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Hatfields & McCoys, 9pm tonight, History Channel

Temis the Vorta

Temis the Vorta

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Here's the trailer:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYIWdXYm8bc[/yt]

And a very intriguing review. It's spoilery as far as the premise of the series (and the original reason for the feud), so if you're a real spoiler-phobe, don't read it till at least after the first episode. (I didn't read it after the second paragraph, so I can't vouch for any further spoilers.)

The nonspoilery part:

The three-part History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as heads of feuding southern clans, is so grim and despairing that I had to take a one-day break before the final act and regain my equilibrium. That's a compliment, believe it or not, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a recommendation. This six-hour epic about the most famous feud in U.S. history sticks surprisingly close to the historical record; it's intelligent and mournful, and it never exploits the material for a cheap, violent thrill only to turn around and pretend that it's decrying this sort of behavior.
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I missed the first 20 minutes. I tuned in and some McCoy got shot in the neck. Someone want to fill me in on what came before?
 
Got it recording, will either watch it later tonight or in the morning.
 
I've been looking forward to this ever since they started advertising this. Although I've got a problem with the audio, where the sound is so saturated that I have to turn the thing way up just to hear anything properly. It's something I find to be happening a lot with TV shows lately.
 
Alidar Jarok said:
I missed the first 20 minutes. I tuned in and some McCoy got shot in the neck. Someone want to fill me in on what came before?
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If you missed parts of it and want to watch the whole thing, they're going to air parts 1 and 2 before part 3 on Wednesday, and it looks like they'll air it all in a row on Saturday too.
 
Well meh, we had a thunderstorm and the DVR shut off, so I've missed part of the recording. I've already missed too much, so I don't think I'll bother due to the way the story is presented.
 
I just finished watching the first part. For some reason I thought a mini-series that was on The History channel would'nt be that good, but I was wrong.

I can't wait to see the next two parts.
 
Aldo said:
I just finished watching the first part. For some reason I thought a mini-series that was on The History channel would'nt be that good, but I was wrong.

I can't wait to see the next two parts.
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Maybe it's the start of a turnaround? I'd love it if this were successful, where they see that making something good can count, and that people will watch it. I hope it leads to some other stuff.
 
I was DVRing it, watched about 30 minutes or so and had to go back and restart from the beginning. Got a little lost here and there. As it went on, I really enjoyed it and looking forward to parts 2 and 3. But I do wish they'd done a little better job in the beginning with describing "Who's who?" (hence me being a "little lost"). Going to the History Channel's website helped a lot.
 
I found it a litle slow, but it's six hours so obviously the big happenings are yet to come.

I don't know if it's factual or not, but I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE "Romeo and Juliet" romances on my TV and found myself wishing the Hatfield boy and the McCoy girl would die immediately.
 
^While the details were probably fictionalized somewhat, the romance between Johnse Hatfield and Roseanna McCoy is factual.
 
Alidar Jarok said:
I missed the first 20 minutes. I tuned in and some McCoy got shot in the neck. Someone want to fill me in on what came before?
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"Devil" Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner) and Randall McCoy (Bill Pullman) are both Confederate soldiers in 1863. Anse decides that the war is lost and he sneaks away at night - Randall sees him and tries to dissuade him from leaving, but Anse leaves anyway. Later, their whole regiment (?) is wiped out and only McCoy survives in a prison camp, leaving him embittered at Anse for deserting the cause.

The McCoy who gets shot by Anse's uncle was Randall's brother, who fought for the Union and pissed off the uncle by wearing a Union coat in a bar, but the real reason seemed to be that Randall's uncle is a psycho.

In fact, the whole dispute seems to be more about personality conflicts than any single coherent reason. Anse is a pragmatic striver, focused on making money, who tries to defuse some of the conflict. Randall is a true-believer type and Bible-thumper who takes everything very personally.

I'm enjoying it a lot - it's very well made, if a bit confusing with all the bearded grubby guys. The Romeo & Juliet story is probably necessary or else the whole thing would be overly grim.

The quality of the production makes me hopeful for further historical drama on the channel - both ongoing series and miniseries.
 
^^All involved did a great job on it, and despite my misgivings I liked the first installment a lot. I'm not surprised History could put together a good historical drama given how engrossing i've found many of their documentaries.
 
I love their history documentaries, when they do them! They did a great one on Gettysburg about a year ago. More of that, and less pawn store/swamp people/logging shows, please.
 
No ratings yet, but going by Google searches (the new Nielsens?) they should be strong.

Ratings won't be available until later, but it already looks like Costner might have the last laugh. "Hatfields" was near the top of Google search rankings most of Monday and zoomed to the No. 1 spot around airtime. Meanwhile, another historical drama, HBO's heavily promoted "Hemingway & Gellhorn" with Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman as the title characters, seemed virtually ignored, at least online.
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But what's with the hating-Kevin-Costner thing? :wtf: I thought he was pretty good.
 
But what's with the hating-Kevin-Costner thing? I thought he was pretty good.
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Yeah, I don't get all the Kevin Costner hate. He's done some great stuff, and some horrible stuff, but then again you can say that about most actors.For the record I'm recording the whole thing before I watch it so I can see it all together. And skip the commercials.
 
Ratings are in:

tvline.com

The family feud made a big winner of the History channel on Monday night, as Part 1 of the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries set its crosshairs on ad-supported cable’s largest non-sports audience ever, with more than 13.9 million total viewers.

Among that considerable crowd, 4.8 million fell into the coveted 18-49 category. And the total audience breaks 17 million when you factor in Monday night’s encore.
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