Kevin Costner in season 2 of Yellowstone
Though it's often hailed as the savior of the Western genre, the best Western show of the 21st century isn't Yellowstone, it's an HBO original from 14 years prior. Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane's Deadwood came out in 2004, but despite that early start, it immediately set the gold standard for Western television in the 21st century.
Yellowstone is great, but Deadwood is simply better. As a genre, there have been some truly amazing Western shows over the years. From Gunsmoke to Longmire, Westerns have almost as long of a legacy on the small screen as they do in film. Westerns have also gotten a revival in recent years, largely thanks to the success of Yellowstone. As such, crowning the genre's best show since 2000 is no easy feat. Still, Deadwood takes the title rather easily. Why Deadwood Is The 21st Century's Best Western TV Show Deadwood isn't just the best Westerns of the 21st century, there's a strong case to be made that it's one of the best Westerns of all time and one of the best television shows ever made. Deadwood follows fictionalized versions of real historical figures and events centering around the frontier town of Deadwood, South Dakota. The town's power players vie for independence and control over the boomtown with political maneuvers, violence, and smooth-talking. Deadwood's greatest strength and the reason it's the best Western of the 21st century is its complexity. It's simultaneously a gripping political thriller, an intimate romance, a shootout-filled actioner, and so much more. Deadwood is filled with complex characters — played by an all-star cast — that all intertwine with one another, have their own goals, motivations, and massive personalities, and make the simplest problems into top-tier television. Deadwood also works as a prime example of several different parts of the Western genre. It's at once a revisionist Western, with its gritty and realistic depiction of the American frontier, and a classic Western, with its depiction of real-life icons like Wild Bill Hickok. It's both a love letter to the genre and a deconstruction of it. If you like any kind of Western, you'll like something about Deadwood. In comparison to Deadwood, Yellowstone feels like a soap opera. The tense family dynamics of the Duttons and the sprawling, generational story presented by the Yellowstone spinoffs are a novel story, but it's still not as complex or gripping as Deadwood. The writing and dialogue, as well, can't hold a candle to Deadwood's fast-paced and flowery language, or its many interlinked webs of intrigue. The Western Genre In The 21st Century Is Thriving More On TV Than In Movies Deadwood also started something of a trend in the 21st century. Historically, Westerns have dominated as movies. The early days of Hollywood were filled with Westerns, and the genre had a huge revival in the 1970s, with a smaller revival in the 1990s. In the 21st century, however, Western movies have largely failed. Take, for example, Kevin Costner's Horizon quadrology, which performed so poorly at the box office that it was canceled after a single movie. There are some notable exceptions, like Django: Unchained, but hit Western movies are few and far between. Conversely, Westerns have had an amazing track record on television since 2000. Starting with Deadwood, the 21st century has given us some great Western shows. Justified, Hell on Wheels, Yellowstone, Dark Winds, Outer Range, and even sci-fi Westerns like The Mandalorian and Firefly all prospered in the 21st century. Related 8 Western TV Shows That Are Perfect From Start To Finish From gritty classics to modern gems, these Western TV shows deliver nonstop drama and action that stay captivating from first episode to last. Posts 14 By Tom Russell Yellowstone has also sparked another resurgence in the Western genre on the small screen. Taylor Sheridan himself has contributed several Western shows to the fray, but other streaming services also try to compete with their own offerings, like American Primeval, That Dirty Black Bag, and more. A few shows preceded Yellowstone as well, such as Westworld, Wynona Earp, and Godless. Clearly, the future of the Western genre is on the small screen and not in the theater. Deadwood and shows like it changed the game and made the longer, episodic format of television fit more to the Western genre. Now, Western fans want longer, more in-depth stories than movies are capable of providing. In that way, Deadwood wasn't just the Western genre's best of the 21st century, it also changed the genre itself. 46 8.8/10 Deadwood 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Drama Western Release Date 2004 - 2006-00-00 Network HBO Max Showrunner David Milch Writers David Milch Cast See All
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