Revival of an epic show

Published 7:00 am Friday, August 14, 2015

During our somewhat limited free time, my husband and I enjoy watching a variety of television shows.
We have found many gems on Netflix, including “Magnum PI,” “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black” and “American Horror Story.”
However, some of our favorite shows appeared on either HBO or Showtime and sometimes Netflix doesn’t have them.
I usually scour retail inserts to find out when my favorite show will be available on DVD.
That’s how we discovered “Deadwood,” which first appeared on HBO in 2004 and was, in my opinion, canceled prematurely in 2006.
The show is set in the late 1800s and tells the fictional tale of people living in Deadwood, South Dakota. There’s also familiar historical figures featured such as Wild Bill Hicock, Calamity Jane and George Hearst played by Mississippi native Gerald McRaney.
In a word, it’s brilliant.
I don’t have a bad thing to say about it, except that it was cancelled. I had never heard of British actor Ian McShane before and his character, Al Swearengen was portrayed in the series, but he quickly became my favorite.
I have since found other movies he has starred in and am looking forward to his upcoming appearance in “Game of Thrones.”
Since fans were only allowed three seasons of television goodness, rumors swirled for years that a “Deadwood” movie was in the works.
According to a Rolling Stone article, an HBO spokesman confirmed this week that preliminary discussions have been made.
I’m very excited to hear this news, but won’t get my hopes up.
It would definitely provide closure, because the last season ended abruptly and left me wanting more.
In my opinion, superbly acted and written television shows are hard to come by these days. HBO should have cancelled “Entourage” instead of “Deadwood.”
That show ran for eight years and, in my opinion, was not nearly as good.
I’m always to sad to see my favorite shows end, but am excited at the possibility of viewing “Deadwood” on the big screen.

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