Grit

Last weekend I finally finished watching the HBO series Deadwood. It only lasted 3 seasons (and I think it should have gone on for at least another one or two). I absolutely adored it. I started watching about a month or so ago and when I first started, I thought that I should recommend it to my parents (despite its often offensive language). I also encouraged a friend to purchase it for her father as a Christmas gift. I hope that was the right thing to do.

The thing is, both my parents have a history of liking westerns. This is particularly true of my father who inherited his love of the wild west from his grandfather. Bud-o was always reading some western novel or another and I think this influenced my dad. The only problem is that my father's preferred western genre shows include Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie. Yes, my dad is a proud Michael Landon fan. The harshest words spoken on either of those programs was probably "dang-it".

Now, there are some authentic-looking cowboys and mountains

This just about made me cry, and if you watch to the end you'll see what I'm going to talk about next!

My mother is right there with him. Although she just generally likes her shows to have "clean" people on them. She is, for some reason, completely averse to watching historical fiction in which the characters are perpetually dirty. Her desire for verisimilitude does not extend to rules of hygiene. Oddly enough, I think she could get past the dirty language if these people weren't so dirty themselves.

So, to my friend who I encouraged to buy the DVDs, I hope your dad likes them. I apologize if I misled you in any way. My enthusiasm came from my genuine enjoyment of the series.