I saw advertised on TV last night a mini-series about the Old West that looked interesting. It will be shown on TNT. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer.
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Into the West
June 10, 8 p.m. ET/PT, TNT, six two-hour episodes
Concept: It's the broad story of the opening of the American West, focusing on the struggle between Native Americans and pioneer culture while also exploring the Gold Rush, the transcontinental railroad and the wars leading to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Why it'll be hot: It's big and bold, more in the vein of old-fashioned Westerns, not edgy like HBO's Deadwood. Making the six "small films," producer David Rosemont says, required more than 1,000 cast and crew, 1,500 extras, 20,000 costumes, 150 locations, 176 shooting days and six directors. In the first episode alone, 1,600 head of buffalo were used.
Says Matthew Settle, who plays main character Jacob Wheeler: "It was fun. Anytime you put on moccasins and leather and chaps, it's like revisiting your youth."
The stories are serious, though. "I like the series because it looks into less of what we did and more of why it was done."
And the project has Steven Spielberg as executive producer. "He does not lend his name lightly to television or features," producer Rosemont says. "There was a certain story that we told that he wanted to tell — the real story of settling the West and how we came to who we are.
"This is not a Western; it's a film about the West. His presence was felt."
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-05-31-summer-tv-main_x.htm