Deadwood - Season 1 (2004)

Outstanding series. Ian McShane brilliant and magnetic as the central (villainous) figure. Casting is excellent from top to bottom. Cinematography, production values and overall atmospherics are superb. Proof you don't need celebrity stars or computer magic to produce a compelling series.

This is an outstanding television series. If you can cope with lots of swearing and violence then you'll appreciate this well-acted and well-written series about the trials and tribulations of the people establishing a mining community. Not your usual Western...

This show is effing fantastic, I cannot wait until I get the next disk

Ignore the silly complaints about profanity— this show is brilliantly written on every level, the swearing is used differently by each character, according to status, background, personality and context. There are essays written about the historical justification for the swearing in Deadwood, it's not a shortcut to try and be more 'shocking' or something. Milch, the creator of Deadwood, is a true genius. He won an Emmy for the very first script he ever wrote, and displays an incredibly complex ear for dialogue. Most shows have a few lines that really matter, but in Deadwood, every line is memorable and meaningful. Deadwood is about the coming of civilisation to America, and the violence of capitalism and the blind pursuit of money. It's about the place of women in the West, about ruthlessness and compassion, about the role of the media, about the collision of power and what people do in pursuit of it. But none of the 'themes' are ever rammed down your throat, and it's only later that you realise the significance of what you've seen. It is dense, it is complex, but it's one of the finest things ever produced for the screen. It's also surprisingly funny, touching and gripping. Prepare to spend the whole time thinking 'where do I know THAT guy from?'

cool shit hot

Michael R suggested that Deadwood was "not as gritty as the hype might suggest". If you take gritty to mean 'coarse' then Deadwood is even grittier than expected. Every second word is an expletive of some kind, the most popular seems to be 'cocksucker'. This show was supposed to be a Shakespearean piece set in the Wild West. I think Shakespeare would be disappointed by the unimaginative use of profanity. The characters are flat and 2D, the only character that is really developed is Al Swearengen, and even then, a lot is left to interpretation. Does Calamity Jane refer to Al as Slimey Limey because Al is from the UK? This was highly esteemed when first released, and now having watched the first 6 episodes, I don't know anyone who actually thought it was any good.

excellent show.showing what life was really like back then.

Got a tremendously appetising shock when I started watching this series! Lives totally up to the hype. The storyline is clever, intricately detailed and deeply involving. The characters raw, rancid and richly entertaining. High Quality Entertainment.

What is this, a competition to see how many swear words you can fit in a sentence? Excessive use of bad language usually means the writers are trying to spice up an otherwise ordinary script. Don't think this one will change my mind on that point!

Excellent - great writing, interesting metaphorically, hearty use of 'bad' language

sublime

This is the first time I've watched Deadwood. Seems to be more a "mood" Western as action is very infrequent.

Yes, ok, the first thing you notice in episode one is the language, but there is a story, and the language seems to fade off a bit. I think they were trying to make a point.... Besides they are miners. Beautifully filmed. Costumes and sets are good. Acting and dialogue all good. From what I've seen so far, it seems to be a very well-made product. We tend to look back on people of the past and feel superior, like we are better and know better now. I think this show is telling us that when a group of humans come together, things fall out pretty much the same way no matter what the time period.

Have taken a couple of episodes to become hooked on this series. Found the language and treatment of the prostitutes confronting at first. After the first 10 minutes we thought 'Geez this is a bit full on' and paused the DVD while we checked that the kids were actually a sleep, then we settled in. It took a while to get to know the main characters, but now that the storyline has developed we look forward to each new episode.

One of the best peices of entertainment out there. The swearing in it is out modern day take on the language of the day because the town was really a rough place but the producers thought the real swear words of the day would have made it a comedy. A confronting in ya face ride through a territory in Indian country before it became a part of the US. A town with no law except some bizzare power structure. Brilliant.

a bit slow once you get to the 4 episode you want towatch more

Historically accurate enough and a good series judging by the start. However the foulness of the language is disgusting and appaling and so gratuitous that the producers stand condemmed at their disrespect for the viewing public. There is serious doubt that even the tough rough westerners would have been so foul mouthed. My wife and I are trying to get past this blight as the storyline and the characters are pretty good, and the set is first class. I just hope that the subsequent discs are a bit more mature, as gutter language is not required to impress the average television viewer.

Probably the most accurate depiction of how the west was won. Not for the squeamish!

Gritty, dramatic portrayal of life in a frontier town. A true 'western'. Deadwood portrays the society and times so that we get a flavour of how much that society was on at the edge. Deadwood is not a traditional western.

Forget any other western you may have ever seen ... they do not come close to Deadwood. A real town with no laws where Wild Bill Hickok was killed playing poker. And this Calamity Jane and the Doris Day character are ... a little different :-) Check out the write up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood_%28TV_series%29 . A+

Not as gritty as the hype might suggest, but pretty decent TV especially if you like westerns.

What the West would have been like. Once you get used to the uncensored language not normally seen on usual shows, it depicts a realistic place for those times.

great series, well acted and shot. some people might find the language and scenarios confronting though

prety good show but some quite foul language