Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Troy D. Smith
I'm going to step away from my regularly scheduled topic to discuss something near and dear to my heart: the TV series Longmire, which just finished its third season (with a cliffhanger) and was then summarily canceled by A & E even though it is their second-highest show (behind Duck Dynasty.)
Are those people nuts, or what?
Actually, I think it's either A) a move toward having all their dramas produced in-house or B) a move to make room for more reality TV crap. Probably the latter, or a combination of the two.
For those who haven't been watching, the series is a contemporary crime drama set in the sheriff's department of the fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming, and the neighboring Cheyenne reservation. Sheriff Walt Longmire is very much a modern-day cowboy- my wife has pointed out that he is the most Matt Dillon-like character on television since Matt Dillon. Plots include reservation politics and intrigue, Walt's search for his wife's murderer, and the various personal problems of his deputies (one of whom ran unsuccessfully for sheriff against Walt last season.) It's based on the novels by Craig Johnson.
You can learn more about the show at this blog, 10 Reasons to Save Longmire
It would really be a shame to lose this show, so if you're a fan spread the word on social media. The best hope is that a different network will pick it up and continue the show- which seems like a no-brainer, but many of us thought the same thing when Deadwood was canceled by HBO at the end of its third season (also in the middle of a cliffhanger.)
Speaking of which, something occurred to me recently. Gerald McRaney (Major Dad, Simon and Simon) was the insidious villain involved in the closing cliffhangers of both Longmire and Deadwood. A little digging revealed he was also the last bad guy shot by Matt Dillon in the last (1975) episode of Gunsmoke. Marshal Matt Dillon, Marshal Seth Bullock, Sheriff Walt Longmire- is any Wild West lawman tough enough to bring this bird down without losing his show in the process? And what happened to the other Simon, did this guy kill him? Marshal Raylan Givens of Justified did manage to bring him down a couple of seasons ago, but McRaney had only been on a couple of episodes, maybe he didn't have time to build up his mojo. I'm just sayin'.
Anyway, if you haven't seen Longmire it's on Netlix, check it out. If you like westerns you'll like Longmire.