The Chris Moeller Archives

"From another planet entirely"

We'll begin with the Historical Newspaper Account of the Day-- a description of the great Cardinals' "Gas House Gang" of the 1930s, The River Rowdies of the Mississippi:

Frank Graham of the New York Sun, 1935, "They don't shave before a game and most of them chew tobacco. They have thick necks and knotty muscles, and they spit out of the sides of their mouth and then wipe the backs of their hands across their shirt fronts. They fight among themselves and use quaint and picturesque oaths. They are not afraid of anybody. They don't make much money, and they work hard for it. They will risk arms, legs, and necks, their own or the other fellow's, to get it. But they also have a lot of fun playing baseball."

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Most of the same can be said for the "Gas House Gang" of television, the great unwashed denizens of the Dakota Territory, circa 1877, on HBO's "Deadwood." Their third season began last night with another hour-long masterpiece, "Tell Your God to Ready for Blood." I'll swear as much as the show's characters to the fact that I've never read such overwhelming praise for a TV show as I did today and this weekend for David Milch's epic, yet the show's second season was-- for all but one-- shut out of the acting nominations in last fall's Emmys competition and entirely omitted from every 2005 Top 10 TV shows list that I've seen.

The cost of producing the show and HBO's preference that Milch concentrate on his latest network project means that the show's third season will be its last, with only a pair of two-hour specials to follow. Enjoy Ian McShane, Molly Parker, William Sanderson, and Co. while you still can on Sunday nights. Better yet-- proceed to your local video store and catch up with the series on DVD just in time for its 2007 conclusion.

'Nuther of them "San Francisco cocksuckers," Tim Goodman of the Chronicle, gives away no major plot points in this published rave from Friday. Or you should at least make time for Heather Havrilesky's Salon review, delivered with precision in disgusting and glorious "Deadwood"-speak.

posted by CM @ 6:56 PM