Before Yellowstone: The Gritty HBO Western With a 92% Rotten Tomatoes Score You Probably Missed

In this wonderful age of streaming, there’s no way of avoiding whatever hot new show is about to hit the latest service. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, because audiences worry that if they do avoid something for even a minute, they are going to suddenly be behind by three or four shows they might want to watch. It is such a prolific age in TV that every kind of story in every genre is on cable and streaming platforms. However, it wasn’t always like that, and it wasn’t even that long ago that television was figuring out its cinematic form. Nowadays, when fans think of shows that do certain genres better than most, there are a few titles here and there that come to mind. Specifically, when they think of Westerns on TV, no shows do it better than the Yellowstone shows by Taylor Sheridan. However, when TV was evolving and the cinematic shows audiences are so used to today were just starting out, the Western genre had its watershed series as much as the gangster genre had The Sopranos.

Before streaming, cable TV was the model for the new “golden age” that has led to the prolific wave that has taken over television screens today. HBO specifically changed the game with shows like The Sopranos, The Wire and Oz. However, in the mid-2000s, they released another classic cable series that brought the first cinematic Western to TV. Helping to shape TV as much as any other show during that time, Deadwood was one of the best shows around. For a short period of time, it was the quintessential Western drama, and it redefined the genre on TV forever. Fans are either quick to forget the series or simply haven’t seen it, but Deadwood was an influential HBO gem, and without it, there’s no way of knowing whether shows like Yellowstone would even exist. Fans of great cinematic dramas and Westerns need to check out Deadwood at least once. They will quickly utter the name Al Swearengen alongside the likes of Tony Soprano, Tyrion Lannister and John Dutton.

Deadwood Combined Fiction and History for An Epic Western Saga

There are a lot of different reasons fans should check out Deadwood, but perhaps for no other reason than it did the Wild West on TV before the popular Yellowstone prequels. In recent years, there has been no greater example of how to do Westerns cinematically than with the Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone shows. Whether a contemporary Western or conventional Western, fans are thoroughly enjoying what Sheridan has been doing on Paramount+. However, when cinematic TV was just starting out, The Sopranos and The Wire were doing the definitive crime dramas, while Deadwood was doing the definitive Western for the new age of the medium.

Not only does the series feature one of Ian McShane’s greatest performances ever, it also highlighted Timothy Olyphant’s skills in the genre just a few years before he did Justified. Before the likes of Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, it was actually Al Swearengen who was best known for drinking often, knowing things and delivering either iconic monologues or memorable one-liners. McShane’s embodiment of the role was everything, and it helped shape the series into a tight-knit character piece each and every episode. The way the relationships of the characters developed and the town of Deadwood evolved was truly something special to experience each season. The moral lines were certainly thin, and the conflicts were certainly unpredictable in a Wild West landscape like the one that is portrayed.

Top-Rated Deadwood Episodes IMDB Rating
Season 1, Episode 12 – Sold Under Sin 9.1/10
Season 3, Episode 5 – A Two-Headed Beast 9.0/10
Season 2, Episode 12 – Boy-the-Earth-Talks-To 8.9/10
Season 3, Episode 11 – The Catbird Street 8.9/10
Season 1, Episode 4 – Here Was a Man 8.8/10
Season 1, Episode 10 – Mister Wu 8.8/10

One of the key elements of Deadwood that made it so special was that it followed a format that other HBO series would, where they would combine fiction and history to allow for intricate storylines in the series. Very often in Deadwood, historical figures would pop up in town and either cause trouble or lend a hand. Wild West figures such as “Wild Bill” Hickok, E. B. Farnum and even Wyatt Earp show up at different points throughout the series. They’re not the only ones, either, as much of the main cast is also made up of real-life historical figures. This adds an element of authenticity to the series that is essential to the show’s success.

The way Deadwood evolved over the course of its three seasons is a big reason why it kept audiences hooked. The character dynamics made people feel like they were visiting a town that was as accurate as it must have been in reality. The various establishments, roles, and systems that made the deeply corrupted community run were most likely exactly what people could have expected from a Wild West environment in America. Deadwood was a hit, and it has its run, but it remains one of the biggest talking points to this day why something so rich with substance met a controversial and abrupt end in 2006.

Deadwood Was Abruptly Canceled In 2006 Before Its Fourth Season

Al and Seth have a drink together and discuss strategy in Deadwood.
Image via HBO

There have been many examples over the years of quality shows getting canceled for one reason or another. However, given the time in which Deadwood was released, it still remains one of the most shocking cancellations. Cable TV’s cinematic form was quickly attracting viewers everywhere, but naturally, not everyone was willing to pay for cable in order to watch. There were only specific shows that could draw more subscriptions, and, unfortunately, Deadwood wasn’t one of them. Fans who enjoyed The Sopranos were enjoying Deadwood, but there were also plenty of households that were ready to cancel their HBO subscription as soon as the hit gangster series was done for the season.

Still, given how brilliant Deadwood was, it was still shocking when it abruptly came to an end in 2006, just when it was starting to heat up even more. The beauty of the series was that it slowly developed into a story about people willing to do anything to protect and control their home. Deadwood starts out as a typical law vs lawless story where Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) is pitted against Al Swearengen (Ian McShane). However, as the series progresses, Bullock and Swearengen unite as well as other characters once opposing each other in the town of Deadwood. They find a system that works, and they find a way to maintain order and power in their community.

This is when things start getting interesting, because all the major conflicts start to encroach from the outside of the town. Suddenly, the story becomes about a unified band of Wild West anti-heroes working together to protect their home from exterior enemies. The third season of the series specifically pushes the drama in this direction and forces a lot of interesting character decisions and actions. The main antagonist of the season is real-life figure George Hearst, who attempts to impose his will on the community and destroy everything that the characters have built thus far. Hearst goes head-to-head with the main characters but also finds ways to pit them against each other from time to time.

The season leaves audiences on a bit of a high when Al and Seth have united once more and look to defeat Hearst by any means necessary. There was clearly a set-up in place for an epic fourth season before the series was suddenly canceled. Fortunately for fans, Deadwood did eventually continue and conclude the story after years of fans begging for more. An HBO original movie picked things up years later and finally concluded the story. While the movie was fun for fans of the show, it didn’t exactly live up to the aura of the original series. Fans will probably always be left wondering what could have been if Deadwood was allowed to continue.

Yellowstone Is Effectively Following In Deadwood’s Footsteps

James Dutton leads an outfit across America in 1883.
Image via Paramount Pictures

Although the style and identity of the shows are different, Deadwood and Yellowstone are cut from the same cloth. The 2018 Sheridan original was definitely something of a cultural phenomenon as it introduced audiences to an interesting contemporary Western landscape. However, it’s the Yellowstone prequels that have followed suit after the success of Deadwood. It’s not common to get classical Westerns on TV anymore, and since Deadwood, there haven’t been many that come to mind. However, since Taylor Sheridan decided to explore the past of the Dutton family, he has since made two classic Westerns for television.

1883 is the most conventional classical Western and follows the Duttons on their journey West. The show was a hit because of the characters and the historical accuracy that is portrayed. 1883 is exhilarating to experience, but it takes a completely different approach than Deadwood, as it explores a broader landscape of the Old West. Deadwood stays in one area while 1883 moves throughout America in the 1800s. In this way, it is a sprawling epic as well as being a Western. This is also how the follow-up 1923 exists, only with more similarities to Yellowstone, by exploring the Dutton ranch during a difficult conflict. Both shows bring something new to Yellowstone fans while honoring the greatest elements of the Western genre. What Deadwood started with in 2004, the Yellowstone universe has expanded on in recent years.

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