Hell on Wheels

I'm enjoying AMC's western, Hell on Wheels and other than a few shakey episodes I'm of the opinion that the series has been pretty damn good, with many standout scenes - for instance last week's episode (series 4, episode 5) had an incredible set piece which surely rates as the most original escape from a hanging scene in all western history. The show has some great characters and with AMC's expertise with small screen production it certainly looks good in a gritty kind of way. And yet the series has largely failed to connect with the critics -

The Huffington Post called it "tedious," TV Guide "heavy-handed," USA Today "as subtle as a sledgehammer," The San Francisco Chronicle "cartoonish," The Philadelphia Daily News "meandering," and Variety "diluted and herky-jerky." Slate, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times said much the same. Two glowing reviews from The Washington Post and The Boston Globe notwithstanding, even the positive write-ups in Newsday, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New York Post, The Miami Herald, and The Wall Street Journal seemed to conclude that the show was solid if unspectacular, a significant come-down for a network accustomed to scooping up Emmys by the handful. 

 


A lot of western fans read the Archive and chances are many watch the series so it would be interesting to know what Archive readers think of the show. Personally I enjoy the show and whilst I don't rate it as highly as that other relatively recent TV western, Deadwood I still rate it pretty highly. And of course westerns on the small screen are rare these days so it's a nice change amongst all the cop dramas and zombie-filled soap operas.


The show is set around the construction of the first transcontinental railroad across the USA, and the moveable towns called Hell on Wheels that exists alongside the railroad. AS soon as one stretch of rail is completed and the railroad moves on, the town goes with it. The current season (season 4) is set in 1867 and chances are given the reasonable ratings (it's the networks second most watches show just coming in behind The Walking Dead ) and AMC's track record is that the show will be renewed for a fifth series - I do hope so as I want to see the conclusion to this story.

Hell on Wheels: The small screen goes West

There was a time when we Brits produced the best English language TV drama in the world, but those days are long gone and now it is the American TV makers with their greater resources that rule the roost and it's been that way for some considerable time. And we're currently in a glowing period for US drama with some great shows airing at the moment and AMC, home of, among others,  the mega successful The Walking Dead, have come up with the best western series in many a year. That series is Hell on Wheels and fills a void in my TV viewing since HBO's Deadwood died a premature death.

For Hell on Wheels think grim, dark, adult storytelling within a western framework. It doesn't match the profanity level of Deadwood but it does aim for the same kind of realism. Set in 1865, the series centers on the settlement that accompanied the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, referred to as "Hell on Wheels" by the company men, surveyors, support workers, laborers, prostitutes, mercenaries and others who make the mobile encampment their home. It's Deadwood on wheels minus the word, "co**suckers" in every other sentence.

I've just seen the first two episodes and I don't think my Deadwood comparison is far wrong, though from what I've seen the series looks to be far more linear in the storytelling than HBO's western classic. Anson Mount does a great Clint Eastwood impression for his role as Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate soldier who works as a foreman on the railroad as he tries to track down the Union soldiers who murdered his wife.He finds two of these killers in the first episode, one in the pre-credits teaser and also discovers that there is another man involved in his wife's murder and that he is working on the railroad. The problem is that Cullen is not quite sure who that man is.

Colm Meany also shines as the ruthless man in charge of building the railroad and I am expecting great things on the strengths of these first two episodes. The show has been a success Stateside with it gaining the second highest ratings AMC have ever experienced for a pilot episode. Close on five million I understand. However it is reported that there have been a drop in ratings for subsequent episodes but that the series is holding up well, particularly considering that in the US it is going up against strong offerings from rival networks.

I do hope the show does well and that it is renewed for a second season - the first season runs to ten episodes and whether the identity of the man Cullen is searching for will be revealed this season is unknown. My guess is no or at least if he is revealed it will be the cliffhanger to end the first season and will only be made clear should a second season be made. Well fingers crossed that the series does do well and that it returns for several more seasons, because TV westerns are thin on the ground and especially those with such high production values as this.