The remarkable first season of Deadwood represents one of those periodic, wholesale reinventions of the Western that is as different from, say, Lonesome Dove as that miniseries is from Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo or the latter is from Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur. In many ways, HBO's Deadwood embraces the Western's unambiguous morality during the cinema's silent era through the 1930s while also blazing trails through a post-NYPD Blue, post-The West Wing television age exalting dense and customized dialogue. On top of that, Deadwood has managed an original look and texture for a familiar genre: gritty, chaotic, and surging with both dark and hopeful energy. Yet the show's creator, erstwhile NYPD Blue head writer David Milch, never ridicules or condescends to his more grasping, futile characters or overstates the virtues of his heroic ones.

Dead Wood Standing

"Deadwood" blasts off with very good opening credit scenes and a nice score. The effort made to create a sense of time and place makes one think that one has found something special. However, "Deadwood" then rapidly descends into an abyss of sophomoric swearing, creaking plot, and characters who must be careful not to turn sideways to the camera - least one sees they have only two dimensions.

A sense of immediacy was created by the initially unexpectedly appearing extremely violent scenes; yet, with uninspired repetition, these quickly became routine. "Deadwood" reminds me of nothing so much as the computer game DOOM-III®: dark, predictable, violent, and boring.

We tried "Deadwood" based on the reviews here which favorably compared it to the, quite excellent, "Firefly" series (the only similarity I can see is that both have nice music), to "Lonesome Dove" (which, in spite of some production defects attributable to a restricted budget, remains the best made-for-Oz western), and which praised the "complex" characters (mistaking, I think, gloom and a hard-stare for complexity).

If you are looking for a fun adventure series, then "Firefly" is the choice. If it is westerns you are after, I would suggest "Shane", "Lonesome Dove", and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." If it truly is complexity of character which interests you, then nothing I have seen in a TV series can beat "Cracker".

A warning about "Cracker": It also is violent and macabre - but only in-so-far as is necessary for plot development - and it is saved by having empathetic, multidimensional characters and HUMOR.

That is one of the major failings of "Deadwood" - no humor: Only resolute, grinding, repetitive, predictable conflict and death.

We listened to the commentary, hoping that this might bring some meaning to the production, however, this proved the final nail, and we sent it back without viewing the second episode. The commentator sounded as though he had washed down four Quaaludes® with half a case of beer before launching into his disorganized, rambling, unhelpful monotone monologue.

In the end that is the problem with "Deadwood": it is an unyielding grim, monotonous, predictable, violent, monotone.

Pass on this turkey.

The best show in the history of television...

I wish the inventor of the television, John Logie Baird was alive today. Although he would cringe at the 101 other stupid shows they put on TV every week, he would've been proud that it enables us to watch Deadwood. I remember watching the 1st episode of this show and the dialogue blew me away. It was like a knife cutting through you. It grabs you by the balls and makes you take notice. Immediately, you know what this show is about, and there is no beating around the bush. HBO has always put out the best shows on television, from The Sopranos to Carnivale...they have given viewers nothing but the best, but I have to say, they really outdo themselves with Deadwood.

The story is set in the wild west, in 1876. If you're expecting the typical gunfight scenes in each episode ala Clint Eastwood-style, with the usual group of evil men creating havoc in an otherwise peaceful town...you're dead wrong. The story is set in Deadwood, a new township. We see the progress of the town as well as the people involved in each episode. Al Swearengen is the unrelenting mastermind behind Deadwood, he oversees the town's developments, pulling strings where he could to make Deadwood ultimately his. Seth Bullock was a Marshal from Montana, and he comes to Deadwood to open a hardware shop. There are many more colorful characters in Deadwood but to go into that in detail would take too much time.

First off, I have to say kudos to HBO for having the guts to make a series like this. It is dirty, gritty and violent. The number of times "F*ck" is used here makes "Scarface" look like Sesame Street. Women would most likely find this show demeaning and kids, well...kids who watch this should most probably be grounded. But keep one thing in mind, every negative element in this show is very much necessary for maintaining the authenticity of the show. It accentuates a time where there is no law, no government, and no order...many people coming to the town of Deadwood (they call them prospecters) are in for the buck or to make the most of a new township. And who would take advantage of a place like this, certainly not rich people doing well in bigger towns...so we get mostly scums or hoopleheads (as Al Swearengen calls them).

The writing for Deadwood is brilliant. It holds nothing back. Violence has always fascinated men for a long time. It's like going back a million years ago and surviving. It's born inside us. That's what made movies like "Fight Club" a cult favourite. But the most lethal combination is violence and intelligence, and Deadwood has both. We see what goes on behind the scenes of a new township, how the original developer manipulates people to see things his way. How he survives when he has a rival. What happens when the rivals find allies and so on. It's refreshing how the writers present the story of the wild west.

The acting is also fantastic, particularly from Ian McShane who plays Al Swearengen. Al Swearengen is the kind of guy that can be scary and funny at the same time. He is brutal as he is cunning. I have no idea where these guys got Ian McShane, but he seems born to play the role. Superb acting! Because of how good Ian Mcshane is, it tends to overshadow the supporting cast's performance...but that doesn't mean they're not good. Every one of them delivers powerful and memorable performances.

Finally, I have to say...this show restores my faith in television when I was about to throw the towel. I mean, 3 C.S.I's? Teen dramas? Reality crap? Gimme some of Deadwood any day of the week. This show is not for everyone but I love it. It is bold, and it has originality rarely found in even movies, much less TV shows. So, to end the review, Al Swearengen would probably say something like "If you like the show, get the f*ckin' DVD you cocksuckers" Well, I agree on that.

Dead wood indeed

Oh, why can I not give this zero stars? Any attempt at accurate historical portrayal here is overshadowed by the need to outshadow current Hollywood trends. Sure, there's enough swearing and sex to make it "seem" like the good ol' wild west, but that aside, the plots wear thin and trite. After one or two episodes, it's easy to spot that the title "Deadwood" is quite apt.