Reading Deadwood: A Western to Swear By - Paperbackby David Lavery (Editor) Apart from its brilliance as television, it's amazing what Deadwood gets away with. This acclaimed series from HBO, which premiered in 2004, is set in the teeming outlaw camp of 'Deadwood'. It has been described by Variety as 'a vulgar, gritty, at times downright nasty take on the Old West brimming with all the dark genius that series creator and sceenwriter extraordinaire David Milch has at his fingertips'. All this and more.