# Sad news for "Deadwood" fans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520 "2006-05-12T16:13:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/21 "2006-05-13T03:59:44Z")
[Here](http://members.aol.com/chatarama/) is a link to the site that has the transcripts. **Dennis** , it’s not your fault. 🙂 But stay away from My Name Is Earl, please? I read somewhere that Milch wanted to do four seasons, because the original Deadwood only lasted four years. But we’ve only had what – about a year’s worth of story? Hell, the actors could write their own lines. Let someone else produce it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/22 "2006-05-13T04:31:08Z")
It sounds like part of the problem is that Tim Olyphant and Ian McShane both want to be free to do movies. McShane, in particular, has been a _Deadwood’s_ best discovered actor (not that he’s the only good one) and I look forward to seeing how he does in his film career. I’ll sorely miss Al Swearengen, though. Apparently Milch has already begun work on a new HBO drama called _John from Cincinnati_ which is being described as “surf noir.” I’m sure it’ll be worth a look. HBO is really going to need something good to replace both _The Sopranos_ and _Deadwood_. At least they’ve confirmed that there will definitely be another season of _Rome_. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/23 "2006-05-13T07:02:50Z")
Ian McShane wants to _start_ a film career? The guy’s been in films for over 40 years! It’s not like he was a nobody when he started. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/24 "2006-05-13T12:03:28Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > Cocksuckers! 😉 You know those HBO spots where all the characters are shown with voiceovers of some eloquent dialogue … Al is the last one; anybody else want him to throw in a “cocksucker” at the end? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/25 "2006-05-13T14:32:09Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > Ian McShane wants to _start_ a film career? The guy’s been in films for over 40 years! It’s not like he was a nobody when he started. Exactly what I was thinking… Although he’ll always be Lovejoy to me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/26 "2006-05-13T14:44:16Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > Exactly what I was thinking… Although he’ll always be Lovejoy to me! 😃 As much as he was Lovejoy in our house, he has become and will probably remain Swiggen!, as pronounced by Wu. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/27 "2006-05-13T15:02:55Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > I imagine they’ll wrap things up nicely. Season two seemed to end in a way that could go either way … setting up a few new storylines, but mostly wrapping up everything and bringing all of the major characters together at the end. To me, it very much had a Series Finale feeling to it. I imagine if they’ve already wrapped the end of season 3 that it would be similar. Season Two ended with at least one cliffhanger I’d like to see resolved… Cy had taken a knife to the belly and we don’t know how badly he is wounded. ---
**Author:** ![BabaBooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/28 "2006-05-13T17:35:04Z")
I was thinking the same thing brownie55, that’s not the kind of thing I’d like to see in any series finale. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/29 "2006-05-13T23:24:57Z")
> [@RogueRacer](#): > > Sopranos is ending. Six Feet Under is done (and had lost it’s original quality anyway). Carnivale got cancelled early. I haven’t heard anything about Rome’s status. Now Deadwood may be done? I might finally be able to ditch HBO. Ok, probably not, but I haven’t heard of anything to keep me watching on a Sunday night once Deadwood season 3 is over. Sopranos is on late night here in the UK, Six Feet Under lost its charm for me a while ago, Carnivale is on an obscure Sky channel so I keep forgetting about it, Deadwood contains too many cuss words for my girlfriend so it looks like Rome is the only safe bet out of that list for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/30 "2006-05-14T04:40:12Z")
Deadwood might be my favorite TV show, ever. Al Swearengen is one of my all-time favorite characters. I will be very sad to see it go. Say it ain’t so.! Someone needs his head examined over at HBO… fuck 'em all for the limber-dicked cocksuckers they are! ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/31 "2006-05-14T10:12:00Z")
> [@ScoobyTX](#): > > I never got into Carnivale or Oz, but those are both gone and almost forgotten. Not [forgotten](http://www.savecarnivale.org). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/32 "2006-05-14T17:41:35Z")
