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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 30, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Deadwood and the Wire belong on this list (above the Sopranos, at least).

The Wire's aesthetics are too repellent for me to countenance; I think I tried Deadwood but it wasn't right for me at the time. May try again. IIRC I found the swearing excessive to the point of obnoxiousness, but maybe that was some other show.

No, the excessive swearing is definitely Deadwood. I found that the language (not just the swearing, but it was part of it) set the environment for me.

No, that sounds like Deadwood lol -- if it makes you like it better, as I recall it was a considered artistic decision in that the characters are basically the underbelly of society and would in fact have been swearing all the time as a class signifier if nothing else. Period-correct swears were considered but came off as sounding quaint and silly, so they went with all-cocksucker-all-the-time.

I'm just not going to immerse myself in that.

Fair, IMO. I did watch Deadwood and considered it okay for a TV show, certainly better than most even if it not quite on the level of Rome, but subpar as a western, precisely because it lacked all the grandeur of the genre and was always so sordid. Maybe that's realistic, but it's not something that I really want.