Anybody watching 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone?
 

We watched the first episode of 1883 last night.

It did not hook me right away, but I have always wondered about people who decided to go West so I kept watching. (I sure as heck would never have done that just because some man thought it was a good idea.)

Besides, I had to see if Sam Elliott’s still got it at 77.

Anyway, it’s getting interesting, except I think the young woman who plays Elsa Dutton over-acts a bit. I’ll get used to it.

There was a scene where Sam Elliott is instructing the Germans he is getting ready to lead in a wagon train. The poor Germans are completely out of their element. They don’t know anything about what they’re going to face.

First, Sam shows them a stuffed rattlesnake and tells them to watch out for those things because you can die if they bite you.

Then, he holds up a handful of oak leaves — just plain oak leaves — and tells them that it’s poison oak and poison ivy and to never touch it because it could make you wish you were dead. (We backed up to make sure we had seen those leaves right. We were right.)

Geez. Where was the producer or writer or director or whoever it is who is supposed to take care of that kind of stuff.

Also, I am crushed because Sam Elliott, rugged outdoor type, does not know oak tree leaves when he sees them and made all those Germans either really confused or terrified of oak trees.

Detail-geared Boomer

Maybe they didn't want their star to catch poison ivy or poison oak? :icon_wink:

Well, yeah, Mintz, but they coulda faked it.

“Gonna take an ocean (bomp de bomp de bomp) of calamine lotion. . .

Well, here we go again. Now, I can’t un-hear that song.

Boomer

Meh. Forget the oak leaves. Sam still has it, doesn’t he? :- )

Damn. My iPad is out to get me.

It called me Boomerang at the bottom of that first post. I know I typed Boomer, not Boomerang. I fixed it.

Maybe my iPad is watching out for me and thinks I am spending too much time coming back and posting.

Watching out for me or being sarcastic because it wants me to shut up so it can shut down for the evening?

Boomer

Yes. But I still would not get in a wagon train, not even with him.

Boomer

Well, yeah, Boom, but I guess they didn't think their audience was a bunch of "botany nerds"...:icon_wink:

Oh, btw... I also commented to the boss that "He's not holding poison ivy"... :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:


- Fellow Botany Nerd...

My wife says we're not supposed to catch those gaffs...
:ohdear::ohdear:

If anyone sprung for Paramount Plus and wants company watching 1883 let us know…..lol.

deadwood my all time favorite.
Timothy olylphant
ian mcshane
molly parker
powers boothe
keith carradine
and an ensemble cast of present day stars to scratch that saddle itch

i see all the circling wagons i need to in our villages circles. Some are driven just like a wagon hitched to a team of horses. *****s

If you are going to be "nitpicking", I suggest you not watch anymore of the series. I've watched the first three episodes and have enjoyed the acting and historical context.

I took Prime Video's $.99 per month intro deal for Paramount+, just so we could watch 1883. So far it's pretty boring to us. The young girl ruins it for me, and the story is just plodding along. Hopefully, like Yellowstone, it will get a lot better after the first five or six episodes.

I love Yellowstone, and I am watching 1883. I try to suspend disbelief when I'm being entertained, so I can enjoy the show.

Interesting show. I am enjoying watching a couple of vocal artists doing their thing at acting. They are not doing a very bad job of it, so it makes it pretty interesting. Sam Elliot has always been one of my favorites, and his black partner is doing a great job. Since we are only watching that show on P+ we just sign into our daughter's account.

The poison oak and poison ivy scene was a very, very micro-detail as to whether it was fake or not. Elliott's character might not have been able to find the REAL poisonous ones in time for his presentation to the Germans ANYWAY. And he would have had to wear gloves and quickly wash them. What hardened cowboy is going to do that? And for all I know, disturbing poison ivy or oak might (?) throw off airborne particles that could cause a rash. So, I would NOT have changed that if I were the director. The main point of the scene was to prove the main statement that only 59% of them will survive the journey. As to Elsa Duttons actor "over-acting" - she is the central NARRATOR so she is set up to be innocent and there is a foreshadowing of peril and near doom for her. ( She does have an acquaintanceship with a Native American weapon in episode 2) She did NOT overact there. I always have trouble seeing over-acting in any movie - maybe that's just me?
I was only able to see episodes 1 and 2 because we don't have Paramount Plus. We get regular Paramount so maybe I should try harder to see if I can get Episode 3 or more future ones? But my general rating for episodes 1 and 2 is that it is great - dramatic, authentically realistic, and VERY much action. I don't ever expect more in a series. PS 1883 is great, but "The Expanse" is even greater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which young girl ? The unhappy widow's daughter?

Yes, suspend disbelief. Reality has enough to be sarcastic about!

Both the unhappy widow and her daughter are dead. The one that was mentioned is the Dutton girl.

