Top 7 TV Opening Credits

Every TV show has opening credits – some are flashy, some are entertaining and most are downright boring. Watching the new Aussie comedy/drama Offspring the other week (which I am enjoying by the way), I was struck by how much I didn’t like their opening credit sequence. As a cutesy bubble-pop song plays, the main actors jerkily spin in a myriad of poses as if they are characters seen through a viewfinder. The whole thing just seemed a bit too twee. To me, a good opening credit sequence is one that does more than just slap-bang a few clips of the show together with a current pop music fave – it’s a gilded invitation to join the show’s universe. It’s one where no matter how many episodes I watch in a row while DVD marathoning the show – I will always watch the opening credits.

These are a few of my favourites:

Mad Men

An awesome homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Mad Men’s opening credits are almost dreamlike – the slow, languid pace of the businessman falling surrounded by skyscrapers with reflections of period advertising posters and billboards.  We can all relate to those dreams of falling which are meant to express our suppressed anxieties, our feelings of being out of control and overwhelmed.  This is what Mad Men is all about – that loss of control and identity – and in a decade where everything about the world was changing.   Plus they can’t go wrong with a final image of dreamy Jon Hamm’s shoulders casually slung across the back of a couch can they!

True Blood

Definitely the best set of credits for a currently running program; True Blood’s have even been nominated for an Emmy.  Created by Digital Kitchen, the production studio also responsible for the awesome credits for Six Feet Under and Dexter, True Blood’s opening sequence is steeped in Deep South imagery and plays around with the contradictory ideas of innocence and menace that go hand in hand with the themes of the show.  The whole thing really just leaves you with a feeling that things just ain’t right – sex, violence, horror, life, and death all wrapped into one.  And those maggots!  Shudder!

Sprucing up the place for Oprah

So Oprah is coming Australia and if you haven’t already heard, you’ve been living under a rock.

The excitement in the media from Tuesday’s announcement verged on mass hysteria. Time the break out the fake tan and slap a shrimp on the barbie Australia – we’ve got an important visitor coming!

I love Oprah. I am somewhat of a closet fan. I love that she is on a first name basis with the whole world. I do find some of her episodes a tad on the preachy side occasionally, but even then I still find it hard to switch the channel.

But do we really need to be ‘sprucing up the place’ as I heard one radio station suggest today? I guess on the bright side, we’ve now got a Prime Minister and government sorted – an earlier visit from Oprah, Queen of Talk Shows, and it might not have been so pretty.

I’m all for giving a good impression of our country, but I really think Tourism Australia (the organisation behind securing the massive opportunity) need to go steady with the preparation work which will go into showing the 'best' of Australia to Oprah, her audience of 300 coming on the trip, and her audience of 40 million Americans (not to mention the 145 countries and 215 TV networks the show in syndicated on). Australia is great already – otherwise, why would Oprah say it’s been one of her long time dreams to come here? We already have a great reputation amongst Americans for having a beautiful, pristine country, populated with friendly people.

It would be great if our country could be promoted the way it is – without the outdated Australiana and clichéd (but effective back in the day) imagery of the Paul Hogan ad campaign.

Oprah announced on her show that she and her 300 audience guests will be travelling to Australia and experiencing different parts of the country. Some will be heading to the Great Barrier Reef in far north Queensland, some will be indulging in shopping in Melbourne and some will be heading to New South Wales wineries. It will all culminate in a mega-show at the Sydney Opera House, which will apparently be dubbed the ‘Oprah House’ for the event.

The figure being thrown around for the cost to taxpayers is $3 million and Tourism Australia will be contributing half of that. It is a lot of money, and sounds a bit ridiculous at first mention, but to be fair to Tourism Australia, what the promotion will do for Australia in the US and countless other countries is probably worth the money. Oprah really is the most powerful woman in television. And apparently they spent $180 million on the ‘Where the Bloody Hell Are You’ campaign and that didn’t exactly go down a treat. That makes Oprah look like a bargain!

Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said Oprah's visit was a major win for the Australian tourism industry.

"This truly represents an amazing opportunity to showcase Australia, the warmth and hospitality of our people and the depth and breadth of everything our country has to offer visitors from around the world," he said. 


"Tourism Australia is finally getting it together.We as a nation will win as a result of this coup."

So come on Tourism Australia - lets go au naturel when Oprah gets here – that’s our best side anyway. Aussies are down-to-earth and genuine people. That’s the way we should showcase our country. I’m not saying we shouldn’t make a big deal, but let’s do it without the outdated Australiana.

