Friday, June 26, 2009

DEADWOOD



I don't get HBO but I do have Direct TV so I am given peeks at different HBO series through DTV101. They don't offer first runs but reruns to perhaps lure viewers into ordering HBO. When I saw a western posted, I thought, cool, for I never really got over the Maverick, Gunsmoke and Rawhide days. I love a good western. Twas in for a shock though. This is not a good ole western.


This is a jaw dropping series that any seventh grade boy could write the dialog. All you need to know is how to spell the F word. Four letters with a few endings like "ing", "er" to give it a difficulty factor. Pretty easy writing.. Now there is other, more creative profanity, but have to admit, the F word rules.


I hope I am not a prude but maybe I am. Now if I whack myself hard enough on the shins, I can get pretty colorful if no one else is around. If I am whacked hard enough, you bet ole"F"comes out. However you won't hear it in my everyday language and certainly not around others. Guess that makes me a closet cusser. These characters use profanity like "Hello."


I know it goes back to my mother and her view on profanity. She always said that people who swear, have limited vocabularies. She reasoned that they don't have the proper tools to express themselves. The ultimate insult in our family was to be word ignorant.


I watched the first episode available to me with the fascination of watching a train wreck. It just went on and on and on. Ironically the worst offender, the man who uses that particular word as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb all in the same sentence, happens to be named Swearington. It must not take him more than 15 minutes to memorize his lines for the whole show. If he gets hung up and forgets dialog, all he has to do is throw in a few more variations. Calamity Jane comes in second with the limited language skills. Really hate seeing a woman climb into a man's vocabulary.


One of the few characters who was not totally addicted to the F word, Wild Bill Hickok, got killed this week. The writers must have gotten tired of coming up with actual dialog and killed him off. Now I adored Lonesome Dove which could get a bit randy at times but that was a good story and sincere script writing. I just find it hard to believe that these writers are actually getting paid. No brain drain in that bunch.


Yes I watched it again. I told you it has train wreck appeal. I just had to be sure that the first segment I saw wasn't just a tease to rope in viewers. Surely they would finally settle down into a story. Wrong. Two times was enough. It is not just the profanity for it they substituted "Rats" as many times as the F word is used, I would be about as turned off. It would just make no sense and sound stupid.


While I am sure is meant to shock women, titillate young boys and those men who still think like young boys, it really gets pretty boring with the constant repetition. It is a shame for this could be a good series with decent writing. Still waiting for a good western I guess.


So I toss it out to you. Am I showing my age, a prudish nature, am just not "with it" for wanting a bit more out of my entertainment than shock value? What do you think?


15 comments :

  1. Nope. I do not believe you are an old prude. Your are someone with a touch of class and civility that has been lost on a lot of people.

    I do drop the occasional 'F-bomb' but not with the frequency of some people I know.

    I have never seen the show, and from the sounds of it, I never will.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think you're a prude, but what do I know? I watched Glengarry Glenross one time and nearly fainted. If they edited out that "F" word, there wouldn't have been any dialogue at all. I hated it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nope I'm in the same boat with you. In fact when I was young I thought it smart to use a number of expletives, but the "F" word and some similar ones I felt were overboard, and reserved it for extreme expression. How DUMB and FOOLISH I was.

    However, the "S"word crept in my regular vocabulary and I've spent my adult life trying to clean up my expletive vocabulary. I'm still working on it.

    Since I'm a tad short tempered, and dislike uncomfortable events from smashing my fingers in the car door to arguments which impugn my integrity, this ugly vocabulary useage is difficult to eradicate.

    And being married to a Navy sailor, and associating with lots of sailors for 10 years of my married life did not encourage clean language. However this is a lame excuse.

    But I console myself as being imperfect, and vow to keep trying.

    So don't beat yourself up... I regret not being more "prudish" as a smart aleck young upstart entering adulthood.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't think either that you are a prude. The script writer has a limited choice of words. Some people try to impress others by using foul language.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are not a prude! Rather, someone with a whole lot of common sense, and the appropriate vocabulary to express yourself. My Mom and Dad would rise up from their graves and slap my jaws silly if the "F" word ever came from my mouth. I do not recall ever having used the word as an expletive (or otherwise) in my entire life.

    My daddy could "cuss up a blue streak" under severe provocation or frustration, but the "F" word was not in his cussing vocabulary.

    Becoming married at age 34 to a USAF Chief Master Sergeant (retired) exposed me to a lot of salty language never before encountered, "S***" being one of the more commonly used ones. Over time, I found that word creeping into my vocabulary. I have to watch myself, to this day.

    I will not watch/listen to anything that uses vulgarity in place of decent vocabulary, and if that makes me a prude, so be it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Barry,
    Thanks for the vote. Like I said, hit me hard enough and it will pop out of me also. The show with good writers would be great. Too bad.

