Not thrilled about this being the final season. But it should go out on top.
Plus, at least Rome is coming back.
And The Wire.
Hopefully it does well and then they ask people back for a 4th season maybe after an 18th monh gap or something.
Or, it could be a smoke screen to the fact that plenty of characters are going to die this year and they want everything to be uncertain regarding spoilers (like with Lost and a character getting a new job before she had officially died on the show).
That is a bizarre decision, seeing as how the show’s never been more popular and not a single episode of the new season has aired. Certainly doesn’t make sense for it to be as simple as HBO losing faith in the show, there must be something else going on. Looks like we’ll be looking at a longer wait for season 4 at least.
And by the way Baba, congrats on “schooling a fool” with a hard-on for the Sopranos. Now if you can just do the same for 50 million others around the world and every TV critic in America, you’ll have really accomplished something.
I can’t wait for the new season. I’m a huge fan of the show. It just keeps getting better. Actually, when I first watched the show, I thought it was silly. Nothing really came together for me, and I wouldn’t have continued watching the show if my family hadn’t already decided to watch it each week. When Wild Bill died, which only I knew was coming, we almost stopped watching, but kept at it. By the time the season closed, I was hooked. Season two was a masterpiece. I loved every episode.
Obviously my favorite character is Swearengen, but I think a large part of that is his relationships with the other characters of the Gem. The way they all function as a sort of hyper-dysfunctional family is just priceless. While I don’t think I was alone with being annoyed at Jane for a while, I think the character has really come together, and I think she’s one of the best characters now. Overall I think the preacher from season one was probably my least favorite character of the series. He was a bit one-note, and his descent into mania was a tool to trigger reactions in other characters rather than set his own arc. Trixie can sometimes be a bit forced, though she works more often than not. Otherwise, every character is uniformly excellent.
For the next season, I’m anticipating Joannie and Jane jointly reopening the brothel, since the real Jane ran a brothel at some point in her life. The shaky-eyed “whale,” Mose, will probably work as their bouncer, since he seemed reluctant to leave at the end of the season and I assume has lost all his money to Cy. I hope that actor lost some weight in between the seasons. He’s looking pretty unhealthy these days.
I wonder if, since we know that Deadwood never became a thriving metropolis, if we’ll see Swearengen’s plans for the camp hit some snags. As I recall, he’s ended each season on top, so I wonder if they’ll start an interesting downward spiral for our pal Al this time round.
I also wonder if, now that both Bullock and Alma Garret both have spouses in camp, their relationship will cool as well.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by BillJohnson This may be it for the show. I just read on the cnn site that the show is probably not going to get picked up for another season and that the actors have been released to take other jobs. |
Here’s the official bit:
Quote:
| In news that might be kind of a shock for fans, it looks like the upcoming third season of Deadwood might be the last. HBO is letting the cast “explore their options,” which bascially means that they are free to consider other options. In fact, creator/writer David Milch is exploring his own option, concentrating on a new surfer drama for HBO titled John From Cincinnati. More on this as it develops … |
Source: http://www.tvsquad.com/
I hate to bring this up considering I’m a big fan of this series but could one of the reasons we won’t be getting a season 4 is that HBO execs were disappointed with season 3?
I hope this is not the case but what other reason could it be?
So fucking sad. If they actually do this, I might be done with HBO, because I can’t be getting hooked on this shit and having it taken away cold turkey, like some fucking crack fiend. Goddamn them
The likely reason is rumors of HBO’s plans to get away from hour long drama and into more lucrative (read dumbed down) entertainment, ala Lucky Louie. The Deadwood boards are all over this thing. Check em out if you’re so inclined.
showtime is amateur hour compared to hbo. huff and weeds are about the only decent things to come from it and if they were on hbo they’d be at the bottom of the barrel.
it pretty much sucks that hbo haven’t renewed the actors contracts for beyond season 3. the situation, to me, looks more along the lines of what happened to carnivale. deadwood is probably too expensive to produce.
