Deadgood

Is this my longest gap between (proper) blog posts ever? I'm not going to check, but I can only assume that the answer is "no-one cares".

No more moping around. Let's deliver some content. You'll need to sign for it. Or I can leave it with the creepy neighbour that you deliberately avoid every day. So now, not only do you not have your content, you're forced to sheepishly knock on a stranger's door and thank them for a favour you didn't even know about.

That was probably some kind of metaphor.

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Deadwood

Why did no-one tell me how good Deadwood is? Perhaps you did, and I wasn't listening. I do tend to switch off when people express their approval of something.

I'm late to the cowboy party. Deadwood is an HBO drama that ran from 2004 to 2006, starring Lovejoy, Franklyn "Nice Mash" Ajaye and the baddie from Die Hard 4. I eventually got around to watching it, after hearing about it for years, and it's fantastic.

I'm not someone who watches a lot of drama series, so I have to pick and choose which ones I go for. I usually go for the ones that will allow me to read contentious reviews on The AV Club, or understand hilarious gifsets. I'm usually slightly disappointed.

But Deadwood is the real deal. If I was to rank my dramas - and we all know that the best way to appreciate art is by ranking it against other, totally different, works in the same medium - it would be almost at the top. It doesn't quite make it, because... The Wire. But a good effort nonetheless. I'd stick it just below The Wire and just above the other big hitters (The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men), that are vast and brilliant and ambitious and impressive and a little bit flawed/boring sometimes. Deadwood only ran for three seasons, which helps its cause.

Let's do a rankin'!

The Wire

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Deadwood

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Enlightened

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The Sopranos / Breaking Bad / Mad Men

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Game of Thrones / True Detective

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Lost / Heroes / The Walking Dead / the suffering of a loved one

I don't know what makes a programme eligible for this list. The Larry Sanders Show was on HBO and is a half-hour comedy drama like Enlightened, but it doesn't make the list. I suppose I'm thinking of prestige dramas, but that could mean anything. One man's prestige is another man's terrible Christopher Nolan film.

Why am I including Lost and Heroes? They aren't on HBO or AMC. Is it just so I can insult The Walking Dead? Yes, it is.

I don't want to widen the parameters too much, I suppose. That would render this exercise unscientific and self-indulgent. We can't have that.

So, why is Deadwood so good?

I'll explain why in little sections, so I don't lose interest.

Dialogue

This is usually the first thing people mention when talking about Deadwood. the dialogue is incredibly profane, and very, very beautiful. It takes advantage of its period setting, by not being constrained by naturalistic speech. If you were to use such highfalutin (and lowfalutin) language in a contemporary drama, it would come across as stagey or inauthentic. But because most of us weren't alive in the Old West, there isn't such a barrier.

It gives the writers (particularly creator David Milch) a chance to show off. And show off he does. I could just listen to the characters talk for hours, with no need for plot. Some of it is almost Shakespearean. 

It makes you think that other dramas not set in a recognisable modern world (*coughGameofThronescough*) are really missing a trick by not working harder on interesting dialogue. Even on many of the shows I love, the dialogue tends to be functional rather than beautiful.

Heart

Ugh. That's a horrible thing to use as a bullet point, unless you're writing dissection instructions.

Before I started watching it, I assumed it would be one of those programmes with hard men making hard decisions in an amoral world. And it sort of is that. There are some horrible things and horrible people. But what really came across was the warmth. There are lots of strong friendships and people joining together to achieve common goals. The relationships aren't soapy, but seem real. You really feel like the people care about each other, when they're not being fed to the pigs.

Setting

Using a small, emerging town as a setting really helps the storytelling. All of the characters live near each other, and see each other every day. They aren't all bound by family or the workplace, so you get a wide variety of people interacting in a plausible way. You don't need any convenient coincidences or convergences because they're all buffeting up against each other.

It also gives the writers a chance to explore politics, economics, immigration and the media on a micro scale. We get to see the town being built, and it gives us real insight into how society in general is being built, and there are lots of fun historical details.

Women

Deadwood passes the Bechdel test with flying colours. You probably wouldn't think it in a show set in the uncivilised past (unlike today, where women have total equality and are never the victims of any prejudice or injustice). Especially when a lot of the characters are prostitutes, and most of the agency belongs to the men.

But there are several really strong, interesting female characters. They're not just wives of the main male characters! They have their own strengths and goals and fears! They talk to each other, and have platonic friendships! 

Even The Wire struggles a bit with its female characters. Or - more accurately - just doesn't have enough of them. But Deadwood seems to deal with it well. This is possibly helped by what seems to be a high proportion of female writers.

Don't get me wrong - the men are still in the majority, and still have the most agency. But it still seems better than average. Or maybe I just want you all to think that I'm an enlightened 21st century man who CARES ABOUT THESE THINGS.

(Having said that, I will note that 'Women' comes fourth in a list of five things. Which means gender representation is less important to me than a period printing press.)

Performances

Ian McShane as Al Swearengen is the star man, but there are great performances all over the place. Even characters that seem like minor supporting roles, often emerge as rich and compelling.

Sometimes things can seem quite stagey, I suppose. There are a number of dramatic monologues. But they're so well written and performed that you can't help but enjoy them.

Yeah. That's it for starters.

As I said, it only ran for three seasons, but is well worth watching. You can get it well cheap. I realise that proselytising about Deadwood in 2014 is a bit like recommending bees to a... um... person who would, most likely, already be familiar with... bees.

That was the best analogy I could come up with.

I'll stop now.

Oh, I've also been watching Freaks and Geeks for the first time, and I don't like it that much.

END OF THE RAMBLE.

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Friday Night Lights next?

Oh boy. I'm going to have to go back through this whole thing italicising the names of television programmes.

And I'm going to use the title 'Deadgood', even though I know that's rubbish.

I suppose I am passionate about my craft. That's the lesson we'll take from this.