I finally finished Deadwood. I haven't seen a show go from so fantastic to "blehhhh" since Twin Peaks. I can still recommend it but there's some serious "Little Nicky/Marsh Family" type shit in the third season. It got cancelled just in time. Has anyone else watched this?

Absolutely loved the series!! I still miss it actually.

Yeah, I wasn't really clear in my original post, but the reason I made the TP analogy is that there were parts in the 3rd season where I was both annoyed/cringing, but it's still better than anything else on TV. Which I never thought I'd feel again after TP.

You know what ended up bugging me the most? The first season had some amazingly good music, and by season 3 they had stopped using music altogether. Very weird. I'd love to know what happened.

because we watched it while it aired over 3 years, i don't think i ever picked up on the lack of music. And thinking back i don't remember having any big cringe moments (like with TP). But then again, my fav character was Swearengen! McShane is such a great actor, and any bad moment for me would've been covered up as soon as they flipped to him. :)

Yeah I basically feel the same way. But holy shit, I was so glad to see the troupe of actors go. Also, the creative team clearly had no idea what to do with: Charlie Utter, Joanie Stubbs, Cy Tolliver, EB, or Jane.  In the case of the latter two it doesn't matter because the characters are so awesome I'd watch them do anything. But those first three should have moved away or died off. There were also a lot of aborted little plots that drove me crazy. The Doc has TB, oh no! Whoops, he's better. Woo going to get men with guns, then coming back the next day with no explanation. It was just a sloppy season.