Something that bugged me about the second season was the change in Trixie, especially her language. Everything was “fuckin’ this” and “fuckin’ that”. She spent the whole season in high dudgeon (sp?). Rewatching the first season, it makes more sense and seems like a natural progression. It seemed to start when she went back to the Gem, after helping Alma kick her habit and after she tried to kill herself. It was like she had a glimpse of another life, and when she went back to Al, she was angry at herself, and stayed that way. Anyway, before that happened, Trixie seemed content, and her language maybe reflected that. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/33 "2006-05-14T21:40:16Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What is it about this sentence that makes it hard for me to think through, I wonder? It’s not like other networks, where I would say “You can’t cancel “Family Guy” (or “The Simpsons”) Get rid of that shitheap (select from about 95% of the other programming, the FOX stuff that sucks) instead!” There’s nothing in the HBO lineup that sucks, IMO. Well, except for the 1,056th showing of _Short Circuit II_ (that movie was played at least 3 times a week the first time I had HBO, in the early '90s, and it’s name became my shorthand for “HBO sucks 80% of the time.”) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/34 "2006-05-14T23:13:08Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > It sounds like part of the problem is that Tim Olyphant and Ian McShane both want to be free to do movies. Could be. W. Earl Brown (Dan Dority) has posted on the HBO boards. Those boards are unreadable, but someone at TWOP quoted him, and Brown is saying the problem is money. According to him, Deadwood’s expensive, and HBO’s CEO is looking to cut costs to save his job. They film for how long – maybe three or four months? That gives Olyphant and McShane plenty of time to make movies. According to IMDB, McShane has finished one movie set for a 2006 release, and is filming two others. Olyphant has finished a film set for release in 2007. So they’ve had time to work on other projects. But it must cost a small fortune. The extras and the animals in the thoroughfare scenes, Alma’s dresses, Joanie’s hairpieces, Trixie’s torn stockings, Wu’s pigs, all those great sets. We need all of that. If they have to strip things down or stay indoors, it won’t be as good. What I’d like to know is whether they’re done filming season three. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/35 "2006-05-15T19:54:32Z")
Here’s HBO’s response to e-mails asking about cancellation: "Thank you for writing HBO. Despite recent articles on the future of our HBO Original series “DEADWOOD”, there has been no decision for the future of the series, and conversations regarding a fourth season are ongoing. Since “DEADWOOD” creator David Milch is working on another HBO Original series, we’ve granted our beloved Deadwood cast the latitude to pursue other projects, for the time being. **We appreciate your interest and hope that you will continue to find HBO to be a source of quality entertainment."** Well, so do I! That’s why I wrote! 🙂 Am I wrong to be encouraged, since Milch still has a connection with HBO? If they want him to develop more stuff, maybe Deadwood’s a bargaining chip? ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/36 "2006-05-15T21:07:16Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Am I wrong to be encouraged, since Milch still has a connection with HBO? If they want him to develop more stuff, maybe Deadwood’s a bargaining chip? It’s sounding like this is more of a negotiating ploy, not a decision to cancel. Which isn’t to say that it couldn’t still be cancelled. I guess we’ll have to make sure that HBO realizes how much we enjoy this show. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/37 "2006-05-19T01:38:02Z")
Here’s the latest, and the first article I’ve seen that quotes Milch: “How [expletive deleted] is it that we’re not coming back”? asked the show’s creator and executive producer, David Milch, on the phone from Los Angeles this week. With fans of the critically acclaimed western series gearing up for the start of the third season June 11, HBO last week decided not to pick up contractual options that would have obligated the cast to hold off on scheduling outside work that would have interfered with the production of a fourth season of “Deadwood.” The move effectively puts the kibosh on a fourth season, which likely would have begun production this fall. “If I were a betting man, which I am, I would say the odds are against [“Deadwood” returning],” Milch said." There’s more to the article, but I can’t find the NY Post article to link it, and we’re not supposed to quote entire articles here. Despite this, maybe we can hope that this is HBO’s way of cutting costs. They haven’t officially cancelled – they just didn’t renew contracts. Maybe Milch’s comments are intended to get viewers involved. ?? ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520/38 "2006-05-19T04:28:27Z")
The last I heard (sorry, no cite) made it sound like some sort of power struggle. Apparently HBO doesn’t own all of the DVD rights for Deadwood like they do with say, Rome or Big Love. Now that’s an issue for someone somewhere at HBO. To steal a line from a fellow Doper… this fills me with grrrr! Get it straightened out you mother fucking limber dicked cocksuckers! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-news-for-deadwood-fans/356520.md?page=1)