The Deadwood collection

[Chefguy]

We just finished watching this unbelievably excellent series for the first time since it was out on HBO. What a cast! What amazing writing. David Milch is a genius. One of the interesting bonus features was a piece with Milch about what may have transpired plotwise if the series had not been pulled by HBO. As he walked through the original set, Milch seemed genuinely depressed about the whole miserable affair and was very frank about his disappointment and annoyance with HBO. He seemed bewildered as to why a fourth season was not approved, as am I. They really screwed the pooch with that decision.

He mentioned that there was a possibility of a couple of 2-hour Deadwood movies, which never happened. Anybody know why?

[Lochdale]

Amazing series with a shockingly poor ending. Soured me on the series somewhat. i had heard rumours of a HBO film to tie things up. Let’s hope so.

[AuntiePam]

The movie will never happen. They haven’t even talked about it for a couple of years (not that they were ever serious about it). Milch is working on another project (a cop show set in the 70’s) and the Deadwood sets have been dismantled.

[Terraplane]

@AuntiePam

The movie will never happen. They haven’t even talked about it for a couple of years (not that they were ever serious about it). Milch is working on another project (a cop show set in the 70’s) and the Deadwood sets have been dismantled.

Last of the Ninth was the title of the new show. IMDB says Milch made a pilot episode but HBO decided not to pick it up.

[muldoonthief]

@Chefguy

He mentioned that there was a possibility of a couple of 2-hour Deadwood movies, which never happened. Anybody know why?

Because HBO is filled with cocksuckers.

(really, 4 replies to get here?)

[Wheelz]

I loved Deadwood, but I don’t think I’ll ever re-watch it, knowing that there’s no ending.

Unless, of course, in the very unlikely event that they actually make those movies.
In addition to the aforementioned reasons it’ll probably never happen, there’s the logistics of pulling the large cast back together for filming.

[AuntiePam]

@omgzebras

Last of the Ninth was the title of the new show. IMDB says Milch made a pilot episode but HBO decided not to pick it up.

I wonder what happened. Maybe the failure of John From Cincinnati had something to do with it. A period cop show would be expensive. A Game of Thrones will be expensive too, but with that, they can use a lot of CGI for backgrounds.

[Beadalin]

You might enjoy reading the episode-by-episode reviews of the series at the Onion’s AV Club.

There is some lively discussion of the show in the comments, including why and how the series ended, and why the movie was never made.

In the review of “Tell Your God to Ready for Blood”:

On the other hand, it’s hard to talk about this episode without talking about the circumstances it was first broadcast under. A few weeks before the third season debuted in June of 2006, HBO announced it would not renew the actors contracts for a fourth season when the deadline rolled around. From there, a storm of rumors swept the Internet, suggesting that the show’s sets were being dismantled, many of the actors were already seeking new work and that David Milch himself had decided to end the show to pursue a new “surf noir” series (which would become John from Cincinnati).

Over the years, the true details have come out – HBO, which had ridden the ratings and DVD sales success of The Sopranos, Sex and the City and Six Feet Under to embrace a long series of frankly complex and difficult programs like Deadwood or The Wire or Carnivale, just had too many expensive series, and even though Deadwood had a loyal audience and much critical praise, its ratings didn’t quite justify its expense. In addition, the show was produced by a separate studio entirely (Paramount), which meant that HBO benefited even less from DVD sales than it did with other series. The network was also undergoing a change in management, and it was struggling to find a new identity as all three of its biggest hits were either on the way out or already gone. (Apparently, “Your home for quality television” wasn’t enough.)

HBO had always prided itself on being the place for TV creators with something to say could turn to say what they needed to, but it also was a business, and Deadwood was just the most notable example of a show that probably would have continued had it debuted even a few seasons earlier but got caught under the aegis of a network in transition. In the case of Deadwood, sending Milch off to do John from Cincinnati allowed him to keep many of the Deadwood cast and crew members employed on a series that was cheaper to produce (thanks to a lack of period accoutrements) that HBO could keep all of the proceeds from. It was win-win, until the series debuted and scored lower ratings than Deadwood had and critical head-scratching. (And, actually, I’ll try to include a short paragraph or two about the series at the end of the last Deadwood review.) We may never know exactly what happened to shut the show down, but that seems to be the version of the story that best sticks to the evidence and actually makes sense in regards to how Hollywood, even HBO, operates.

So when “Tell Your God to Ready for Blood” first aired, there was an air of sadness to it that, I think, made many fans underrate it a little bit. It wasn’t like when the final episodes of The Sopranos or Battlestar Galactica or The Shield began airing. Those were negotiated closures, where the creators had time to implement whatever their final plans to close out the stories were. Deadwood’s final season debuted under a haze of recrimination toward the network, the studio and Milch himself, fans convinced that they had been wronged and unable to understand why they wouldn’t get the ending they wanted. (There’s actually a great vignette on the complete series DVD set where Milch wanders around the Deadwood set and talks about how season four would have gone and some of the reasons we think we’re owed endings to ongoing narratives, which is well worth checking out for any fan of the show.) I’ll deal more with the exact ending of the series when the finale rolls around (I think it first frustrates and then gradually reveals itself to be a terrific encapsulation of every one of the series’ themes), but when this season began, the cloud of anger surrounding its airing was sufficiently large to choke out some of the episode’s pleasures.

[Erdosain]

Can anyone summarize what Milch had in mind for future plot developments (or provide a link)?

I loved Deadwood and was bummed when it ended practically in mid-sentence. I even watched Kings just to get my Al Swearingen fix. Best character ever.

[mr.jp]

@muldoonthief

Because HBO is filled with cocksuckers.

(really, 4 replies to get here?)

Not really fair though. They did give us three seasons of Deadwood, which probably noone else would have. Also the Wire, I don’t see anyone else making that show.

[filling_pages]

Not ten minutes ago, I suggested this series to someone. I watched all three seasons in a week and then called my mom a cocksucker. (Being a fan of the show, she laughed.)

[Ichbin_Dubist]

@Erdosain

Can anyone summarize what Milch had in mind for future plot developments (or provide a link)?

I know Milch wasn’t following actual history to the letter, but the real stories of Deadwood and Swearengen are pretty interesting.

[drastic_quench]

I wonder if Milch would ever write a novel to fill in for the last couple of seasons that never were. At this point, a full cast mini-movie is a long gone prospect, so it’d be nice to have something else. Truth be told, I didn’t mind were it left off, but I’d certainly welcome more.

[Purd_Werfect]

I just assumed Hearst won. The Swearingen days were over.

[Chefguy]

@Purd_Werfect

I just assumed Hearst won. The Swearingen days were over.

Of course he did: it’s a matter of historical fact that the Hearst empire continued unabated.

[hamhawk]

@Erdosain

Can anyone summarize what Milch had in mind for future plot developments (or provide a link)?

I loved Deadwood and was bummed when it ended practically in mid-sentence. I even watched Kings just to get my Al Swearingen fix. Best character ever.

I agree Al Swearingen was the shit!God i loved Deadwood…