The state of the Western

To use a trite expression, the reports of the Western genre's death have been greatly exaggerated. Look no further than Hell on Wheels, the recent new premiere by AMC. Now, still in it's infancy, it is too early to say whether Hell on Wheels deserves to rank among the rest of the channel's award-winning line up. However, the fact that a major channel such as AMC is even gambling on a Western television show is commendable.

Tell me that doesn't look badass.

I admit, I used to turn my nose up to the genre. I considered the main characters in Westerns to be nothing but hicks and no good story can come of that. I was an appreciator of art and there was no way a cowboy story could constitute art. Luckily, I finally decided to sit down and watch John Wayne with my dad. While I may not be the biggest fan of The Duke, watching Westerns with my dad allowed me to get over my pretension. After getting acquainted with singing cowboys I moved on to the more exciting spaghetti Westerns. I could finally see what made Westerns so cool.

A film as epic as it is long.

You see, nothing represents Americana or the American identity more than the west. Manifest Destiny may have had some major shortcomings but the pioneer days were purely American. Fueled by the lust for gold and the racism against Native Americans, our Western expansion makes for a wonderful platform for a good story. From word of mouth stories, to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, to dime store novels, stories of the west made up American folklore and entertainment. One early landmark film, The Great Train Robbery, was by the very definition a Western.

A film as epic as it is short.

While the heyday of the genre is over with that doesn't mean Westerns are completely dead. Hollywood just needs to put trust in the genre again. By trying to mix the storyline with other genres, like in Wild Wild West or Cowboys & Aliens, they are taking away from what makes a pure Western so compelling. Films like True Grit, 3:10 to Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (one of the most underrated movies of the last decade) prove that modern day Westerns can be incredibly engaging. The Proposition, one of the best Westerns in recent memory, doesn't even take place in America. Instead it transposes itself to the Australian Outback and, despite the location, shows everything that can be done right with the genre.

Rule: If Nick Cave writes the soundtrack it's probably good.

Westerns are the perfect way to examine the darkness of man. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy may be a Western but it's also the most brutal examination of the human spirit since Joseph Conrad. Even comics books can be an excellent home for the Western genre. Don't let the 2010 flop fool you, Jonah Hex is an awesome comic book character. The movie producers just didn't trust the character enough, resulting in the 81 minute cinematic mess.

Jonah Hex volume 3 was amazing.

So now that Hell on Wheels has premiered, maybe the genre can finally be down right. And, while Deadwood already attempted, the fact that it's on cable and not a channel like HBO is victory enough. AMC has had a pretty good track record so far, let's hope Hell on Wheels is just a continuation of that. Because the Western genre deserves a victory, if only to prove its relevance.

AMC whores out Mad Men

If there was a short list of the best television in the past decade, Mad Men would find itself on the top of the list. Never mind the three straight Emmys and the heaps of praise. Never mind the ratings (not as good as Walking Dead but good nonetheless) or Christina Hendrick's boobs. Watching it, it's an amazingly crafted show with water cooler discussion topics abound.

Boobs help though.

Mad Men is the critical darling of cable. It's the crowing jewel of AMC's lineup and the show that single handedly validated cable television. Shows like the West Wing have already won countless Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, but the fact that Mad Men has owned that award for the three past years is a testament to its quality. Even a relatively weak third season didn't stop it from winning the award. Yes, Tony Shalhoub and Monk have won plenty of awards for cable, but Monk is a comedy. It's not hard to beat out a sitcom with pathos. Drama is a much tougher category.

Monk went downhill when Sharona left anyway (and they changed the theme song)

In a perfect world, AMC would see their golden calf and leave it alone. In a perfect world they would allow Matthew Weiner (hehe, wiener) as much artistic freedom he wanted, creating for cable what HBO created with The Sopranos (as much as I want to make a Wire reference here, it didn't nearly have the following that Sopranos had). Instead AMC is now selling Mad Men out and ruining the reputation that they finally created with their original television.

Wiener...

AMC tried to strong arm Weiner into cutting down show time to create more commercials and allow more product placement. It's weird that a show about advertising men has gone this long without epic amounts of product placement, but that restraint such as that has helped make Mad Men what it is today. AMC should be trying to retain the artistic integrity of its first original show of merit. Back when Mad Men first premiered it was a gamble. AMC was known as the trashier TCM. Yet somehow, largely due to the Mad Men's quality, the channel has carved its own niche into television and has afforded itself the opportunity to make some really exciting and daring shows. While Rubicon didn't pay off, as interesting as it was, Walking Dead quickly became one of the most watched shows on television. And Bryan Cranston himself said that Mad Men was the reason he signed up with AMC for Breaking Bad. Cranston has since won three straight Emmys for Best Actor, awards that he totally deserves.

Walter White is more interesting than Dexter Morgan, sorry Michael C. Hall fans.

It was bad enough that AMC wedged wannabe Mad Men ads in between commercial breaks last season. Asinine commercials where two Don Draper-esque men talk about products. These commercials seemed nothing more than parodies, doing more to detract from the show than peddle shampoo. Really, these lame commercials show just what Mad Men would be like if it ended up on a network where it would be controlled by studios instead of capable showrunners such as Weiner.

WWDDD?

