TV Jots

Satellite Network Knows Great TV

If you thought satellite network DIRECTV was outdoing itself by repeatedly collaborating with NBC to renew the critically acclaimed drama Friday Night Lights, you ain’t seen nothing yet. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As I mentioned in a March post, the network also arranged to bring three interesting but short-lived crime dramas back to the small screen, starting last month with the 2006 CBS series Smith. Now that the seven-episode Ray Liotta show has launched and is almost over, coming up soon are the 2006–2007 ABC series The Nine on May 27 and ABC’s 2005–2006 comedy-tinged Eyes in July.

Viewers will not only get to see the episodes that made it to television when the show’s first aired, but also the episodes that were left on the shelf after their early cancellations. You can read my Smith recaps at any time if you feel so inclined. The series’ final produced episode, number seven, premieres on DIRECTV this Wednesday (tomorrow), May 20, at 10pm ET.

If those three shows aren’t enough to get a rise out of a crime drama fan, how about HBO’s classic prison yarn OZ and western scorcher Deadwood? That’s right — DIRECTV is resurrecting both of those shows, too, and offering them uncut, commercial free, and in high definition during The 101 Network‘s Sunday-night lineup, as well as on DIRECTV on DEMAND.

Both series will begin their non-premium-cable runs on May 31, with Deadwood in the 9pm ET time slot and OZ following afterwards at 10pm ET. If you’re new to the shows, continue reading to learn what they’re all about, courtesy of DIRECTV.

Deadwood

Created and executive produced by David Milch (NYPD Blue), Deadwood first aired on HBO in 2004 and was met with critical praise and accolades, winning multiple Emmy© Awards and a Golden Globe© Award during its run.

Featuring an ensemble cast including Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Robin Weigert, Powers Booth, E.B. Farnum and Brad Dourif, Deadwood takes viewers into the uncivilized outpost in the Black Hills of South Dakota to witness the birth of an American frontier town and the ruthless power struggle between its just and unjust pioneers. Beginning in 1876 during the richest gold strike in American history, Deadwood draws a mob of restless misfits to the lawless settlement, where everything and everyone has a price.

OZ

Executive produced by the award-winning team of Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana (Homicide: Life on the Streets), OZ features a large ensemble cast including Ernie Hudson, Harold Perrineau, Lee Tergesen, J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Terry Kinney, Christopher Meloni and Rita Moreno, with a wide-range of guest stars including Method Man, Master P, LL Cool J and Treach.

OZ takes viewers inside experimental cell block Level Four, also known as Emerald City, where inmates and correctional officers alike battle for survival amid warring factions and explosive acts of retribution. Each episode reveals the scheming and brutality of prison life as well as the occasional act of redemption, with plots, subplots and conflicts given context and explanation by the show’s wheelchair-bound narrator, Augustus Hill.