If you’d like to get into the spirit of Oprah’s visit try Oprah-fying yourself here. Just to get you started, my effort is below! But let’s not Oprah-fy Australia. It would be great if she and the rest of the world could see our beautiful country for how it really is.

Best of Broadway: West Side Story

Among my friends and family, it’s a well-known fact. I’m not ashamed to admit it. So, here goes. I am a huge musical theatre nerd. I’ve even shared this nerdiness with the internet. I am rarely happier or more content than when I’m sitting amongst a theatre audience, watching insanely talented performers sing, dance, and act on stage, live in front of me.  It started a long, long time ago, my love of musicals. I’ve said before that all my favourites movies as a kid involved people bursting into song at random and inopportune times. C’mon! What a perfect way to express emotion: love, hate, happiness, sadness, a song for every feeling. I know I can’t be the only one who shares this musical obsession, so, now’s the time to show yourselves! I’m going to talk about some of my favourites, and I’d love to hear what you think too. Let’s start at the top, with West Side Story. 
 

West Side Story is my favourite musical, and its pedigree is simply without peer. A legend is behind WSS at every turn. The book? By Arthur Laurents. The music? Leonard Bernstein of course! And those lyrics? Why, that would be the incomparable Stephen Sondheim. Let’s start with the story, based on Romeo and Juliet. Set in the 50s, The Puerto Rican Sharks and the working-class white Jets rule their turf on the West Side of Manhattan. Tony, a former Jet, is trying to grow up, but Riff, the Jet’s current leader, pleads with Tony to come to a dance at the gym, where the Jets will challenge the Sharks to a rumble. Bernardo, the head of the Sharks, has a younger sister Maria, and when she and Tony meet, it’s love at first sight. At the rumble, a knife is pulled and Riff is killed by Bernardo, and Tony kills Bernardo in a moment of blind rage. Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita runs to tell Tony that Maria wants to meet him, but the gang harasses her, and she tells them that Maria has been killed by Chino. Tony goes to find Chino to be killed himself, since his life is meaningless without Maria, only to find her alive. The shocking and heartbreaking end has Chino shoot Tony dead. Phew!

Amongst the melodrama, the love and hate and dancing and emoting, are some of the most gorgeous songs Broadway has ever produced. Somewhere, Maria, the sublime One Hand, One Heart, I Feel Pretty, Tonight, the hilariously pointed America; the dreamlike quality of Bernstein’s music lifts the cruelty of the story, giving it an almost otherworldly quality. The tension of songs like Tonight Quintet, just before intermission, is almost unbearable. There's no doubt something bad is going to happen here. Performed live on stage, that anxiety is both palpable and irresistible. But despite the raw naturalism of the narrative and setting, the romanticism of Tony and Maria’s love is undercut perfectly by a poetic tone, lifting West Side Story to a level of musical theatricality that is so rare. 

Dance played a major part in the development of West Side Story, with the show originating with choreographer Jerome Robbins. To see West Side Story onstage is a rare treat, and one that every musical fan should take if given the opportunity. If staged effectively, it is unmatched as a production. I had the pleasure of seeing the Broadway revival in 2009, and left the show with a tear in my eye. It was perfection on stage, aided by the interesting choice to have the Sharks often speak in their native Spanish, and the brilliance of Karen Olivo's Tony-winning portrayal of Anita. Most valuably, with all the elements working together (performance, staging, music, book), we remain completely invested in the story. This, for me, makes West Side Story the ultimate musical. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Keeping the Spotlight on Pakistan

To quote St George Clooney at the 2010 Emmys in Los Angeles earlier this week –

It's important to remember how much good can get done, because we live in such strange times where bad behavior sucks up all the attention and press.

And the people who really need the spotlight: the Haitians, the Sudanese, people in the Gulf Coast.. Pakistan, they can't get any.

So here's hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away.

George is spot on there. And that’s the good thing about celebrities like him. With the news industry a slave to the relentless pace of a 24 hour or less news cycle, it’s hard to keep the spotlight on a disaster situation in a developing nation, and celebrities can actually help.

Hopefully most people (who aren’t living under a rock) would have heard about the flooding disaster in Pakistan by now, and also be aware that it is on a monumental scale.

Here's just a few of the hurdles Pakistan is facing...