My griping about cutting two minutes of show may seem unnecessary, but consider the fact that AMC was negotiating for Weiner to cut down the cast member by two every new season. Such demands are not only ridiculous, but they are insulting to the show. Mad Men is an ensemble, character driven show. To demand such a condition is completely out of bounds. Luckily, after negotiations, the cast is now safe from being cut down. But to even demand such a thing shows that AMC does not respect the show that put them on the map and made them known for something other than Steven Seagal marathons.

Is it bad I actually wanted to see Tommy Lee Jones succeed in Under Siege?

Like Breaking Bad, the next season of Mad Men won't air anytime soon. The wait may be a little excruciating for some fans but hopefully by the end of it, Mad Men will have another amazing season. Some people claim that the show is boring but those people don't see past the old fashion wardrobes and ever-present alcohol. Mad Men is about America and the twentieth century through the ingenious perspective of an advertising agency. Who better to lead the audience through the ever changing culture of the 60s than the people who helped create, market, package and sell that image? In the end this whole negotiation thing might just be a ruse. AMC, no longer having to rely on Mad Men for ratings decides to put the show in it's place and assert itself contractually. Either way, Mad Men should be respected by everyone, including the channel that creates it.

AMC: Best channel on television

Many television channels lose their bite as the years go on. Channels that once begin with integrity and purpose slowly become hollow shells of themselves. TLC was once the learning channel, now it is devoted to reality shows about huge families or dwarfism (I am sure the fine people at TLC are just waiting for a dwarf family with seventeen kids). Court TV was once the O.J. Simpson network and now it is nothing but derivative reality shows. The list of sold out channels goes on with Syfy Channel, G4, TV Guide Network and MTV. For evidence of a channel currently going through this transformation look no further then The History Channel; which is becoming less about Hitler and more about white trash.

This qualifies as being on the History Channel?

There is, however, one channel that has grown into itself beautifully. It has become the best network on television today. With its original television department still in its infancy, the channel has not only managed to win the best awards in the business but has also dominated them. Through its bravery in creating programing and ability to retain excellence, AMC is the best place to go on television.

AMC (an acronym for American Movie Classics) never seemed like anything else but the poor man's TCM. AMC realized that they could never compete with the amount of class TCM has (Robert Osbourne has to be one of the coolest people ever) and decided to be more broad with their definition of movie classics. No longer showing films of the silver screen, AMC moved more into 80s action film territories. If TCM had the market cornered on timeless classics then AMC will be the "new classic" station.

In 2005 AMC experimented further by broadcasting the show Hustle. Hustle was a BBC program about a group of nicely dressed con artists who help dispense their own brand of justice (the kind of nice guy con artists that you never meet anywhere else but prime time television). Hustle, with all of it's polish, was an interesting choice because it contradicts the whole basis of the channel. Hustle, being a contemporary British program, is neither American, a movie, or a classic by any definition. What it showed was that AMC was interested in televising something besides movies and that AMC had balls enough to put whatever they wanted in their slots.

In 2007 a show would premiere that would become a critical darling and give AMC the class it so desperately wanted. The show was Mad Men and it is as awesome as you have heard. A unflinching and not kitschy look at 1960s America through the prism of advertising and, more specifically, the character of Don Draper. Yes, Don Draper is as cool as you have heard. Don Draper is cooler then you will ever be.

Don Draper: Every man's man-crush.

In the three years that Mad Men has been in the Emmy Awards it has already accumulated 13 wins. Out of those wins are three consecutive Best Drama Awards in a row. Even with a relatively weak season they still managed to beat out Lost in their last season (suck it, Lost). Mad Men has dominated Best Drama ever since it's premiered. While shows such as The West Wing have also won three years in a row, it is important to mention the fact that AMC is a cable network. Cable has never gotten as much respect as networks or pay channels. With pay channels you get the freedom of having whatever content you want and with networks you get guaranteed audiences (in theory). Cable has always been the bastard child of the two, never having the freedom or the popularity of other channels.

Also sweeping the Emmys three years in a row is Bryan Cranston for Best Actor in a Drama series. Dexter fanboys may be crying foul that Michael C. Hall never gets to win. However anyone that has seen Bryan Cranston on Breaking Bad will realize how much he deserves this recognition. Also Dexter is overrated. Playing a cancer ridden, high school science teacher who decides one day to cook meth; Cranston explores a realm of human drama that few people could dream of. Not only does he succeed in this but seeing his work is astonishing. Yes, the dad from Malcolm in the Middle is the best actor today.

Frankie Muniz grew up to race cars in a 20-year-old mid-life crisis. He also has a big head.

AMC also has Rubicon which just recently premiered. As underwhelming as Rubicon is, it still makes for a good show and is better than most other television. Having two out of three masterpieces is still not too shabby. Premiering on Halloween is a new show for AMC called The Walking Dead. Based on a critically acclaimed comic book series, Walking Dead deals with a zombie outbreak in America and how people cope with it. Yes, AMC is making a zombie television series and it is going to be awesome. How am I so sure? Awesome source material plus fearless network plus the adaption being created by Frank Darabont equals what is going to be the best television ever. Frank Darabont helped directed Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist. This man has helped create some of the best movies in recent memory and you don't even know who he is. Shame on you.

There is no accounting for taste, I know that. I also understand the fact that Emmys are not the best gauge towards how good television is. The fact that The Wire has not only never won an Emmy but has also barely been nominated shows how faulty the awards can be (this is, of course, a topic for later discussion). Forget the Emmys then and see for yourself why these shows are the best around and deserve all the recognition they can get.

It's a damn shame The Wire never won.