Tag Archive for 'HBO'
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I paid a visit to my fave comic book store ‘Alternate Worlds’ yesterday afternoon. Whilst I practically grew up reading comic-books from a very young age, these days I find I just don’t have the time to collect and read them anymore. Still, I like to visit comic-book stores at least once every couple of weeks to check out what new goodies are in. And I am glad I did yesterday as they had this sensational new Deadwood book in stock which was just screaming to be purchased. Entitled, Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills, the book has been written by show creator David Milch and it stands as one of the most gorgeously designed books I have seen in a long, long time. The photography and typography throughout have left me staring at the pages with mouth agape in total shock and awe at the sheer beauty of this veritable tome of Al Swearengen badness! Check out the HBO site for a sneak peek.
Still, one can’t help but to feel bemused about HBO’s decision to wrap up the show with two movie-length episodes next season. Not a decision that has been met well with fans of the show, as well as the store attendant yesterday as we were in deep discussion about the permeations and happenings at the town of Deadwood. If you’re a fan of the show, take it from me, this book is an essential companion.
I miss HBO’s Six Feet Under so much. Such a magnificent, poignant, emotional and superbly crafted television series. From the finest opening credits ever put to film, to the death-of-the-week scenes that would set the mood and tone for each episode, to the simply astounding character development of each of the show’s protagonists – Six Feet Under was indeed, ‘TV to die for’.
Season 5 proved to be the show’s finale – and what a gut wrenching, emotive conclusion it was. Six Feet Under came full circle and wrapped up so eloquently and at the same time bathed its viewers with an overwhelming sense of melancholy despair. But it wasn’t always depressing. Even though the show left me questioning my own mortality time and time again, it also offered hope and inspiration and a strong desire to make each and every day count. Every day above ground, is a good day. Right? But the beauty of Six Feet Under is that whilst it almost always offered peace for the dead, peace for the living was hard to come by as life complexities intertwined with the show’s characters and showed us all how vulnerable we all are. In all its morbid absurdity the show featured black humour at its finest that illustrated life as a tragic comedy.
The Season 5 DVD collection also features two insightful and revealing behind the scenes featurettes. (Six Feet Under 2001-2005 & Life and Loss: The Impact of Six Feet Under) as well as other goodies such as 6 audio commentaries).
An amazing television experience that I will always look back on with fond memories.
One doesn’t miss the Sopranos so much once a new season of HBO’s Deadwood begins. Now in its third season, Deadwood just keeps on getting better and better. Unfortunately, the powers that be (and who have NFI) have decided that this third season will be the final of Deadwood with two 2 hour movie length episodes scheduled to wrap the series up next year. Absolutely devastating news for all us Deadwood die-hards as this is truly one of the best shows on TV right now. It is absolutely Shakespearian in it’s prose and vulgarity. Each and every character is so superbly crafted and played by some of the finest actors in the biz today. Make sure you check out this show whether on the two seasons that have been released on DVD or the leechers’ route of Usenet and/or torrents. (Oh and HBO too if it is available in your neck of the woods).
Our Father which art in heaven, Stay there. And we will stay on earth, Which is sometimes so pretty.
Sopranos Series 6 Episode 2
Another amazing episode of the Sopranos as series 6 is moving into high gear. With Tony Soprano lying in a medically induced coma for two days – both his families are in disarray. His mob bretheren are jockeying for position whilst his blood family are grief stricken with nothing but (faint) hope to keep them going.
The episode featured a dreamlike sequence with the comatose Soprano experiencing some sort of purgatory-like existence. He’s lost. He has no identity and off in the distance, a lighthouse is beckoning him to take notice and surrender his hold on life. Tony Soprano has lived outside the law but now finds his fate is in the hands of others. His hold on life is faint and weak, the light is a constant reminder of ‘the easy way out’ but the Soprano family voices, at vigil by his bedside – keep him alive.
Some breathtaking perfomances in tonight’s episode… Edie Falco (Carmella Soprano) showed just what a damn fine actress she is – as if there was ever any doubt. When she breaks down, the pressure of the situation she finds herself in, just completely envelopes her and tears her up from the inside out. Convincingly. I had to remind myself several times I was watching a drama and not a real-life documentary.
And finally, AJ, the weakling son is coming of age. He vows to his comatose father that “…I’m going to get Uncle Junior for this. Don’t worry. You’re my dad, and I’m going to put a bullet in his fucking mummy head, I promise.”
Ladies & gentlemen, boys and girls… strap yourselves in for this one.
The spring of 1877 brings major changes to the teeming outlaw camp of Deadwood, as civilization makes its way to town. New arrivals will usher in an era of power struggles with the camp founders-and power struggles in Deadwood have a way of turning violent…
Created and executive produced by David Milch (NYPD Blue), Deadwood is one of most acclaimed dramas on television. The series was nominated for 11 Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards in its debut season. And after going through the season 1 DVD over the past week, it is easy to see why.
I had been meaning to catch up with Deadwood for several months now but just didn’t have the time to devote to it. The press surrounding the show has been nothing but favourable and I usually make it a point to check out anything that HBO airs because the vast majority of their programs are pure quality.
The story in Deadwood starts two weeks after General Custer�s defeat at Little Big Horn. Deadwood is actually an illegal settlement in Indian country that is made up of a collection of buildings and temporary tents, from saloons and hotels to bathhouses and various types of stores.
With its unflinching realism, adult themes and wickedly inventive storylines, Deadwood is an intense, character-driven drama that takes elements of the traditional western and turns them upside down. “I had always wanted to do a series set in some period where it was legitimate to explore the genesis of law,” Milch (Deadwood’s creator) says. “What interested me about Deadwood is that it was an outlaw settlement, on Indian territory, so the American law didn’t apply � there were no laws at all.”
It took a few episodes to learn the traits of each of the many characters that feature throughout the show. Despicable characters scattered throughout the lawless town of Deadwood seemingly all under the control of town pimp and saloon owner Al Swearengen (brilliantly played by actor Ian McShane). Swearengen is quick of wit and rules over Deadwood with a foul-mouthed devlish charm.
Counter-balancing the menacing charm of Swearengen is the town’s good guy Seth Bullock (Timoty Olyphant) a one time law man looking for a new start and a life away from the law. Will the corruption and evil that envelops the town of Deadwood destroy him or will he become the town’s enforcer of the law?
The language is extremely harsh and the dialect is somewhat hard to understand until after a few episodes when one gets used to the timbre and pace of the language at hand. In short, the dialogue is ‘fuckn’ amazing – almost poetic in its delivery and punctuated with every curse word one could care to imagine. They had ‘cock-suckers’ back in the West?
It is amazingly refreshing to see such a show produced in the sickengly Christian Right Wing fiasco that has become the United States of America. It is also a welcome breath of fresh air to see free-speech alive and well in the confines of HBO. Deadwood is an incredibly absorbing television experience and completely recommended by this author to all and sundry.
