Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LoretiTV t1_ivaibxu wrote

I revisited this not too long ago and it still holds up tremendously. Brilliant show and I've always said that if it were released in today's streaming age, I think it would have been a massive hit.

39

kazmosis t1_ivasn0i wrote

Historical shows with high production values generally hold up really well. Look at Rome.

15

LittleRudiger t1_ivbl7h9 wrote

I honestly think Rome didn't hold up nearly as well as Deadwood. Largely because of scope limitations: so much of Roman history is the actual battles and conquests, and, obviously in that pre-GoT era, there just wasn't the budget and technology to accomplish that on screen (hence a lot of 'describing historic battles in retrospect'.

Would love to see Rome done today, though.

8

nunchukity t1_ivctlag wrote

I watched both for the first time recently and I agree with you. Think that's partially due to Rome having some dodgy cgi and going for a more distant time period, I imagine most of the props used in Deadwood were readily available for instance

3

WeDriftEternal t1_ivalxet wrote

It was a pretty big hit when it was on. I don't think much would change now vs then. It was made for a more niche audience and would have stayed that way. The first season especially is much more of a western than the others and that is a pretty hard sell to a general audience for such a slow show. Deadwood is fantastic but its also a show where they go 2-4 episodes with almost nothing much actually happening, and in an ensemble show, in that time you only get a little bit of each storyline. Sure we have ensembles today, but this one was slow and wordy in a different way, Succession looks like rocket's pace in comparison

4

NoNefariousness2144 t1_ivb7ihv wrote

Is it like Black Sails where season 1 is a bit slow but it's worth sticking with?

2

WeDriftEternal t1_ivb80zq wrote

Its not at all like Black Sails. Deadwood is more like a Shakespeare history play in an old west mining town with a lot of exposition and slow pace. Black Sails is more like an action adventure in comparison.

5

nunchukity t1_ivctxwh wrote

I'm gonna disagree with the other guy, it reminded me a lot of black sails. Deadwood definitely has better writing but there's a lot of similarity in the characters imo. Maybe it's just the time period and accents

3

ThingsAreAfoot t1_ivb405c wrote

Yeah I agree. I think the streaming age could have potentially saved it from cancellation but by its very nature its audience was always going to be limited.

1

ufs2 t1_ivalfwo wrote

>if it were released in today's streaming age I think it would have been a massive hit.

I swear people say this about every old show lol

−1