May 12, 2010
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Deadwood- Pilot (Episode 1)
In the fall of 2009, I spent 18 weeks reviewing every episode of the TV show Freaks and Geeks. I loved that series and was so sad to see it end after one season. If you have never seen Freaks and Geeks, please go here(the last episode) and watch episodes at your leisure.
I have decided it was time to watch another one of my favorite TV series, another series that ended abruptly. Deadwood…I don’t think any words of my words to describe the series in its entirety could do it any justice. Like the real life Deadwood, South Dakota, the series Deadwood was one hell of a wild ride. No other show has had such an influence in my life. I drove to Deadwood the weekend after I watched the entire first season just so I could say I was there. I also tried to grow facial hair like one of the main characters but because of my stupidity that was impossible. When I was about 3, my dad was a heavy smoker. He left a lit cigarette in his ashtray and I tried to be like daddy. I put the cigarette between my lips. The lit end went in first. There is a spot on my lip now where I don’t grow hair. So when I tried to grow a moustache it looked ridiculous. Anyway, Deadwood…awesome.
Timothy Olyphant stars as Seth Bullock
Ian McShane stars as Al Swearengen proprietor of the Gem Saloon (real Al third from the right)
Keith Carradine as Wild Bill Hickok
Robin Weigert as Calamity Jane CannaryThere are more members of the cast but I just wanted to focus on these four.
Episode Summary: After executing a last act of justice as a Montana marshal, Seth Bullock relocates to a gold-mining camp known as Deadwood, where he and partner Sol Star look to start a hardware business. Bullock soon crosses paths with another new arrival – legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok – and clashes with the formidable boss of the Gem Saloon, Al Swearengen. For his part, Swearengen must handle the deadly result of a run-in between one of his whores and a trick, while brokering the sale of a gold claim to wealthy New York socialite Brom Garret. When reports come of the massacre of a frontier family by Indians, a suspicious Bullock and Hickok ride out in search of survivors; for Swearengen, the results are bad for business.My Thoughts: This is the start of something beautifully ugly. I think I am going to sit back and let you share your thoughts on the episodes.
Trivia: Death Toll: 4
This episode shows Wild Bill Hickok arrive in Deadwood after Bullock and Starr. In reality, Wild Bill first arrived in Deadwood in mid-July. Bullock and Starr arrived in Deadwood on August 1st, 1876, the day prior to Hickok’s death.Jeffery Jones’s newspaperman character refers to himself as an “ink-stained wretch.” This term for reporters wasn’t coined until the early 20th century, either by Alexander Woollcott or by early sportswriter Trent Frayne.
When Calamity Jane draws her revolver and orders Doc Cochran to wait for her, it is a Colt Peacemaker. As she puts the gun back in her holster, it is a Richards Mason conversion of a Colt cap and ball revolver.
As Dan Dority and Brom Garrett prepare to leave to check out Brom’s claim, they give each other the “thumbs up.” It is believed that this gesture was first used in America by pilots in World War II (1939-45). The show is set in 1876-77.
Seth Bullock states several times that he was born in Etobicoke, Ontario, when in fact he was born July 23, 1849 in Amherstburg, Upper Canada. Ontario is one of the four original provinces of Canada when the federal nation was created July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 (or ‘BNA Act’) came into force
Most of the male leads have a historical counterpart. The Metz family, Calamity Jane, Sol Star, E.B. Farnum, Al Swearengen, Seth Bullock, Wild Bill, Charlie Utter, Reverend Smith, and Jack McCall are all real life people although the TV series takes artistic license with the characters.
The music in the closing credits is “Hog of the Forsaken” by Michael Hurley.
Total number of times the word “fuck” is said: 55
Fucks per Minute: 0.917Enjoy the show!
Comments (14)
Never saw that. Did you count the word fuck or did you find that stat online?
@Paul_Partisan -
There is a website that has that information. It’s amazing that for the series there was 1.56 “fucks” per minute.
never saw this show… what channel was it on? USA or something? …i bet Keith Carradine did a great job as Wild Bill (hmm i know a guy named Bill whose nickname was Wild Bill; he was from Texas) …and Calamity Jane, wonder what made her make that life choice…
@Peridot21 -
the series was on HBO because I think HBO is the only network where they could get away with this stuff. I think Deadwood is the most accurate depiction of life in the Old West.
Yes, Carradine was fantastic, although if you know the story of Wild Bill, his character wasn’t with the series for it’s entire run.
Calamity Jane was an interesting person. She basically took on a male persona since she was the eldest child and her father died. But she also did some naughty jobs because there weren’t many women on the frontier. There are differing reports as to how she got her nickname. In her autobiography she claims that a army captain gave her the nickname after she rescued him during an Indian attack. Others say she told men that if they offended her they were courting calamity.
Some of the pictures remind me of jstickmann. Oh God! I miss that guy. His kindness, his arts, his nice words…
When I was…even younger they aired Freaks and Geeks here too. I watched it like a prison lover boy who loves his you know, lover boy, as in never missed an episode. I still love that freak James Franco. I really thought they were bad-ass in their… loserness.
Deadwood? Never heard or seen it but I’ll make sure to correct this.
Grow a moustache, I dare you!
@RestlessButterfly -
He sounds like a great guy, it’s too bad I never knew him.
@godfatherofgreenbay - He was a remarkable guy. Caring and kind.
@godfatherofgreenbay - oh, yeahhhh… forgot about the swear wordz lol… that wouldn’t fly on USA
interesting about Calamity Jane… wouldn’t be surprised if both of those were true…
@windoftheforest -
I wish I could grow a moustache. When I first grew a goatee and for some reason it didn’t come in all the way and so I ended up having patches but eventually it looked like I had handle bars on my chin which I guess girls liked. I haven’t shaved in a few days and I’m debating if I really want to but facial hair sucks during the summer.
You may really enjoy Deadwood but I base that on some of your writings.
@Angelina_Everlong -
I would think that show could be traumatizing for a 13 year old, I know I would have been messed up if I saw that when I was 13.
@Peridot21 -
You should really read her autobiography. I read it in grade school. My grandfather was a huge westerns fan. He owned land out in Wyoming and would go out there for a month in the summer so he could play cowboy. I wish I could do that. Well…the only aspect of being a cowboy I’d like is the price of whiskey.
@godfatherofgreenbay - ha playing cowboy sounds like fun… when i was a kid, my parents took me and my 3 siblings on a trip “out west” by car (omg)… we left from Chicago and made a big huge circle around the western US, hitting every single attraction in about twelve or so states… we all hated it then, of course, cause all we wanted to do was get back to the hotel and swim in the pool lol …but i do remember it and can at least appreciate it all now… shoot, i still have my cowboy (er cowgirl?) hat from South Dakota yeehaw!
@Peridot21 -
I never got a cowboy hat but maybe I should. I’d look pretty stupid in one. The closest I come to being a cowboy is when I work on my uncle’s farm or when I go there to do my workout(throwing 100lb hay bales and running through the fields carrying hay bales). Oh and my cousins out in western MN are out near Little House on the Prairie. There were times I would go out and sleep on the plain at night looking up at the stars.