6/25 Deadwood - What is "Major Dad" Doing Here?

On last night's Deadwood: Flamboyant theater impresario and old buddy of Al's, Jack Langrishe (Brian Cox), arrives in Deadwood; Mrs. Ellsworth makes an offer to Hearst on her gold claim, which he viciously rejects; a miner trying to organize learns that unions are frowned upon when Hearst arranges to have his legs chopped off; Bullock wants to act but Al is reluctant, considering the last time he met with Hearst he lost a finger; Wu's back!

Mad genius / showrunner David Milch has proven to be Tarantino-esque in his casting of random old dudes as total badasses on this show. Where Quentin gave David Carradine new life as the titular assassin in Kill Bill, Milch figured his brother, Keith Carradine, might work out as another Bill: Wild Bill Hickok. (He worked out great.)

This season will feature the formerly flamey Gale Harold (of Queer As Folk) as Wyatt Earp. Even more notably, a psychotic, power-hungry version of George Hearst (daddy to William Randolph) is played by Gerald McRaney, known best for his virtuosic performance as... Major Dad?

That's right, the star of the early 90s family-friendly sitcom about the man who could control entire platoons but was no match for a hippy-dippy wife and kids! Tell you what, it's a little disconcerting to watch the once-paternal figure drop multiple "n" and "f" bombs in the space of a few moments. But surprisingly, McRaney is downright sinister here and makes a believable foil for the hardest of hardasses in Deadwood.



At this rate, I wait in earnest for Dave Coulier to guest star as Butch Cassidy.

And Jeanette, Deadwood has nothing to do with Sartre. If anything, Alexis de Tocqueville's insights on the development of American capitalism would be more relevant here. ZING!