-       One of the big issues is the health of survivors. Diseases which can be spread by water include diarrhoea, respiratory infections and skin disease. In a developed country, none of those things by itself would be life threatening – but in a country like Pakistan, even simple illness can turn serious quickly.

-       According to the United Nations about 72,000 children are affected by severe malnutrition.

-       It’s estimated around one-fifth of Pakistan is under water.

-       According to UNICEF Australia so far 900,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. More than 7000 schools are partially or completely damaged and around 5000 schools being used as accommodation for 81,000 families.

-       The entire length of the country is affected – amounting to almost 20 million people.

This disaster would be an incredible challenge for a country like Australia or the United States to deal with, but Pakistan was already a country struggling. With a population of around 160 million, the average life expectancy for men is 62 and for women it’s 63. That’s almost 20 years less life than the average Australian. The gross national income per capita in Pakistani is around $2,400; in Australia it’s almost $34,000.

About 15 years ago, I was given the opportunity of a life time to visit Pakistan. I had a family member posted there with the Royal Australian Air Force, and I lived and travelled the country for four weeks. While it was an amazing experience, even as a teenager, I could see that Pakistan was a broken and struggling country. Corruption was rife; it was nothing to bribe a police officer in public to avoid arrest or a traffic fine, road rules were basically non-existent and cars drove on whichever side of the road they wandered to.

The people were, and remain, very poor. In the capital Islamabad we would be swarmed by children as young as four while stopped at traffic lights. They would tap on our car window and beg for money. My first reaction was to wind down the window and give them 5 Rupee (equivalent to six cents in Australian dollars) but it was too unsafe to do so. The majority of these children were working as part of begging rackets and would take the money back to a ring leader, and not see a fraction of that amount. A lot of children were deliberately disabled so as to appear more shocking while they begged.

Pakistan's Swat Valley

I also visited Pakistan before many significant and debilitating events in the country’s recent history, which have made it virtually impossible to travel for ordinary tourists; a military coup, the nuclear stand-off with India, September 11 and the beginning of the war in border country Afghanistan. One of my favourite areas, the Swat Valley, where we stayed in a amazing hill top hotel, surrounded by cultural markets and fields of cannabis, is now basically under the control of militants. It was a dysfunctional and poor country even when I was there, so the destruction from flooding of this magnitude is twice as devastating, if you can even comprehend it.

However, while the country seemed broken and dishonest, I also noticed the people in the cities and towns I visited were not that different to me. People were trying to make a living, support their families and just live life as best they could. These are the people now suffering in the aftermath of the worst flooding the country has ever seen.

So given the inherent tilt towards corruption in Pakistan– how do you know your money is getting through if you choose to donate? The answer is do your research and choose to donate to organisations which have contacts on the ground.

The hundreds of charities vying for your money to fund Pakistan flood relief can be overwhelming. If you don’t have time for research, no problem. I’ve tried to do it for you...

Medecins Sans Frontieres also known as Doctors Without Borders has teams currently on the ground in Pakistan. They were there prior to the disaster and so were able to assist when the flooding unfolded. The easiest way to make a contribution to them is online here. One of the best things about this organisation is their transparency with donating; their website clearly states where your money goes and even has tangible examples of what certain amounts can buy.

UNICEF Australia is a reputable organisation with local access into Pakistan. So far the organisation says it’s raised more than $4 million for flood victims and its water and sanitation program is helping around 1.9 million people. You can donate online to UNICEF here.

Children of Swat Valley

Oxfam Australia is another organisation which is transparent in the way it uses donations. It has a funding breakdown on its website donation page – and it's user friendly as well. You can donate here to Oxfam.

These are just a few options...I’m sure there are many more out there which can allow you to make a difference. I’d also encourage you to keep talking about Pakistan and the current disaster to your friends; at work, on Facebook and Twitter. If everyone keeps talking, then we can keep the issue in people’s minds and hopefully keep them reaching into their pockets.

If you have any ideas/suggestions for great charities to donate to for the Pakistan flooding crisis, please comment below!

The Song; The Memory: "Atlantic City" by Bruce Springsteen

The first time I went to Atlantic City, someone committed suicide by jumping from a 5 storey parking garage and our bus was diverted around the police and ambulance, so we had to run and catch it from a different hotel/casino combo, but my bag got caught in one of those stupid turnstile door things and we nearly got left behind. I didn’t see the suicide, because just as the poor soul was jumping, I was mesmerised by a homeless man digging into the trash can in front of me, where he found the remnants of a cheeseburger and started eating. That was before the screaming and shouting and alarms. It’s hard to know what to do when someone has ended their life as you watch a homeless man eat from a trash can.

