Is Comanche Moon going to be in HD? I noticed the commercials for it here aren't in HD and that's a little disconcerting. I would think CBS would have it in HD...I'm probably making something out of nothing. :)

Commercials for HD shows are frequently in upconverted 4:3 SD, so you can't predict if a show will be in HD from the commercial.

Did you check CBS's web site to see if it will be in HD?

The guide shows it in HD

Is Comanche Moon going to be in HD? I noticed the commercials for it here aren't in HD and that's a little disconcerting. I would think CBS would have it in HD...I'm probably making something out of nothing. :)

All CBS made for TV movies are HD.

The TiVo guide (from Tribune Services) does NOT indicate that Comanche Moon is in HD but Cox OKC’s guide DOES show that it’s in HD. I, too, suspect that it actually is in HD and those guides that don’t so indicate are simply wrong.

When was the last new scripted series or made for TV movie on the big four broadcast networks that was not shot in HD? It has been some years. Of course, the movie will in HD. Note: I am not talking about long running scripted series such as Scrubs, but new series.

If anyone recorded this, would they kindly send me a PM? Thanks! :)

I'm a huge fan of Lonesome Dove so I looked forward to this prequel. I watched the first episode last night and while it's not bad it will take me a while to get used to new actors in the roles.

Robert Duval "owns" the Gus McRae character, for instance. Steve Zahn, who plays him in this series, obviously understands this and works hard to mimic Duval's characterization of Gus. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

The guy who plays Call doesn't seem "big" enough for the role and Val Kilmer seems like a silly fat old guy in a funny hat.

did anyone else have problems with audio dropouts during this? or was it just good ol' Tampa television?

I'm a huge fan of Lonesome Dove so I looked forward to this prequel. I watched the first episode last night and while it's not bad it will take me a while to get used to new actors in the roles.

Robert Duval "owns" the Gus McCrae character, for instance. Steve Zahn, who plays him in this series, obviously understands this and works hard to mimic Duval's characterization of Gus. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

The guy who plays Call doesn't seem "big" enough for the role and Val Kilmer seems like a silly fat old guy in a funny hat.
I watched last night’s episode, too, and rather liked it. I agree, however, that Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones own the roles of Gus McRae and Woodrow Call. In fact, Lonesome Dove is the best miniseries ever made and the novel upon which it is based one of the best westerns ever written, in my judgment at least.

I think that Comanche Moon is off to a good start. McMurtry co-wrote the screenplay and it shows. I even liked the now rather fat Val Kilmer as the weird but dangerous Inish Scull and Rachel Griffiths is terrific as Scull’s sexy but shrewish wife. I also like the beautiful and very appealing Elizabeth Banks and Linda Cardellini as Maggie and Clara, the loves of Call and McCrae’s lives. Although Steve Zahn is pretty short for the role, I found him convincing as McCrae, which I think owes a lot more to McMurtry’s writing than to any attempt to ape Duvall’s performance in Lonesome Dove. Still, it’s a good thing that they cast an actress as short as Cardellini to play Zahn’s love interest. :)

I still remember Val Kilmer's hardbodied "Iceman" in Top Gun.

But I have to admit that I've gained 30 lbs in the past 20 years too :o

Well I think Steve Zahn is playing Duvall way more than he is playing the character of Agustus. Of course, Duvall does "own" that character so maybe that's not such a bad thing. But Zahn is definitely playing it has "Zahn does Duvall doing McRae". Duvall has a style and a delivery that comes across in almost every role, whether its Broken Trail or Open Range or Lonesome Dove, and Zahn is doing his best Duvall impersonation while delivering his lines here.

DVRed the first episode, thinking it might approach the quality of the first (not 2nd)Lonesome Dove series, a really outstanding production. But only watched a short segment of the DVR, irked by--IMO--the phony accents and soap-opera-like overall production. -- John

did anyone else have problems with audio dropouts during this? or was it just good ol' Tampa television?

No, had them here in SoCal too.

Well I think Steve Zahn is playing Duvall way more than he is playing the character of Agustus. Of course, Duvall does "own" that character so maybe that's not such a bad thing. But Zahn is definitely playing it has "Zahn does Duvall doing McRae". Duvall has a style and a delivery that comes across in almost every role, whether its Broken Trail or Open Range or Lonesome Dove, and Zahn is doing his best Duvall impersonation while delivering his lines here.
Have you read the book, “Lonesome Dove,” or any of McMurtry’s three later novels featuring McCrae? My disagreement with the notion that Zahn’s performance was based on Duvall’s performance in the original miniseries, Lonesome Dove, stems from my intimate familiarity with and fondness for McMurtry’s great novel, “Lonesome Dove.” I bought a copy when it came out and have read it many times. I have also read the other three books in McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove quatrology. Zahn’s performance seems to me to be simply another faithful interpretation of McMurtry’s vision of McCrae – as Duvall’s was in Lonesome Dove, the miniseries.

When the Lonesome Dove series was first aired, in 1989, some critics suggested that the casting might have been even better if Tommy Lee Jones had played McCrae and Duvall had played Call, instead of vice versa. I can’t say that I have ever found too much wrong with this notion. Either way, I think that we can all agree that Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae are two of the most memorable characters in western fiction and that we owe a debt of gratitude to Larry McMurtry for having created them.

