'Wood' Not So Dead

The first season of "Deadwood" is the finest TV ever made. The only things that interrupts the constant flow of smacktalk are scenes of people getting shot in the face or bashing each other's heads in. The characters are all such dirty bastards that you can practically smell their rancid, whiskey-drowned breath through the TV speakers. Everyone in the show is adamantly racist, sexist, unkempt and pretty much outright evil. When they tell each other "see you in hell," they really mean it. The dialogue is so rich that the scripts are veritable Cowboy Shakespeare.

"Deadwood" is the ultimate evolution of the Western, and anything John Ford ever did was just practice for this HBO awesomeness, which unfortunately was supposed to be cancelled after the conclusion of season three, which digs in its spurs next week.

But like a lonely sheriff galloping into town at sunset to set things right, series creator David Milch has worked out a deal with HBO to extend the series past season three. We'll have to settle for two two-hour specials instead of Milch's planned fourth season, but some sense of closure will be better than nothing. Of course, if season three continues the downward trend of the brilliant but somewhat slow second go-round, it'll be tough to get excited for the "Deadwood" remainders.