Does it seem to anybody else that HBO is trying to resurrect this aspect of the studio system? It's almost like HBO shows are shot in a small village populated entirely by character actors willing to drop everything and put on a show. To wit:
- Dayton Callie delivered goods on the frontier (Charlie Utter, Deadwood) and drugs and beatdowns in Imperial Beach (Steady Freddie, John from Cincinnati);
- Paula Malcomson slung hash in IB (JFC) and slung something else in Deadwood (Trixie, Deadwood);
- Branka Katic proposed sex for financing to Vinnie Chase (Nika, Entourage) and pie for a date with a polygamist (Ana, Big Love);
- Paul Ben-Victor ran a studio (Alan, Entourage), a cargo-smuggling enterprise (Vondos, The Wire), and drugs (Palaka, JFC);
- Jim Beaver married for a woman's honor (Ellsworth, Deadwood), shopped his gambling machines to warring polygamists (Reese, Big Love), and struggled with Vietnam guilt (Vietnam Joe, JFC);
- Garret Dillahunt killed Wild Bill (Jack McCall, Deadwood),
got killed in a case of mistaken identity (Slippery Dan -- or maybe Bummer Dan; I can see the problem -- Deadwood),came back as a self-deprecatingly psychopathic Hearst advance man (Wolcott, Deadwood), and gave up his medical practice because of a miracle (Dr. Smith, JFC); - Willie Garson had man troubles (Stanford Blatch, Sex and the City) and woman troubles (Dickstein, JFC);
- Luis Guzman tended a shithole (Ramon, JFC) and possibly was incarcerated in one (El Cid, Oz*);
- Austin Nichols started shit (Morgan Earp, Deadwood) and ended it (John, JFC);
- Matt Winston won the lotto (Barry, JFC) and also did something* (Terry, Six Feet Under) and something else* (Jeremy, Arlis$)
- Edie Falco investigated crimes* (Detective Whittlesey, Oz) and looked the other way (Carmela, Sopranos);
- Lance Reddick kicked ass in a usually but not always politically-sensitive way (Lt. Daniels, The Wire) and had somethign to do with a prison* (Desmond, Oz);
- Luke Perry wore the collar (Rev. Jeremiah, Oz) and wore a collarless leather jacket (Linc, JFC);
- Malin Ackerman went topless a lot (Juna - The Comeback) and had a threesome with E (Tori, Entourage) (along with nympho hillbilly in Harold & Kumar, typecast much?)
Granted, a lot of this is just David Milch, Tom Fontana, and David Simon sharing a stable of actors, but I suppose that's exactly what I'm talking about. Plus, I kind of like this. It permits a sort of interim emotional connection to the characters until the new characters seem real.
*Note: did not watch this show, so I don't know exactly what the actor did.
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