I haven’t thought too much about that day, at the end of our two night stay in the place my $2 boardwalk-purchased T-shirt calls “Ultimate Paradise”. I was living in New York City, and my friend (and fellow everythingpopulariswrong.net blogger) Kelly came to stay with me. As a thank you for the free accommodation, Kelly offered to treat me to a weekend away from the city. She chose Atlantic City, based on the terrific experience we’d had in Vegas the previous year. We knew, of course, that Atlantic City was Vegas-lite. We had no expectations beyond some fun gambling, a nice hotel, checking out the ocean, and some good food (and salt water taffy for yours truly). All things being fair, I’d have to admit a trip to Atlantic City was almost like a challenge for Kelly and I. Just how funny will this weekend be? Just how Jersey-trashy and over-the-top? How many big-haired gambling addicts would we encounter? Yay!

The Boardwalk. Giant human stollers

not shown

The song Atlantic City by Bruce Springsteen is one of my favourites. It appears on the 1982 Nebraska album, and is one of those perfect, evocative Springsteen treats. It’s kind of a downer, actually, but I love it. It depicts a young couple's escape to Atlantic City as the man intends to take a job with a mob boss once arriving. The refrain: "Everything dies, baby, that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back” pretty much sums up the mood. I love the chorus: “Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City”. But the song has a sort of rousing, tragic, inevitability. Things will not end well for this couple.

I should have expected that underneath the beauty of the boardwalk, beach, swish restaurants, and truly excellent outlet shopping, Atlantic City would evoke much of the feeling of Springsteen’s song. He’s a master, and he knows how to capture a mood like no-one else (except perhaps Dylan). Kelly and I had a terrific time in Atlantic City. We ate crab cakes and drank cocktails, spent too much money shopping, wandered the boardwalk, admired the view, and had a giggle at the fun “Jersey-ness” of the place. But always, always, there was something else going on. The gloss of the casinos on the glistening shoreline couldn’t veil the hoards of homeless people asking for change, or the miserable sight of pensioners shoving their money into slot machines, waiting for that one last sign of good luck. We listened to Springsteen sing about this place, and his words could not have been truer; the tragedy of that last day undercutting the light and dark, the incredible mood, of his song. Strange days indeed.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The Never Ending Election Campaign

Gillard and Abbott: all talk, no policies.

I don’t know about you – but I’m officially over the Australian Federal Election campaign. Just get us a Prime Minster already. It’s not that I don’t respect our democratic process, in fact, I love it. I’ve just had enough. So in an effort to wrap up the election that seems like it will never end…I’ve compiled my own list of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

I will spare you all the ‘hung’ Parliament puns, which have been done to death in the past few days. And I’ve tried to keep the list a little balanced, but you might notice the Bad and the Ugly columns are pretty full. I think that pretty much sums up this election as a whole....

The Good

Social media emerges as a major player. This really was the first election where people (and not just journalists) engaged in debate and expression over the election campaign through social media like Twitter and Facebook. We even saw a couple of the major TV networks attempt to use a Twitter feed to broadcast public opinion during debates. It didn’t quite work – but it was a sure sign social media is here to stay. Never before have we seen an election where you could tweet Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) and tell her exactly what you thought. Sure, one of her press secs may have read it – but apparently she did start writing her own Tweets and even using hash tags (# topic identifiers) towards the end of the campaign. Labor seemed to get the message on social media and its importance by the end of the campaign - but the Coalition didn't get there at all. Tony Abbott didn't join the Twitterverse and obviously the party didn't see it as an important way to reach voters. The Coalition clearly need to move out of the dark ages.

Wyatt Roy the young gun. The 20-year-old has all but won the seat of Longman north of Brisbane; postal votes are still to be counted but Wyatt pretty much has it in the bag. I know he’s young and people will argue that he’s too young, no life experience, blah blah. But maybe the Australian Parliament could use some young positive naivety from a Gen Y-er. You go Wyatt. Just ignore the haters.

Wilson Tuckey is out. The maverick West Australian MP has made some appalling contributions to Australian political life during his time, but thankfully, we won’t have to listen to him anymore. He’s been accused of being acutely racist and even resorted once to calling Kim Beazley a ‘fat so and so’ whilst having a debate about an immigration issue. The fact that he lost his seat shows that all is not lost for a positive, progressive Australia. Great job WA voters.

