This revisionist Western is a mix of fictional and historical narratives about how law, society, and America came to South Dakota in the late 1800s. We talk about how the show's creator, David Milch, got from Ancient Rome to the Dakota gold rush, and all the lines he crossed to get there.

Sources

Deadwood, Generic Transformation, and Televisual History by Allison Perlman
THE WAY OUT WEST: DAVID MILCH & IAN MCSHANE ON DEADWOOD by Damien Love
Singer, Mark (February 14, 2005). "The Misfit". The New Yorker.
Andreeva, N. (2003, January 7). HBO, Milch mine "Deadwood" for Western series. (News). The Hollywood Reporter, 376(39), 5.
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https://www.avclub.com/keith-carradine-on-deadwood-fargo-and-madonna-1798250077
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David Milch at Yale: An Interview by Nathaniel Lewis