought that some of the Omaha beach footage from Saving Private Ryan was added for shock value and nothing more. A good movie can leave you knowing what happens and feeling what happens without dwelling on it for multiple frames. I think Braveheart was done very well when it came to the blood and guts. Someone got a limb severed they showed that and IMEDIATLY cut to the next frame. Or when he was on the table at the end of the movie they had the celebrity midgets pulling the rope outta the gut of a fellow celebrity midget before the actual execution. They didn't bother trying to show them pulling fake guts outta Mel Gibson and they could have. As gory as it was they could of made it much worse and today it most likely would be. But they didn't and I still felt everything that he was going thru because it was well done. It's the same with sex scenes and all the other stuff they show. Un-needed for the story if they do a good job telling the story. Not that I'm an ol fuddy duddy. If someone smashes their hand with a hammer by all means toss in an f-bomb or something but there is "real" and then there is "real real". I don't need "real real" especially if it adds next to nothing to the story..

Deadwood could have let you know how raw and untamed the town was with a fraction of the foul language and without making the language the MAIN PART OF THE SERIES. If they had skills they wouldn't needed to. As it was, just more hollyweird crapola.

LK

I do agree. On that same note though....I enjoy seeing the realism in today's movies. Of course I can do with out all of the profanity in Deadwood.....like many could. I do feel it would have had a larger following had it not been there. I was still able to enjoy it in the end though. It was a great western other than that.

Im hoping that with the recent success of True Grit that we will have a bunch of good westerns coming up in the future.

[gamekeeper]

I will have to give it another chance and watch the DVD, I too was put off by the language but more so because it did not seem correct for the time, I know they used foul language back then but it just seemed to be more twentieth century rather than nineteenth, not that I'm old enough to know what nineteenth century cussing sounded like.

[Lastmohecken]

I'd like to say that whomever wrote such filthy language into a series that would have otherwise been LOVED by a lot of folks should have been fired from his job...and I guess he was when it got canceled.

Oly

I could have out cussed any salior by the time I was ten years old, but even for me, Deadwood was over the top, and after Wild Bill got killed, I saw little reason to keep watching it. The F-bomb got used way too much, that's why I quit watching it.

[Jacko]

I was loaned the 3 series on DVD some time ago and was somewhat taken back by the language, wondered if it was necessary and before I knew it was immerced in the storyline and not even noticing the foul language. I certainly would not allow my children anywhere near the show.

Episodes of Deadwood are being played late monday nights on Australia's ABC2 digital channel uncut and uncencored and I have been watching and enjoying them second time around. This is certainly a big departure from the normal programming on the ABC. Once upon a time Sesame Street was about as daring as the ABC got

regards Jacko

[Hobie]

I was a SGT in the infantry back in the day, I had a bona fide PhD in cursing, and I make a living today working hand in hand with old-school military men who call it like it is. Along the road of life I grew up a bit and found the Lord. I don't wish to immerse myself in the worst filth humanity has to offer for entertainment and I think anyone who wishes to walk a life that they can look back on without hanging their head knows what I'm talking about and also knows that I'm right.

That's me. As to the fact that you hear it everywhere I'm reminded of my mother asking me the classic question, "if Mike jumped off a cliff would you do that, too?" Mike was one fella that led me into much trouble... Anyway, that others do a thing doesn't make it right.

Personally, I think they should have used the language of the time. From what I know it was plenty bad enough.

[bdhold]

That series wallowed in verbal filth, moral corruption and gore way past the tolerance level of most folks after a season or two. It had some interesting story lines, but after watching an episode I felt the need to take a shower.

I wouldn't watch anything on any station that would employ Bill Maher.
Boycott.

[765x53]

I started to watch the series from Netflix.
The language was a little off-putting.
I canceled because, after Wild Bill was killed, who cares what happened?