A Greens candidate wins the seat of Melbourne. The Greens will no longer be referred to as ‘the party you waste a vote on’. The win by former lawyer Adam Bandt sends a warning shot to the major parties. The Greens are now (and some will argue were already) a real alternative to the major parties and can no longer be pigeon-holed as lefty greenies who don’t win seats.


The Bad

The ‘Real’ Julia. This was not a great choice of strategy for Labor. They clearly saw that the election campaign was not moving in their direction and that the media and public were sick of the spin. Julia’s attempt to free herself from this simply confused people and raised the question, who was she being for the first couple of weeks of the campaign when she wasn’t the 'Real Julia’? In her attempt to be the ‘real’ Julia we got ‘More of the Same Julia', and given the result (or lack of) at the polls in Saturday, neither were up to scratch for voters.

The debate about the debate. The back and forth between Tony and Julia on how many debates to have, when to have them and what to debate about became farcical towards the end of the campaign. Will someone just lock the pollies into debates and topics and end the pain for us all? I’d rather read stories about what their policies are, than how many debates we need to have and what they will or won’t be about. And it’s not the political journos’ fault. They are reporting on what’s going on day to day on the campaign trail – and if that sort of tripe is dominating the day, in the place of real policies, then we all lose. However, I think that with this election campaign, no matter what the trivial distractions were, we were never really going to see any real, solid policies.

The first hung Parliament in about 70 years. This is bad, if only because we don’t have a resolution yet. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is exhausted by the length of this election campaign. I know it shows democracy at work, and for that reason in itself it’s a great thing, but it will affect a lot more things than who is PM. It has the potential to affect economic stability. Confidence in our economy may suffer due to uncertainty about policy decisions. And it’s very likely that even if a minority government is formed, we could be sent to the polls again very soon (within the normal 3 or so years). It’s a pretty unstable situation.

The iPod Files: Heavy Rotation (Vampire Weekend)

I’ve been very confused lately. I just don’t understand how this has happened. How in the hell have I never listened to any of Vampire Weekend’s music until this last month? What on earth have I been listening to for the last two years?

My friend Erin and I have been on a bit of a concert kick this year. A sort of unofficial New Year’s resolution to see as many bands live this year as we possibly can – 2010: The Year of the Gig. Before we were off to see another great band, The Temper Trap, we were filling our evening with vodka and pizza and listening to music and Erin had put on some Vampire Weekend. Well damn! I love when you listen to something for the first time and it just fills you with this complete sense of joy and energy. So much fun! I knew she’d been a fan for a while and even had seen them live when they toured this year, but I had no idea what their sound was. I think in retrospect that I’d always been dismissive as I’d heard their name and thought they were some Twilight heavy emo-styled band. And now all I feel is a super case of jealousy. For if ever there was a band that is meant to be seen live – that is Vampire Weekend!

Formed by four fairly preppy-indie guys from Columbia University, Vampire Weekend’s music invokes old-school Paul Simon albums mixed with Afro-pop stylings. Their songs almost go hand-in-hand with Simon’s Graceland album. I’m not the most musically literate person on the planet, but if a song is catchy, has a great hook and crisp melodies, I’m sold. And Vampire Weekend fills that quota: fun, playful, and smart enough to pull it all off with aplomb.

Personal faves from their two albums, the self-titled Vampire Weekend (2008) and their latest Contra (2010), include M79, Walcott, Mansard Roof, Horchata and Holiday. There’s something about a cello solo in the middle of a song that is just fantastic!

Both albums are on heavy rotation on my iPod at the moment and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Their music simply makes me want to dance and spin – I may or may not have already freaked out a few people as I’ve walked home skipping and singing along to myself. I can’t wait until summer so I can listen to their albums as they really should be – out in the sunshine with a nice refreshing glass of Pimms in my hand.

I dare you to listen to Walcott and not want to dance!

TV shows that rocked my world: Deadwood

Al and Bullock get serious at the Gem

I’m fairly certain that if it wasn’t for a subscription TV channel, I would have never given Deadwood past its first episode. In fact, I think it’s fairly safe to say that there’s never been anything quite like Deadwood.

