Deadwood (TV series)
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Deadwood was an American western–drama television series created, produced and almost entirely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from 21 March 2004 to 27 August 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. Set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, the show is set before and after the area's annexation by the Dakota Territory. The series charts Deadwood's growth from camp to town, incorporating themes ranging from the formation of communities to western capitalism. The show features a large ensemble cast, and many historical figures—such as Seth Bullock, Al Swearengen, Wild Bill Hickok, Sol Star, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, E. B. Farnum, Charlie Utter, and George Hearst—appear as characters on the show. The plotlines involving these characters include historical truths as well as substantial fictional elements. Some of the characters are fully fictional, although they may have been based on actual persons. Deadwood received wide critical acclaim, won eight Emmy Awards (in 28 nominations) and one Golden Globe. It consistently drew high ratings.
Although there were initial plans to conclude the series with two special TV movies, the plans have not come to fruition. Several of the series' stars have since commented that the series is now unlikely to return. While HBO had repeatedly asserted that the two movies could still be made, it noted in July 2008 that the possibility of the two TV movies being made was very slim.
Use of profanity
From its debut Deadwood has drawn attention for its use of extremely explicit, modern profanity, especially among the more coarse characters. It is a deliberate anachronism on the part of the creator with a twofold intent. As Milch has explained in several interviews and on the DVD commentary tracks, originally the characters were to use period slang and swear words. Such words, however, were based heavily on the era's deep religious roots and tended to be more blasphemous than scatological. Instead of being shockingly crude (in keeping with the tone of a frontier mining camp), the results sounded downright comical. As one commentator puts it "… if you put words like "goldarn" into the mouths of the characters on "Deadwood," they'd all wind up sounding like Yosemite Sam.".
Instead, it was decided the show would use current profanity in order for the words to have the same impact on modern audiences as the blasphemous ones did back in the 1870s. In fact, in early episodes, the character of Mr. Wu seems to know only three words of English — the mangled name of one character ("Swedgin"), "San Francisco", and his favorite derogatory term for those he dislikes, "cocksucka".
The other intent in regards to the frequency of the swearing was to signal to the audience the lawlessness of the camp in much the same way that the original inhabitants used it to show they were very self-aware of the fact they were living outside the bounds of "civil society."
The issue of the authenticity of Deadwood's dialogue has even been alluded to in the show itself. Early in the second season, after E.B. Farnum has fleeced Mr. Wolcott of $10,000, Farnum tries to console the geologist:
- EB: Some ancient Italian maxim fits our situation, whose particulars escape me.
- Wolcott: Is the gist that I’m shit outta luck?
- EB: Did they speak that way then?[1]
The word "fuck" was said 43 times in the first hour of the show.<ref>http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/n_10191/</ref> It has also been reported that the series had a total count of 2980 "fucks" , and a cumulative FPM<ref>FPM: "Fucks" per minute</ref> of 1.56.
