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Deadwood

I'm excited to revisit "Deadwood" sometime soon; there's a strong related Terry Gross piece, with Milch and with Olyphant, on NPR. Some takeaways:

*Milch describes the surprising boon that is censorship. When show handlers will not allow you to use certain words, you're forced to become more creative. Milch says it's *context* that suggests vulgarity. So you can actually be extremely vulgar using classroom words, and you can be less-than-vulgar using dirty, dirty words. As an example, Milch recalls *inventing* a word--and just the sentences he built around it made the word seem extraordinarily filthy. Brilliant.

*Milch wasn't especially interested in Westerns, but he *was* interested in how a civilization is built. He was going to focus on ancient Rome, but I think others had arrived on that terrain first. So "Deadwood" became a way of exploring a theme; the setting didn't come first.

*Olyphant won his role simply by staring silently at Milch, as Milch pontificated. He intimidated Milch. And so the (intimidating) part would soon be his. I love that.

Vulture called "Deadwood" the second-greatest HBO series of all time, above "The Wire," which came in at Number Three. When I first watched "Deadwood," I was still sort of a child, and I missed a great deal. My sense is that things may mean more, to me, if I watch the show now.
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