Created by David Milch and running just 3 seasons (from 2004 – 2006), Deadwood is set in the 1870s in South Dakota, before (and after) the area’s annexation by the Dakota Territory. It shows the town’s growth from camp to town, covering broad themes like law and order, government and politics, business, and power. A huge ensemble cast breathes life into the grime and grit of the camp, with Timothy Olyphant’s Sherriff Seth Bullock and Ian McShane’s saloon owner Al Swearengen leading a charge of wonderful performances by terrific character actors. Deadwood is populated by true historical figures, including Bullock and Swearengen, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Charlie Utter, and George Hearst. The historical truth of these characters is served up by Milch with a healthy dose of artistic license. And here is where Deadwood’s genius lies.

Sol and Trixie

 I had the chance to see Deadwood, all three seasons, back to back on Australian pay TV channel Showcase. Deadwood was on each weeknight at 7.30, and when the advertisements came to my attention, I was reminded it was one of those shows I’d always “meant” to see. You know the ones, we all have them, but late-night TV scheduling, or the  failure of commercial networks to air the great HBO shows at all, conspire against us. The advent of TV-on-DVD has certainly helped with series’ many of us would have otherwise missed out on. Deadwood on each weeknight was as good as a DVD for me! So I settled in for the first episode… and couldn’t understand a word they were saying. These people were speaking in some bizarre bastardisation of Shakespeare, with sentences and words inverting and swirling in on themselves, making a kind of peculiar poetry from phrases sometimes so vulgar I couldn’t believe my ears. The cursing and swearing was confronting (despite my knowledge of Deadwood’s reputation for foul language), but in the setting, made a sort of perfect sense as part of the lawlessness of the show. I’ve since read that Milch intended for his cast to use the curse words of the time, but they seemed to our modern ears to be more blasphemous than anything, and so the decision was made to give the words their full modern impact. And thus, C-bombs and F-bombs scatter the script like raindrops. And so it wasn’t the language in that sense that confused me. The show was going to take some getting used to, and I vowed to keep at it. Boy, am I glad I did.

The men of Deadwood

Deadwood fast became my favourite TV show. It is ugly, grimy, and offensive. The depth and smell of the place almost reeks from the screen. The characters are, with a few exceptions, deceitful, selfish, anarchistic, and so very human. The storyline is compelling and sometimes shocking. Death, mud, gunshots, scheming, drinking, and whoring are relentless. Deadwood has perhaps 40 speaking characters, and only about 5 of them are women. Two of those women are prostitutes. The acting is, almost without exception, first-rate. Milch has trusted his actors to deliver his precious and wholly original script, a script that often brought me to tears. The trick, I learnt after that first episode, is to watch with subtitles. To truly appreciate and love Deadwood is to truly appreciate and love language. For as gritty and foul as that language may be, it is also poetry in motion. The machinations of the script have been written like a sort of concerto. No television program, before or since, has had such an impact on me. I bought the DVDs, and have watched them countless times since. I’ve memorised sections of script and my favourite quotes, like I’d do with Tennyson or Dickinson.

Jane and Charlie. Probably thinking
about Joanie.

It’s not just the beauty of the screenplay, but the fantastic performances that sell you on Deadwood. A cast of characters to break your heart. Such perfect moments from such perfect actors: Robin Weigert’s drunken and kind-hearted Calamity Jane. Brad Dourif’s Doc Cochran, doing what he can under extreme circumstances. The burgeoning relationship between John Hawkes’ Sol Star and Paula Malcomson’s Trixie. The not-so-subtle rivalry between Al’s go-to men, W. Earl Brown’s Dan Dority and Titus Welliver’s Silas Adams. The scenes between the reformed madam, Kim Dickens’ Joanie, and the compassionate Charlie Utter, played by Dayton Callie, he boyishly in love with her, she so tentatively branching out on her own. The moments as Molly Parker’s Alma Garret makes critical choices like starting her bank, for the good of the camp, only to come up against the pure evil of Gerald McRaney’s George Hearst. The pathetic worm-like moments of attempted scheming from William Sanderson’s E. B. Farnham. It’s the people that make the town, and Milch knows it.

I’m so glad I gave Deadwood a chance. Re-watching offers even more rewards, as subplots and line readings you may have missed the first time around suddenly come into focus. In the end though it’s this simple scene, featuring a pep talk the incomparable McShane's Al gives newspaperman Merrick after Merrick's been beaten, that is my favourite of all 3 Deadwood seasons. It still brings a tear to my eye. “Pain or damage don’t end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings..” Sublime. Comments below!