Deadwood movie gets green lit. | The Boneyard

Deadwood movie gets green lit.

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Awesome news. A great reason to rewatch one of the best shows of all time.
 

Fishy

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It is ridiculous that Deadwood was pulled from the air because the same creative team decided to do John from Cincinnati instead. How does someone make that decision?

John from Cincinnati: HBO Series Cancelled, Good News for Deadwood? - canceled TV shows - TV Series Finale

HBO wanted Deadwood over - they offered Milch the chance to do a shortened six-episode season and he refused.

Basically, it was too expensive.

Deadwood series creator David Milch has said, “I am deeply disappointed by the way things turned out. (HBO) felt like they had to make a choice, and this is how they chose. I know they tried to work it out, and I tried to work it out with them.” It’s been confirmed that HBO offered to greenlight a small six-episode order of the groundbreaking drama but Milch, who has had bad experiences with so-called “short-order renewals,” rejected the offer. “For my part, I did not want to accept a short order. We couldn’t have done the work the way we wanted. I didn’t want to limp home. My old man used to say, ‘Never go anyplace where you’re only tolerated,'” relates Milch. One source has reported that Milch had already plotted the fourth (presumed final) season episodes.
 

nelsonmuntz

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HBO wanted Deadwood over - they offered Milch the chance to do a shortened six-episode season and he refused.

Basically, it was too expensive.

Deadwood series creator David Milch has said, “I am deeply disappointed by the way things turned out. (HBO) felt like they had to make a choice, and this is how they chose. I know they tried to work it out, and I tried to work it out with them.” It’s been confirmed that HBO offered to greenlight a small six-episode order of the groundbreaking drama but Milch, who has had bad experiences with so-called “short-order renewals,” rejected the offer. “For my part, I did not want to accept a short order. We couldn’t have done the work the way we wanted. I didn’t want to limp home. My old man used to say, ‘Never go anyplace where you’re only tolerated,'” relates Milch. One source has reported that Milch had already plotted the fourth (presumed final) season episodes.

I am sticking with it was "John from Cincinnati's" fault.
 
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I'm semi-excited for the film. The big issue is whether the TV stars will be willing and able (with prior commitments) to reprise their roles. Casting was conspicuously vague in the announcement. At the least, they need Olyphant and McShane.
 

JCSuperstar

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Trailer is out, casting looks like a home run. I can't see them doing better short of re-animating Powers Booth.

Embedding and linking isn't working for me, so you'll have to settle for a YouTube search link. It should be the top result from HBO
Deadwood trailer - YouTube
 
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nelsonmuntz

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I need to rewatch the series. Didn't it come off the rails a little in season 3? I know it was cancelled so the producers could make John from Cincinnati, and on some level, I have always held @Fishy responsible for Deadwood's cancellation because he liked John from Cincinnati.
 

Fishy

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I need to rewatch the series. Didn't it come off the rails a little in season 3? I know it was cancelled so the producers could make John from Cincinnati, and on some level, I have always held @Fishy responsible for Deadwood's cancellation because he liked John from Cincinnati.

Deadwood actually died because it was too expensive. HBO was looking for way out of it.

I always thought HBO like the pitches for Milch’s show more than they liked the actual shows. Always seemed like they could not get out of them fast enough.

It did get a little weird in season three. There’s only so many ways you can portray cowboy-era politics before you start to get a little nutty. HBO was probably right to offer a short order for the fourth season.
 

HuskyHawk

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Deadwood actually died because it was too expensive. HBO was looking for way out of it.

I always thought HBO like the pitches for Milch’s show more than they liked the actual shows. Always seemed like they could not get out of them fast enough.

It did get a little weird in season three. There’s only so many ways you can portray cowboy-era politics before you start to get a little nutty. HBO was probably right to offer a short order for the fourth season.

Read an interesting article about how these shows are viewed differently by HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Starz etc. The advertising based broadcast model favored long running shows drawing in repeat viewers with good Nielsen ratings.

The industry analyst said that the cable based shows drop in value at around 3-4 years. Since the old episodes are always there as content, additional seasons don't attract new subscribers or do much to keep existing subscribers. He said to expect very few shows to run more than about 4 seasons. I hadn't thought about it that way. They also make fewer total episodes each season. More shows, fewer episodes of each show is the model for subscription TV.
 
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Deadwood was lightning in a bottle. A big part of that was the depth of characters and plots. Recreating the series in two hours is just impossible. I have no doubt they can meet the standard with language, sets and production values but the need to come to resolution so quickly makes it unlikely it will be satisfying. That said, the heart of the series was the love/hate relationship between Bullock and Swearingen playing out in a totally morally ambivalent setting. Give me a few fireworks there and I'll be happy.
 

nelsonmuntz

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Deadwood actually died because it was too expensive. HBO was looking for way out of it.

I always thought HBO like the pitches for Milch’s show more than they liked the actual shows. Always seemed like they could not get out of them fast enough.

It did get a little weird in season three. There’s only so many ways you can portray cowboy-era politics before you start to get a little nutty. HBO was probably right to offer a short order for the fourth season.

Deadwood was not that expensive to make. The official reason for Deadwood's cancellation was that it was too difficult to coordinate the cast's schedules. The rumored reason was John from Cincinnati. It was probably a combination of factors.

Rome was cancelled because of costs. It was running at over $100 million a season and not getting the viewers to support it. Marco Polo (Netflix) had a similar problem.
 

Fishy

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Deadwood was not that expensive to make. The official reason for Deadwood's cancellation was that it was too difficult to coordinate the cast's schedules. The rumored reason was John from Cincinnati. It was probably a combination of factors.

Rome was cancelled because of costs. It was running at over $100 million a season and not getting the viewers to support it. Marco Polo (Netflix) had a similar problem.

No - it was cost. Large ensemble cast, large set to maintain in California. It was a very expensive show to produce and Milch has trouble with delivering on time. It wasn’t a huge ratings hit - HBO released the cast to seek other work and then offered Milch a six-episode deal to wrap the show up, but he declined.

If Deadwood were to have show up in 2018 instead of 2004, it never would have been canceled. Networks will lose money on tentpole shows these days, but not in those.
 

nelsonmuntz

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No - it was cost. Large ensemble cast, large set to maintain in California. It was a very expensive show to produce and Milch has trouble with delivering on time. It wasn’t a huge ratings hit - HBO released the cast to seek other work and then offered Milch a six-episode deal to wrap the show up, but he declined.

If Deadwood were to have show up in 2018 instead of 2004, it never would have been canceled. Networks will lose money on tentpole shows these days, but not in those.

I looked it up. Deadwood was $4.5 million an episode. Pricey, but not extravagant. Critics loved the show, but the original fanbase never grew.

Rome was clocking in at over $10MM an episode at the same time which put a big target on its back. I was afraid that Game of Thrones would run into the "Rome" problem it's first season and not be renewed, They cut a lot of corners that first season of GoT to bring the whole season in at around $60 million. The Tourney of the Hand looked like a high school play set, and there were not a lot of extras in most scenes. Battles of the Green Fork and Whispering Wood were fought off camera. Beniof, Weiss and Martin had to beg HBO for a real budget for the Battle of Blackwater in Season 2, and they had to give about 50 interviews thanking HBO for the budget, which I thought was kind of weird. The Final Season of GoT will come in under $100 million, which I thought was surprisingly low, athough much of the Battle of Winterfell was CGI which probably helped with costs.

One source on episode costs:


I am shocked at how much Mad Men cost given the small number of sets and how low they paid the actors.
 
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Nice to see the gang back together. I thought it did the show justice. I enjoyed it. Wished it rolled right into another episode.
 

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