I was impressed by Zahn doing a good "Duvall" and I don't think it's anything bad...I think it ties in nicely with this basically being a prequel or whatever. I've never read any of the books so I can't comment on what some of you have to offer in terms of the perception of the characters in the book vs. the screenplay. The guy playing Woodrow isn't as impressive...but he's a good actor that's been in a few movies too.

Overall I think the picture quality was great, the sound was pretty good. I wish I had went out and rented Lonesome Dove prior to watching this so I could refresh my memory. I don't recall Kilmer's character in the other mini-series.

I haven't watched Comanche Moon yet (it's in the DVR), but it would be fun to watch the four mini-series in the saga in chronological order. Dead Man's Walk was (by far) the weakest of the three previous mini-series, with Lonesome Dove being one of the best mini-series ever made, and Streets of Laredo being a decent sequel, I thought (the cast of Streets is top-notch - although it's not Duvall and Jones, Jim Garner does a good Woodrow, Sam Shepard a pretty good Pea Eye, and Sissy Spacek a decent Lorena).

Hmmm - any chance of a HD or BD issue of these?

I never watched (or read) anything else in the LD "universe" (Return to LD and the TV series were not written by McMurtry, correct?), and from little I know of them I never will.

Cliff

I should probably rephrase my point from above. Which isn't a criticism mind you. Its not so much that Zahn is doing Duvall doing McRae. It's that Zahn is doing a pretty good Duval impersonation all by itself. In the last week, I've watched Broken Trail, Open Range, and Deep Impact and Zahn has Duvall down solid. But I agree with Hunter that its not such a bad thing considering the prequal aspect. When Comanche Moon wraps I'm pulling out my old Lonesome DVD and will keep the story going.

And yea, I've read Lonesome Dove. But not the other three.

Comanche Moon is terrible, no wonder it's been delayed so many times. Hard to believe Simon Wincer directed the original and this mess.

Comanche Moon is terrible, no wonder it's been delayed so many times. Hard to believe Simon Wincer directed the original and this mess.


I have to agree, watched the first 2 Hour show, then one hour of the second, and then gave up..Too slow and boring.

Maybe I shouldnt have watched 3:10 to Yuma only Hours before. I went from action packed to made for Network TV which probably isnt a fair comparison.

At 9:18 last night my CBS station channel 10 out of Tampa went blank and I got the "don't call us, we'll call you" sign from D*. Oh, well, maybe I'll get to see it in reruns.

I had several image breakups in the last hour last night and actually got a color bar test pattern for several seconds when they lost it entirely.

I found the lead-in and fade-out video glimpses extremely annoying in the first 2 hours. Each time we come back from a commercial break we get a 3 second preview of what's going to happen within the next 2 minutes of the show. WTF?!?! If there was any mystery to this show, it was completely blown away by this production tactic.

I found the lead-in and fade-out video glimpses extremely annoying in the first 2 hours. Each time we come back from a commercial break we get a 3 second preview of what's going to happen within the next 2 minutes of the show. WTF?!?! If there was any mystery to this show, it was completely blown away by this production tactic.
I agree that the short previews were a distraction, made more distracting still by being shown in 4:3 SD. Gag!

No HD last night here in Denver-Comcast.

No HD last night here in Denver-Comcast.

Here in Raleigh, NC the first 5 minutes after commercial break were in SD and no Dolby Digital then it would switch to HD and DD. I thought it was my local station but guess not. I don't know what the point was in doing this. If it was to annoy viewers, then it worked.

Was last night the final episode? If it was, what a crappy ending. So many unresolved issues.

As noted in earlier posts, I have never read a better western than Lonesome Dove nor seen better television than the miniseries of the same name. Consequently, I have known and loved these characters for more than 20 years. Thus, it should come as no surprise that I have now watched Comanche Moon in its entirety and enjoyed it.

I fear that many of those who watched Comanche Moon but were less invested in its characters than I am didn’t like the show much. Somehow, its characters, who were so richly vibrant and alive on the page and in the 1989 miniseries, seem not to have been fully realized this time. Part of that, of course, is to be blamed on McMurtry because his book “Comanche Moon,” was the last of the Lonesome Dove series and was by any measure decidedly inferior to the great original in which we first met Call, McCrae, and their contemporaries.

I to enjoyed it. While I have never read the books I have revered Lonsone Dove since first shown. I consider it the equal of Red River and The Searchers, my favorite westerns. Comanche Moon provided a wonderful back story for the gang, especially Gus and Woodrow.

Was last night [Wednesday, 1/16] the final episode? If it was, what a crappy ending. So many unresolved issues.
Yes, the last episode ran on Wednesday. The show’s ambiguous ending, as well as some things it depicted, were a whole lot clearer to those of us who had read Lonesome Dove or seen the miniseries of the same name. Comanche Moon had its weaknesses even then but was at least a little easier to understand if you knew the Lonesome Dove story. In addition to McCrae and Call, many other Comanche Moon characters had prominent roles in Lonesome dove, including Clara, Blue Duck, Woodrow Call’s son (?), Newt, Jake Spoon, and a number of others.

Did anyone that saw Comanche in HD think that it was a little jerky in the action and panning scenes? It seemed to me that the video was not smooth at all. Is this due to the fact that I don't have the new 120 fps technology? Or is is possible that it was filmed in 24 fps and just looks terrible on tv at 60 fps? Maybe it was my Tivo HD or cable provider?

I am 2 episodes in and plan on watching the 3rd this weekend. I've read the books and think this series is amusing enough. My only gripe is that it just isn't smooth and is a little annoying on the eyes.

Wondering if I purchased the wrong lcd!