BEFORE I LEFT ON FRIDAY M.P. reminded me to show up early today, in case L.TV brought home a bushel-full of awards from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences last night, also known as the 58th annual Emmy Awards to all of you outside the industry. Alas, it was not to be, as the nominated Human Trafficking, Ambulance Girl and A Little Thing Called Murder were shut out, unable to garner any respect from the Academy. So there will be no self-congratulatory trade ads running in the industry press touting actors Donald Sutherland, Robert Carlyle, Judy Davis and Kathy Bates, as was the case when the nominations came out in June. I didn't watch a second of the Emmys show actually, but I was glad this morning to see that The Office won for best comedy. I wonder if Deadwood won for anything or if it was even nominated. Hard to believe there is better acting (Ian McShane), better writing, better directing, etc., going on elsewhere.
Working my way thru the Season Two DVDs of Deadwood, up to Episode 9, watching all the extras and commentaries. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, these commentaries by the actors seem to add very little, but are usually good for a few laughs and even more cursing than the show itself. Series Creator David Milch's comments were interesting, but the actors rarely provide insight about what's happening onscreen. Best line so far of season two goes to (who else) Al Swearengen, speaking to newspaperman A.W. Merrick:
"Pain or damage don't end the world.
Or despair or fucking beatings.
The world ends when you're dead.
Until then, you got more punishment in store.
Stand it like a man ... and give some back."
For some reason, other than critics, nobody I know seems to like this show as much as I do, or as much as they once did. Unlike The Sopranos, which people seem eager to return to week after week despite bitching over decreased quality, ridiculous plot lines etc., I've heard complaints from friends that there's too much cursing on Deadwood and that it takes too much work to decipher what's being said in terms of the archaic period language, etc. But to me the reward is so great that it makes all the effort worth it.
Darn good Deadwood piece from New York Times here:
www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/arts/television/11mcki/html?ex=130767
Each episode costs around $4.5 million to make, and it's all there up on the screen, as they say in the business. It's also mentioned that writer David Milch was a former heroin user, alcoholic and gambling addict. That knowledge, too, undoubtedly adds to the richness and texture of this "blood and profanity-drenched Western," as it's called.
And last but not least, there's actually a Website that keeps track of the number of "fucks" and "cocksuckers" uttered per episode. Seriously, it's cataloged here at www.thewvsr.com/deadwood.htm. For instance, you can discover that there were a total of 98 fucks in Episode 18 ("Something Very Expensive"), while the same episode had merely 9 cocksuckers, a ratio of fucks to cocksuckers of 10.9 : 1. The most profanity-laced 10-minute segment in Episode 18, for those keeping score at home, was achieved by Minutes 20-29, which got off a staggering 31 fucks in that time frame. Cumulative running total through the end of Season 3? 2,980 fucks so far, with more to come. This Website also thoughtfully makes use of bar graphs for season recaps of number of fucks, but didn't get around to including cocksuckers until the second season. Helpful and edifying nonetheless.
Great interview with David Milch, series creator of Deadwood, here:
http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/feature/2005/03/05/milch/index.html
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