In celebration of the third and regrettably final season of David Milch’s HBO series Deadwood, The House Next Door will spend this entire week, June 4-11, publishing essays on various aspects of the series. Every day will bring one or more pieces—a mix of reprints of old Star-Ledger stuff, links to new Star-Ledger material and original Deadwood columns by House contributors.
It pretty much goes without saying that if you’re a newcomer to Deadwood, every article appearing during Deadweek will contain spoilers galore.
Offerings include a portrait of the character of Ellsworth, by Barry Maupin; my preview of Season 3, originally published in The Star-Ledger on June 4, 2006, and reprints of my Star-Ledger columns on the Season Two finale and Season Two preview.
As the week plays out and new pieces appear, I’ll compile permanent URL’s of each post in the sidebar at right under the heading, “The Deadwood Columns.” Due to the volume of material that will appear over the next week, I’d suggest that if you’re a Deadhead who is linking to this site, you should link to the main address (www.mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com) and then direct people to the sidebar, where they can peruse all the offerings at once.
Please remember that the comments threads are not just a forum to discuss the series, but also a clearinghouse for all things Deadwood. Feel free to post URL’s directing readers to any Deadwood fan sites or articles on the web that you think might be of interest. And if you get a free moment, email the same link to [email protected], and I’ll add it to a comprehensive list of Deadwood links to be published on Sunday, June 11.
”Sopranos Monday” will continue as always on Monday, June 5, with Sean Burns’ column on the season finale (or is that midseason finale?). Deadwood fans are encouraged to revisit the House on June 12, when “Sopranos Monday” will be replaced by a new regular feature, “Deadwood Monday.”
Finally, a personal note: This project has been in the works for six months with the encouragement and support of my wife, Jennifer Dawson, a student of Deadwood who considered it the greatest drama in the history of American television—an assessment I not only agreed with, but repeated in my Star-Ledger preview of Season Two, reprinted below. This week is dedicated to her.
UPDATE: Variety reports that Deadwood won’t be back as a regular series, but Milch has accepted an offer to do two freestanding two-hour movies wrapping up the narrative. For more information, click here. Also, San Francisco Chronicle TV critic Tim Goodman, one of the sharpest analysts around, writes a provocative piece excoriating both HBO and Milch for getting themselves into this situation, and advising fans, “Too bad about Deadwood, but you’ll live.”
This article was originally published on The House Next Door.
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