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Caught both The Sopranos and Deadwood tonight on the HBO. First off, it looks like The Sopranos is really starting to hit its stride this season after a lackluster effort last season. I'm starting to remember why I liked the show in the first place. After last season, I felt I was just watching out of habit and not enjoying a thing, but the entertainment has returned. As for Deadwood, I have to admit that the show got off to a slow start, but has really turned it on in the past few weeks. Amber didn't even make it through the first episode before walking away out of boredom - and I didn't particularly blame her. However, I fell in love with the character of Seth Bullock, the ex-lawman turned hardware salesman. His bizarre thoughts on justice seemed rooted in a rock-solid moral code, however it's one that I'm completely unfamiliar with. He executed a man in the first five minutes of the series for horse-stealing - which I don't believe is exactly fair - but seems to do it mostly so the mob gathering outside his jail can't do it themselves. It's almost a spite execution, which as we get to know him seems quite out of character. Anyway, much like The Wire, the show has taken off like a rocket, racing forward with compelling plot and characters in a way that no drama besides The Wire has. I know, I can't believe that I'm saying it, but it just might be that good. In related news, it looks like the first season of The Wire may be coming out on DVD later this month! Rest assured, I will be purchasing it at the first possible moment and I highly recommend everyone within the sound of these ramblings to either go out and rent it, pick it up, or borrow it from me. How good is The Wire? Well, if you read the earlier Deadwood link on Bullock, you would have seen that the reason he (the actor, Timothy Olyphant) starting looking for a TV job in the first place was that he got cable for the first time and starting watching The Wire because the lead actor, Dominick West, was his friend. The first season so blew him away that he told his agent to look for something on TV that might be as good as The Wire. Thus Deadwood. P.S. Major points to Deadwood for the repeated use of the word reconnoiter. And yes, I had to look it up. (Although you can clearly guess the meaning from context in the show)