4. DEADWOOD

A show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.

My love for DEADWOOD was not immediate like with other shows on this list. I actually was a bit bored with the first episode, sure I recognized the potential that was there but I wasn’t really feeling the show but by episode three I was hooked thanks to the removal of Wild Bill Hickock as a central character and the solidifying of the grudging/respect/rivalry between lawman Seth Bullock and the unofficial top dog in town Al Swearengen. Of course having two great talents like Timothy Olyphant (giving a performance that was a precursor to his Raylen Givens character on JUSTIFIED) and Ian McShane made getting hooked on DEADWOOD a lot easier. And throw in one of the best and most underrated actors ever in Powers Booth who was all oily charm and deadly intentions as Cy Tolliver, the outwardly more erudite rival to Swearengen was just the cherry on top.
I was also instantly enamored with the way the characters spoke…it was like a gutteral, profane bastardization of Shakespearean dialogue that was one of the most original and attention grabbing qualities of DEADWOOD and responsible for so much of the show’s gruff charm.

Favorite Episode: “A Lie Agreed Upon Part One” (Season 2/Episode 1)
All of the tension that had been building up between Al Swearengen and Sheriff Seth Bullock came to a head over the one thing that usually makes two otherwise rational men lose their minds…a woman. Swearengen’s verbal attack on (the very married) Bullock’s character for carrying on an affair with the wealthy widow Alma Garrett and then turning his attack into one directed at the widow Garrett herself (with the classic line “The world abounds in cunt of every kind including hers”) being the straw that broke Bullock’s back. The actual physical confrontation was brief and very damn realistic looking but it was the verbal confrontation beforehand that really was the highlight.