Summer used to be re-run hell, but the cable networks have so many interesting new series! USA has The 4400, brought to us by some Star Trek alumns, and starting tonight it’s Into the West on TNT.
I’m going to watch it, and Ivylad is a sucker for Westerns, so he’ll watch it with me. Anybody else?
Thank you for reminding me - I’m going to watch it too. I like westerns.
I’ll watch it too. I read a review somewhere, saying that it isn’t as good as Deadwood or Lonesome Dove (the new standards for westerns, I guess), but Lance Henriksen will be in it, and Wash from Firefly. 
Really? I never would have guessed by your user name. 
It’s directed/produced by Spielberg, and I’ve always been an admirer of his work.
I’ll probably catch it at some point. Looks like each episode is going to be repeated about four times.
I’ll watch it. I hope it’s not Dances w/ Wolves Lite, though. I have a sneaking suspicion that the writers are going to try to incorporate a lot of fictional characters taking part in actual historical events. That usually leads to some awkward plot twists, but I’m a sucker for westerns with Indians in them…
Am I the only one who saw the title and thought, “They’re making a sequel movie to Lord of the Rings?”
The SF Chronicle’s snarky TV reporter ( who I generally consider to have pretty good taste ) wasn’t all that kind to it:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/10/DDGFDD5KI71.DTL
I read Tim Goodman’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle online too, Tamerlane.
My favorite sentence was:
Since I really enjoyed Ken Burns’ documentary The West, and trust Tim Goodman’s judgment, I wasn’t going to be watching Into the West tonight.
[The fact that I don’t have cable TV doesn’t enter into the decision, of course!]
However, I’d be interested to see what the Doper reviews say. It’ll be out on DVD sometime, and I’ll be happy to wait and rent (or borrow from the library if it’s that good).
I watched it. It was pretty good, but if it gets all soap opera-y, I’m giving up.
I have to limit my TV viewing this summer. I’m taking a class and just won’t have time. I’m already invested in Monk, Dead Zone and Six Feet Under, so this is it.
I thought it as pretty good. I barely recognized Gary Busey.
I watched intermittently, and probably won’t watch any more of it unless I get desperate.
I guess Deadwood has spoiled me, not just for westerns, but for drama in general.
I liked it. I watched it with my kids and they were interested in what was history and what was fiction, so I explained a lot to them. The violence that TNT warned about was pretty historical and in context too, so I explained that to them too.
I liked the Indian/White man parallels although the story line seems fairly generic. I guess there’s only so much they can do with historical fiction, but they’ve done well with this one. So far.
I’ll have to miss the next two installments, which will probably make jumping back into it weird. Maybe I should look into getting a TIVO.
Well, I was disappointed. I found it a bit dull. I’ll probably give it one more shot next week and see if it improves.
I must have missed something, because all of a sudden Wheeler wasn’t with Mountain Man Smith anymore? Did Smith dump him after the whining fit Wheeler pulled while they were crawling through the cave? I must admit, I cheered when Smith kicked him in the face to shut him up, and if Wheeler is supposed to be a main character I’m not very impressed with him.
Lots of jumping around, and I’ve found it hard to get involved with any of the characters because they don’t seem to spend a lot of time on any of them before jumping ahead in time months or years.
At least The 4400 is on tomorrow.
I watched the first hour and found it slow moving and dull. Why does Hollywood have such paint by numbers ideas about genetics? Poor Alan Tudyck (Wash), had to dye his hair to fit in with the other brunette brothers. Matthew Settle is a nice actor but he can’t carry a miniseries. I can’t stop thinking of him as the abusive psycho on ER or Capt. Spiers on Band of Brothers.* He’s good at playing psychos but is too bland as a lead.
*Here’s hoping that Jacob goes nuts
I didn’t see it. Everybody in the trailer was shouting. BOY oh BOY, what ACTING! :rolleyes:
I missed how the two brothers went to St Louis; when last seen, brothers 2 and 3 were going home, having been unable to convince brother 1 to return.
After seeing the first 10 minutes, I gave my friend (who was watching it with me) a prediction of how the plot would play out and got about 90% of it right. Anyone who has seen Dances with Wolves and read Centenial could do the same. And it had the choppy plot I feared due to the need to include so many historical events.
What bugged me the most was how they “updated” the Lakota culture. Hint to the writers: Woman’s lib happened after 1825.
Visually, it was nice, but unfortunately Comcast doesn’t offer TNT in HD in my area. That would’ve made it even better.
But, I’m a sucker for this sort of stuff, so I’ll probably keep watching.
I wish I had been able to see it on Friday night. Unfortunately, TNT is unavailable over our local cable provider, nobody I knew had a satellite system capable of pulling it in, and no Canadian network or station was showing it.
Damn shame too, because a lot of it was filmed up here in the province of Alberta, not far from Calgary, and using local people in the background. I myself was one of the Mountain Man extras that you saw behind Settle and Busey in the auction scene and the duel scene; as well as being one of the guys in the whiskey tent, and one of the many you saw wandering around the Mountain Men’s tent city. They were long days of filming, but it was great fun, and I guess I’ll have to wait until the DVD comes out.
So tell me…how was I? 
Email the doper with the DVD recorder.
Er, that would be me.