Well Big Earl (Dan Dority) has had some really good information to post over at the HBO boards. He’s not happy at all…
First he posted this…
Quote:
| Having not slept for much of last night, I sit staring bleary-eyed at my computer. That phone call last evening floored me. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I see it coming. I feel cheated. I am cheated as an person because the way I was brought up a man’s word is his bond. We were given word in Dec. that we’d be back for a fourth season. A formal annoucement of that fourth season was trumpeted in the press in March. Lives were planned accordingly. I am cheated as an artist because something that I poured my lifeblood into has been given short-shrift and not allowed to conclude properly. I am cheated as a fan because the verbally fleet and intricately plotted show shall just cease to be. It will just stop. No wrap up. No farewells. It isn’t like DEADWOOD had a tiny audience. No, our ratings – based on what I’ve read – were good, better than all HBO shows but one. They were not SOPRANOS huge, but then again, SOPRANOS did not become the cultural phenomenon until it’s third season. This is not the fault of David Milch. Given his druthers, he would never just leave a show hanging like this. I feel nothing but gratitude toward his largess. As for the coporate bean-counters… It has been a high-water mark of my career. I seriously doubt I will ever again be a part of something so unique, so daring, and so special. I hang my head in sorrow… W. Earl Brown |
Then the next day came this…
Quote:
| It has nothing to do with pregnancies. It has nothing to do with conservative watchdogs. It has everything to do with money. Chris Albrecht, HBO CEO, is in danger of losing his job. The network is bleeding red ink. His production side lost a ton of money. They sunk 120-million into ROME. They are committed contractually to another season, plus they have 120 invested already. On DEADWOOD, they did not get foreign rights. Paramount had a deal with Milch to work for them. In exchange for them releasing him to HBO, they got foreign rights to our show. So for three years, HBO has not seen that money from around the world. While we are the second biggest show on HBO, we are the 2nd most expensive to make (half of what ROME costs, mind you). Chris has shareholders to answer to and is panicked to cut the bottom line. Never mind the fact, that in 2004 he posted a 1-Billion dollar profit (the most for ANY network. Ever.) You might’ve won the Super Bowl last year, but if you go 0-16 this season, you’re looking for another coaching job. We had been given word of season four. They trumpeted the announcment of the season to the press in March. Chris, obviously having not been raised the way I was where a man’s word is his bond, reneged on us. He offered Milch the opportunity to wrap up the series with either a 2 hour movie or an order of six episodes. David refused, feeling that to conclude with anything short of a full season (which we’d already been given word of) would demean all the work we’d done prior. I agree. The shitty part of this is David’s Paramount deal is over this year. Starting with season four, HBO would own the show outright. All world monies would be theirs. BUT… that doesn’t help Chris with the shareholders today. He is cutting off his nose to spite his face. Write HBO. Call HBO. Email HBO. It amounts to the bottom line. If the are overun by subscibers and the threatened cancellations are enough of an issue to seriously cut into their cash flow, they might change track. Bottom line matters. CARNIVALE only had a weekly viewership of 2-3 million. SOPRANOS, on the opposite end, has 10-12. DEADWOOD drew 5-6. ROME has a comparable draw, although their viewership dwindled as the show went on. However (this is solely my opinion having constantly encountered fans on the street, in airports, etc. who are only now getting into the show via dvd of season 1) DEADWOOD is (was) still ascending. We’ve been cut off at the knees. Read this. Memorize this. I’m afraid some Monitor from Big Brother will soon delete it and I will never work for HBO again… at least while Albrecht is at the helm. |
Well pretty soon I’ll no longer have any need for HBO…
Pretty interesting stuff. I’ve just started watching the first season On-Demand and I’m surprised that HBO isn’t going to want to keep this around for at least another season after “The Sopranos” ends in '07. They’re running out of any shows that have any clout at all. “Entourage” is good and I’m looking forward to “Lucky Louie” but HBO is really losing out to F/X in the drama department.
So I sent a letter to HBO saying they werent getting my subscription if they axed Deadwood in the manner Earl suggested they were, and here is the response I got.
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.
~ Sincerely, HBO Consumer Affairs Department ~
Here’s another article that mentions the show may not be dead, but does say some of the cast may not be returning:
‘Deadwood’ may live on, despite decision on cast pacts
So did Milch walk away from Deadwood in favor of another project? IS HBO trying to get rid of some of the more expensive cast members? A strange situation…
I hate the fact that my excitement over the new season is bittersweet given the recent bad news. Anyway, here’s a blurb from HBO about the new season:
Quote:
| The lawless era in Deadwood is coming to an end. As the town’s first elections approach, the strategic alliances that protect hard-earned interests are becoming more critical than ever before. Facing down an unexpected threat from a powerful man aiming to reshape the town in his image, the founders must put up their strongest front yet if they expect to survive. |
Sounds like Hearst is really going to be stirring the shit.
And this site has some brief descriptions of the first three episodes. I don’t know if you’d consider them spoilers or not, so be warned just in case:
Here’s an article with Milch’s take on the cancellation:
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/68731.htm
It’s baffling that HBO is hurting so bad for money that they’d cancel their 2nd highest rated show with the end of the Sopranos looming. Even though it costs more than most of their other shows, it’s still bringing in viewers. Instead they’re going to pin their hopes on new shows without a solid lead in like the Sopranos, Six Feet Under or Deadwood? The Wire is a great show but it’s never really caught on like those other shows. Thank God it’s relatively cheap to produce.
Quote:
| Here’s an update to our earlier news that David Milch had confirmed that Deadwood was, indeed, dead: Milch himself is trying to raise the $60 million dollars he would need to continue the series! I guess that HBO hasn’t given a definite “no” to another season of the western, so Milch is trying to save the show himself. Milch says: “I’m doing what I can … any financial participation could take the pressure off. HBO hasn’t said no … if I were a gambling guy, which I am, I’d say odds are less than even money.” Milch says the actors were shocked that HBO said no to another season too. Stay tuned … |
Son of a BITCH. Just catching up to this. Man, if there was anything that could get me to start buying Powerball tickets it’d be the thought of saving Deadwood with the winnings.
And cancer. I’d throw some dough to cancer research, too. I swear.
Goddammit, HBO. Don’t fuck this up.
Haven’t seen the show yet, since I don’t get HBO. But I’ve heard plenty of good things about it and its coming up next on my Netflix list.