‘Deadwood’ hopes there’s life in the western

At first glance, HBO's new drama "Deadwood," from "NYPD Blue" scribe David Milch, looks like an audacious throwback. Set in Deadwood, S.D., shortly after the battle of Little Big Horn, the show focuses on a dusty collection of characters, many of whom could have hoofed it directly to the set from any other screen western.

There is Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), a hard-hearted ex-marshal who left Montana with his wisecracking partner Sol Star (John Hawkes) to seek another kind of fortune. There is Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the merciless owner of the local booze-and-hookers establishment who would as soon kill you as look at you. There are famous names like Wild Bill Hickok (Keith Carradine) and Calamity Jane (Robin Weigert). The show looks like it could have been shipped in from a much earlier time — well, except for the almost fetishistic reliance on particularly colorful profanities that you won't see in a John Wayne movie.

Given that there hasn't exactly been an avalanche of successful TV westerns in the last 10 years, it's quite a gamble to hope that viewers will embrace one now. But in the end, a whiff of familiarity may actually be a bigger threat to "Deadwood" than a sense that its genre is stale. Milch's challenge may ultimately be less about whether an audience will accept something old and more about whether he can say anything new.

In many ways, ‘The Sopranos’ hints at classic western elements — posses, tortured sheriffs, and the grim pragmatism of having only the devil you know to protect you from the devil you don't.

Take Olyphant's Bullock, who, despite a certain flair for the dramatically violent, is in many ways the classic western brooder. Merciless with lawbreakers but not without sympathy for adorable little children, his mind clearly sorts the just violence from the unjust violence without a lot of hesitation. He believes in order, if not law. While Olyphant and James Gandolfini could hardly be more different in type, there is a shade of Tony Soprano in Bullock's blend of brutality and fair process.

In fact, "The Sopranos" is, more generally, a fairly obvious ancestor of "Deadwood." It is, after all, television's most beloved moral quagmire, in and out of which stomp a colorful collection of greedy, aggressive, often bumbling guys living by a complicated set of rules of engagement that they themselves often seem not to understand. In many ways, it hints at classic western elements — posses, tortured sheriffs, and the grim pragmatism of having only the devil you know to protect you from the devil you don't.

And despite its slick, metallic, thumping-soundtrack style, spy drama "Alias" shares elements both with westerns generally and with "Deadwood" in particular. The theme of "Deadwood," after all, is lawlessness. The town is an illegal settlement in Indian country, what law enforcement it has is purely improvised, and there is little authority beyond who draws faster. Although Sydney Bristow is part of an official government agency, she and her team generally operate in a gray area between nobility and treachery, making grim compromises that would be unfamiliar to a traditional police officer. In this sense, "Deadwood" also calls to mind "The Shield" and its portrayal of law enforcement as residing somewhere south of perfectly honorable.

"Deadwood" also sometimes seems to reference producer David Milch's most famous offspring, "NYPD Blue." Not only is there a distracting fascination with profanity and the occasional naked butt, but there are thoughtful men of few words, driven to act rather than explain. Milch has always had a feel for fiercely private guys and the bonds they tentatively form, and early hints of a nervous collaboration between Bullock and Hickok to create some loose sense of order in town have promise.

Novelty won't last
Unfortunately, not every echo in "Deadwood" is of a show with a distinguished, groundbreaking pedigree. Trixie (Paula Malcolmson), one of Swearengen's most valuable prostitutes, is a caricature, at least in early episodes — a twitchy, miserable, abused soul who is very reminiscent of a similar character on, of all things, "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." The scenes between her and Swearengen are the closest Milch comes to tumbling over a cliff into melodrama.

‘Deadwood’ is an interesting experiment. A cop show without badges, a spy show without international intrigue, a mob show without Jersey.

Similarly, wealthy East Coast dandy Brom Garret (Timothy Omundson) and his spoiled, vice-ridden wife Alma (Molly Parker) do little in their early scenes but the things you would expect. Blow into town with big money? Check. Spread it around in a way that ticks off the local thug? Check. Discuss how wonderful it's all going to be? Check. Express fascination with quaint Wild West rituals like spitting in one's hand to seal a bargain? Check. There is not much to these characters in the early going. Not only could the Garrets have come from almost every western with big-city know-nothings in it, but they could also have come from "Titanic," "My Fair Lady," and quite possibly certain episodes of "Gilligan's Island."

Westerns, ultimately, are somewhat formulaic by definition. The cues that are there are meant to be there — the well-timed tip of the hat, the card game with the barroom piano playing in the background, and the toothless halfwit trying to put one over on the calm and unamused outlaw.

It's easy not to see much innovation here, and to envision "Deadwood" as little more than the inevitable coming together of all of HBO's favorite things — violence ("The Sopranos"), death ("Six Feet Under"), dirt ("Carnivale"), and untrustworthy men ("Sex and the City"). What will be more interesting will be to watch the quality of the story over time. Milch is well on his way to creating some interesting characters (particularly Bullock and the town doctor, played by the indispensable Brad Dourif, of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"), but there is only so much brooding and ominous staring that one can watch before it becomes conspicuous. The storytelling will need to improve, because the novelty won't last.

"Deadwood" is an interesting experiment. A cop show without badges, a spy show without international intrigue, a mob show without Jersey — it seems to be playing off a lot of models simultaneously. Thus this revisiting of a genre that's been gone for years feels more like a retread of a lot of recent shows about violence and compromise. Its toughest battle may not be fitting in — it may be distinguishing itself from the field.

Linda Holmes is a writer living in Bloomington, Minn.

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