    Betty,
    Know what you mean. Serious editing would only leave the actors looking at each other expectantly. Its a shame.

    nitwit,
    So that saying "cuss like a sailor" is true? I know how being around that can lower your objections to the point that it is common place. The old "when in Rome" makes a lot of things normal.
    Hay, smash my finger in a door and I might turn the air blue myself. Just don't consider it entertainment. Thanks for your support.

    Reader,
    The show is on the air so someone is watching. Glad most people I know don't. Thank you.

    Pat,
    Thanks for making me feel more like the norm. I do believe there is more of us than them.
    It is so easy when around any habit to pick it up. It is often unconsciously done. Guess I need to stick with network TV.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Friend, You and I are exactly alike when it comes to vulgar language... My mother wouldn't allow it --and I just never heard it much while growing up.

    I had one good friend once who cussed a little--and I'll admit that I picked up on some of it (the d--- word mostly)--but I have never used the "F" word much at all--and find it disgusting.

    IF you are a prude, than I am also!!!!! Didn't 'Deadwood' win a bunch of awards???? GADS... George and I just don't watch many movies at all anymore --since they are just so different from the movies of old. Oh Well---guess "I" am getting OLD... ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wonder about our language. I know the Roman gladiators had a language all their own and while they cussed at each other they never used the F word. I think that is encouraging in some respects. I mean they slaughtered a lot of people for sport almost like we slaughter a lot of wildlife for sport, but they never used the F word once that I could find scribbled on the coliseum walls. But tricky Dick Cheney is reported to have said, "Oh shit, my "Fword -ing" finger slipped." when he shot the judge in the face.

    ReplyDelete
  9. My mom and your mom were from the same school, and despite hearing that a zillion times, I still can make the "cuss words get up and dance" as mom would have said. I couldn't say the F-word until after she died, though, and sometimes now - it comes out when I least expect it. So far I haven't embarrassed myself too badly, but I'm never sure it won't happen....LOL


    I don't watch that show. A web-site I read often had a poll they were taking every time it was on. They had a F-word count for every episode and I read that it even made national TV!

    I don't care to hear it much on TV, but The Sopranos had it often and I didn't mind it so much there - where it seemed very natural. Actually there were worse words and phrases in that show!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Shameful language...I'm glad I do not get that...

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Betsy,
    They have finished season 3 so someone is watching it. Like I said, whack my shins hard enough and you might well hear it but the more you use something it uses impact. Guess I will never understand the appeal.

    Abe,
    Dick Chaney is a scary friend to have. He really said that huh? I believe it.
    Curious what the gladiators used as profanity. Great that you got to check the walls.

    Kenju,
    You got me curious. I almost watched a 3rd show just to count.
    This is what that site you mentioned recorded.
    Total F words for season 2-- 1099
    Average per episode --91.6
    Average per minute--1.76
    Cheese Louise and they still took breaths.

    4th sister,
    You bet.You haven't missed a thing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well...you are asking someone who LOVED this HBO Series...And who thinks the writing was truly Brilliant...the "F" word not with-standing. It showed a grittiness and a reality of what that particular town was really like. No riles, no laws....just a free for all at an earlier period in our history as a ciuntry. No, it is not a typical Western as we were fed in the 1940's, and 1950's and '60's. To me, it broke the mold of the "everything was pretty and nice back then---even killing"...it portrayed the baseness of Hunan Nature in all it's frightening harshness...but, it also showed that there were always GOOD people too....Maybe you have to rent the whole first season and watch it in the proper order to get what a Brilliant Series this was and how incredibly WONDERFUL the Actors all are who are in it.

    Just my opinion, My Dear.....you asked, and this is what I felt.

    Thanks for your sweet words today and your Birthday wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've been reading through your post, and I just LOVE your blog! You have a way with words that really makes me feel as though we are sitting and chatting over coffee! I dont have HBO --and by the description of this "western" I don't think I would like it either. Im not usually turned off by a lot of cursing---but when that IS the main dialog--its hard to swallow--and follow! Sounds to me like a show called "secret life of the american teenager" which is on family channel--they say sex in that show LITERALLY 25 times in 1 single sentence---over and over-- its embarrassing expecially because my 8 year old wants to watch it--- I finally had to say "no" I mean enough is enough!
    Sorry for the long comment! Keep on blogging--i love it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. OOLOH,
    Well I knew someone had to be watching it for it has been on for at least 3 seasons and I love pro and con remarks.
    I had previously stated that I thought it would be a great series with better dialogue.I too felt it told a truer picture.
    Bless you for picking thru all the profanity to find the writing. My objection is as Jennifer said "Im not usually turned off by a lot of cursing---but when that IS the main dialog--its hard to swallow--and follow"
    Good to see your view and your being in the industry gives you a different perspective.
    Thank God for different strokes or this would be a boring world and thank you for your point of view.

    Jennifer,
    Thank you so much for your kind comment. Your statement that I quoted in my comment to OOLOH says it all for me. Thanks. Don't ever feel bad about a long comment. As you can see, that is the norm here. We do chat. Welcome to TNS.

    ReplyDelete

Comments moderated. No spam will be published nor comments with links