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HBO's Deadwood is currently on the type of hiatus (read: limbo) that many worthy cable television shows end up on before the entire production is canceled. It's been the same fate that has befallen other innovative series such as Showtime's Dead Like Me. The actors options were not renewed after the third season filming was completed last year, leading many observers to opine that this is the death knell for the fascinating series. If form holds, at some point there will be rumors that it will be picked up by a secondary channel such as Bravo or A&E, but those will not come to fruition, and Deadwood will unfortunately fade from the discerning viewer's radar screen.

By now, the plot line of of this quasi-Western, with everything your history teacher failed to teach you about the Old West (namely the gratuitous sex, violence and evil chicanery)is familiar to most readers, so instead let's focus on the acting performances of two of the leads.

Ian McShane has received the lion's share of the press from Deadwood, and rightfully so, for his portrayal of the Luciferic Al Swearengen. McShane takes the stock role of the western villain and complicates it deliciously, so that the viewer has to take pause before condemning his actions outright. He should have won 2 Emmy's by now, and this snub (he was at least nominated in 2005) is probably an effect of the "Sopranos" backlash, wherein upstart cable series are dismissed by certain elements of the television industry.

Powers Boothe, who is spending the hiatus fruitfully as (what else) a Machiavellian Vice-President on this season's 24, plays Cy Tolliver, Al's main rival in the vice business of Deadwood. Whereas Swearengen is the in-your-face robber baron, Tolliver is the genteel, refined version. Boothe just eats up literally every scene he's in, and the interplay between Tolliver and McShane is delicious, to say the least.

We can always hope for miracles - rain in the desert, a Cubs World series victory, and HBO executives valuing art over money. 'Tis good to dream at least.

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