The black partner IS "solid". Many singers have acting and even other skills. Talent IS talent. Sting was a good character actor in a Sy/Fy movie that I saw several years ago. And David Bowie was the lead (and good) in "The Man Who Fell To Earth":

I am enjoying 1883. The show exemplifies the difficulties that pioneers experienced heading westward back in those days. It is difficult today in modern times to imagine how much of a hardship it was to cross the plains and mountains under terribly harsh conditions. People back then had to be tough or they would die.
If you are interested in other stories similar to 1883 there was an older miniseries that I loved called "Centennial". It can be watched on the Starz channel now. It is a tale that spans from 18th century American frontier to the year 1978 in Colorado. The story starts billions of years ago as the Earth was forming and the how the area of Colorado's environment developed. Next the story goes on to an Indian tribesman teaching his young son about the ways of nature and man's relationship to it. This occurs during a time before the appearance of white people. Then shortly thereafter time advances several decades and introduces a great character named Pasquinel, who is a French Canadian fur trapper. He is the first white man to contact the local tribes and he manages to open up trade with the tribes. Later the migration begins to the area. There are Indian wars, cattle drives, scandals, modernization, tragedy, and beauty as well, as the story progresses. The series ends up in contemporary times but with always an influence linked from the past. Centennial is filled with great actors. A truly remarkable series that gives you a sense of the adventure of discovery.

Oh my, my. . .

Dear Messrs. Shorzenabunch:

I just tuned in and here I see the I’m being heckled over my smartazz take on that poison ivy scene.

I guess some of you are so conditioned to either complaining or expecting others on TOTV to complain that you go around loaded for bear.

The posts, that are taking me to task, clearly illustrate that a sense of humor is on a spectrum and at one end there are those who take everything literally.

(Hey, Mintz — Thank your for getting it. I always appreciate a little banter. I guess I better not ever write anything about the anachronisms I used to spot in Mash. These guys would circle up and peck the heck outa me for noticing.)

Good thing I am not wired to take things like this seriously. Not the poison ivy scene and not the hassles here either. Some posters are always just itchin’ to take umbrage. Goes with the territory.

Oh well, this is getting impossible to explain, and I have to get back to my real life for now. (Don’t get too happy, Messrs. Shorzenabunch. This is not a dramatic exit. I’ll be back sometime to talk more about 1883 — which I like, btw.)

Boomerang Boomer

Whoops. . .I hit submit on that last post and forget to add a note to jj who lectured me about why they did not use real poison ivy.

C’mon, think about it, OK. . .But if a light bulb (or is it lightbulb?) does not go off above your head, will you
promise me that the next time you are in a waiting room somewhere, and you spot a plant sitting in a dark corner, will you walk over and feel it? Please.

Sincerely,
Boomer

Don't even get me started on "Medical Shows"... Oy, Vey...

Shhhhhhh, save yourself!

Don’t get me started on anachronisms. . .

But. . .while I have you here, there was a Mash episode where they were singing something to the tune of M-I-CK-E-Y, etc. But, the Mickey Mouse Club started on television in 1955 and the Korean War ended in 1953.

That has been bothering me for years. I never got around to writing to Hawkeye about it though.

Uh, oh! INCOMING!

Boomer

I watch shows for their entertainment value. Not too much critical thinking unless someone “jumps the shark”. My husband notices everything so when he points it out, then I see it.

the expanse is so intelligent that most would need the martian mind expander on forbidden planet.
Likewise interstellar for those who are mind building for the mental olympics
or the time dimensional travel of arrival.
Bon appetit

hey boomer. Keep them coming. Most enjoy being informed by totv participants. Sort of like the wind beneath our wings.
As for the detractors fly over them too and grace them with your other gifts

For years I have heard the expression, as in, “I had to run all over Hell’s Half Acre” — as a metaphor for having to go way out of your way to get something. I have used those words many times, but until a few days ago, I had no idea that Hell’s Half Acre was a real place in Ft. Worth, TX, with a lot of. . .colorful history.

A Google of Hell’s Half Acte will take you to a Ft. Worth website and also to the Texas State Historical Asociation where you can read all about it.

I would say that it looks like 1883 pretty well captures what Hell’s Half Acre was like back then.

Miss Kitty never would have let things get out of hand like that at the Long Branch. And Billy Bob Thornton sure ain’t no Mr. Dillon — although, Billy Bob had his own way of doing what he could.

. . .Speaking of Miss Kitty and Mr. Dillon — well, I am not one to gossip. . .but. . .I once “noticed” that in one of the early Gunsmoke episodes, the two of them were coming down the stairs of the Long Branch — and it was morning (gasp)— and we all know Miss Kitty lived upstairs, don’t we. . .

Gladys Boomer

That's right. The daughter got shot in the native American raid, I forgot.

There as a M-I-C-K-E-Y scene in a Vietnam movie and I can't quite remember the name? Good movie about an Army movie crew.

May the "mind Expanse" be with you. And Amos is immortal now, not only immoral. Very cool dude........dude!

"Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind"

Umm
 

Sorry to point out that they were not on Mars. They were on Altair 4. Martians didn't build the mind expander. That would have been the Krell.
I apologize for interrupting.

No - I have not watched - thanks for asking.

:bigbow::bigbow::bigbow:

NO! How dare you sully the names of those two fine people! I’m sure it was just a coincidence!

You’re right. Surely a coincidence. She probably had some furniture that needed to be moved or maybe a light bulb that needed changing. Shame on Gladys Boomer.

Thanks.
Boomer :)

(I think Episode 4 of 1883 drops tonight. They better get across that river.)

Sorry, NO lightbulb. But, maybe someone's wick needed to be trimmed....:1rotfl:

You are right — considering that Edison demonstrated the light bulb publicly for the first time on December 31, 1879, and Gunsmoke was set in the 1890s, so there’s no way that the light bulb had made it to Dodge City yet.

And — not only are you historically correct, but your double entendre is perfect. (Thanks for playing. :) )

Boomer