I've been watching "Deadwood" on DVD, and have to wonder just why that show was ever made. To me it looks like either the creator hates the era he's depicting, or he loves it for perverse reasons, that it's hard to share.
It's sort of a "Sopranos" western, but without the humor and contemporary social commentary that makes "The Sopranos" more enjoyable than it ought to be. Of course, with both shows there's always the "what's gonna happen" element that keeps people watching.
I've tried watching it but give up at around the 10th F-Bomb which appears in less than five minutes.
My theory: the scriptwriters are wusses who try to show their "manliness" by causing the characters to F-bomb constantly for an hour.
Like prior years, I'll cancel HBO when the Sopranos' season ends.
(There is something perverse about the show. It makes us -- or a lot of us anyway -- cheer on the evil characters, and that's disturbing.)
I can't speak for others but I have a theory that the reason this show is so popular because these 'people' live by a very strict code of honor which is missing in everyday life and when it is broken, there is swift justice, which is something else that is missing. They also put a lot of stock in loyalty and family, something else which is in decline in this country.
They believe a man's word should never be taken lightly and if it is broken, there is a price to be paid, just ask the kennedy's.
I LOVE Deadwood, although it did take a bit of time. It's an acquired taste. But you're right, alot of HBO series now is the SOPRANOS with different accents and scenary...DEADWOOD (Sopranos in the old west), ROME (SOPRANOS in ancient times)...etc.
I've been watching "Deadwood" on DVD, and have to wonder just why that show was ever made. To me it looks like either the creator hates the era he's depicting, or he loves it for perverse reasons, that it's hard to share.
I haven't seen Deadwood, but I love westerns. Like jazz, rock and roll, etc. they are an American artform. As such they evolve. You can pretty much imprint anything on a western you want. Discuss any topic in American life or American mythology...
In my early teen years, I was rapt by an edited-for-television presentation of Sidney Lumet's fact-based masterpiece Dog Day Afternoon, starring young Al Pacino as a flaky NYC bank robber whose plan goes awry, transforming him into a hostage-holding ringmaster in a media circus covered live.
SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
Negotiations to fly him and his remaining partner out of the country with the money seem like they are going to come to fruition, but his gunman is shot in the head and he is captured alive. When that happened, I realized that I actually was rooting for them to get away with the money.
Years later, I was watching a movie called Charlie Varrick in which I got suckered into rooting for another bank robber to kill a mob hit man. That did it for me. No more will I knowingly watch "entertainment" that asks me to pick one criminal over the other.
I watch movies for escape, and there's no escape in watching bad guys battle it out to see who earns the right to screw decent people. If I wanted that, I would just watch the news. If there's no good guy with a chance of conquering all, I ain't watching.