Thursday 16 February 2012

The West and The Wild West

Hi! I'm back! Back in the New York groove! Grrr get out of my head you brilliant Ace Frehley song you (Also the theme music to NY Ink). 

Last night, I finished watching episode 5 of Alcatraz, and it was the best episode yet. It's gotten to that great point in a series where the intensity is picking up and the story is about to be blown wide open. They have me eagerly anticipating there next move.

Also last night I resumed watching a show I discovered whilst viewing America's Fall lineup preview on youtube. It's called Hell on Wheels.

Hell On Wheels


I hope you all watched the trailer other you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. I've just watched episode 4 and what I have found so far is that this show is solid, not spectacular but solid. I judge every show set in the Wild West by a very high standard. I compare it to Deadwood, and whilst this is a very good show, it doesn't have the same in your face attitude or the grittiness of Deadwood. I know not every show will have the same feel, but really this show so far doesn't really have anything unique about it. It's just a solid wild west revenge story so far. Hey it may prove me wrong and I hope it does. 

The two best things about this show is the acting of Colm Meaney (you can find his long list of excellent work here) who plays Thomas Durant, a ruthless man who will stop at nothing to see his railroad built, and the beat out all competitors. You can tell he is totally invested in the character, and in my opinion is currently out-acting both of the lead roles. Now the second best thing is also an actor, Christopher Heyerdahl (Sanctuary, Supernatural and Stargate: Atlantis). He plays Durant's ruthless and corrupt head of security The Swede. Heyerdahl has done a brilliant job with this character adding little quirks the character making him appear very obsessive and won't stop at anything to prove he's right. He makes a great antagonist for the main character Cullen Bohannan.

This show has potential to be great and I get the feeling around episode 6 will be the jump off point for me. But I hope it can do enough to keep me watching past that point.

Deadwood
 

If you have never seen this show, go now and buy it (or obtain it somehow)! Trust me you won't regret it, and if you do there is something wrong with you, please see a doctor. 

Deadwood is my 2nd favorite TV show of all time. Unfortunately there was only three seasons made, but those three seasons are a masterpiece. I could bang on about this show for hours on end. My mate, who will be known as Dangerous Dave, and I did just that we'd talk about this show and never get bored. The best thing about this show is that it has one of the best casts ever assembled on television and they all play their roles brilliantly. Many of them you may have noticed in your other favourite TV shows, and there's a reason for that because they're awesome! 

Two of my all-time favorite actors in Ian McShane and Brad Dourif are the stand-outs amongst this terrific cast. McShane plays saloon owner and town standover man Al Swearengen (it's appropriate that he has the word "swear" in his last name). Al Swearengen is my third favorite television character, (you know number one from my last post and number two will be revealed in my next post) - if anyone else apart from McShane played the role, it would not have worked. 

Dourif plays Doc Cochran, who is haunted by the ghosts of his past from the civil war. He carries the weight of all the patients he's lost, which somewhat makes him hate what he does and who he is. But on the other hand he will be there to help around the camp as much as he can or is allowed to.

If you do end up watching the show, I have no doubt you be blown away by Timothy Olyphant doing what he does best playing the badass Seth Bullock. Olyphant doesn't have a wide character range, but the one character he does play best is the badass. This is further shown in Justified which is a show I will get to at some stage. But seriously people, if you haven't already, watch this show.



That's all from me today.
MADMIKE OUT!

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