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Sunday marked the season finale of Deadwood. It also happened to be the series finale, kind of. David Milch, the show’s creator desperately wanted a fourth season to finish telling his story, but HBO balked. They said he could only have six episodes. In what initially seems like a completely backwards decision, they reached a compromise where the show would instead come back as two, two-hour movies for the network. If you do the math you’re left thinking, “Wait a minute. That’s four hours instead of a promised six? WTF, Mr. Milch?” I thought the same thing, but in an interview with Brian Cox on NPR’s FreshAir Mr. Cox made the point that a “movie” would actually allow Mr. Milch to work outside of the perameters he had already constructed. There’s more by clicking below…

See, in its current form, each episode of Deadwood takes place over the course of one day, or over the course of a night turning into day, but never jumps ahead or flashes back. It isn’t as ridged as the rarely reliable 24 clock, but the events of the show are essentially presented in chronological order. In the “movies” of Deadwood Mr. Milch will be able to break that tradition and play around with time a bit more, thus compressing his otherwise unmade 13-episode arc into four tightly packed hours.

Knowing this made the last actual episode of Deadwood a little easier to swallow. Not that it wasn’t a good episode. It was (they’re all good– aside from those scene with the theater company, whose role outside of being a metaphor for the arts has gone absolutely nowhere), but it ended a brisk 45-minutes after it started and things were just starting to heat up.

For those who watch the show, here’s a question: what exactly is the deal with Cy Toliver? Is he just depressed about Joanie, or is he certifiably insane?

Also, many props need to go to Major Dad, for being one of the better villains this side of Henry Gale. I fear we won’t be seeing him again in the coming movies.

In related news, David Milch’s next project (also for HBO) is entitled John From Cincinatti. It’s about a rich kid who moves to California to take surfing lessons. Um, OK. Whatever you want David, whatever you want.

So, Sunday night was also the end of the third season of Entourage. I make no bones about the fact that I often HATE this show. I hate its wanting to have the best of both worlds. I hate that it tries to be dramatic, but then sells itself out with happy endings. I hate that its suppose to be just a fun romp, but it never quite as funny as it should be. I hate the cool-guy dialogue, and Hollywood insider-with-The O.C.-soundtrack scene.

That being said, when its good, its good. It’s not great, or even close to being “really good” but its highly satisfying. Why the show can’t figure out how to make this formula last for a whole season is absolutely beyond me. The last three weeks, featuring an arc about a Robert Evans-like producer trying to get a script about The Ramones produced, was about as good as the show can get. And god bless them for not copping out the ending to a big hug-fest (though it probably wasn’t much of a decision, as everyone loves a good cliffhanger. The hug-fest will be in the first three minutes of season four).

Onto the other pay-channel. My luke-warmness for Weeds last season has been completely countered with the past two weeks’ episodes. It isn’t that the formula is all that different from last year, but the tone has changed. Unlike Entourage, it seems as though Weeds has let go of those serious (or at least mock-serious) undertones, and just decided to go for the laughs. Which I have been (laughing). A lot. And out loud. In fact, I’m going to have to elevate Weeds from “Weary” to “Mostly Enjoyable.”

Finally, it should be noted that another new show is premiering tonight. At 8:00pm FOX is unveiling Celebrity Duets, a competition show that I suspect will live up to its name (well, maybe not the celebrity part).

Also, its the season finale of Rescue Me. Will the show be able to correct the tailspin its been in the past month and a half? Tune in and find out.

Tags: Deadwood, Entourage, FX, HBO, Rescue Me, Season Finale, Showtime, Weeds

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Reviews, TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.