I remember being at an upfront, hearing the network execs talk about this upcoming show starring Ian McShane, which they had built around his commanding acting ability. And that it was sort of a new twist on the tale of David and Goliath. Honestly, I had two thoughts. 1) I can't wait to see it. 2) I'll be surprised it if ever makes it to air. They didn't even have a pilot, just a premise and cast at that point. But being the die-hard Deadwood fan that I am, I was just so blindly excited that Ian McShane was going to be playing a manipulative ruler that I tried to ignore those nagging concerns and just enjoy it while it lasted.

It did make it to air last spring (we've got recaps to prove it) and the fact that it aired 12 episodes was sort of a miracle. The show featured all the drama and intrigue you'd expect of a primetime soap, but it was filled with war, violence and peppered with Shakespearean-esque dialogue. The cast was primarily great, of course McShane, who is just tremendous in anything that he does, but also featured the likes of Eamonn Walker (as a religious advisor), Dylan Baker (as a cutthroat businessman), Susanna Thompson (the wicked Queen) and they even tried to give Macaulay Culkin's career a bit of a resurgence. It also featured Gossip Girl's current bad boy Carter Baizen (Sebastian Stan) as the scandalized son of the king. In fact, the biggest casting fault the show had was Chris Egan, who played the David in this scenario. The young principled man who overcame crazy odds and saved the king's son from certain death. He was one of the main focuses of the show, and constantly faced off against McShane's nicely terrifying king, and couldn't quite stand the heat. Which isn't to say that he's a bad actor, but this part really called for someone a lot stronger, who could butt heads with McShane and keep his cool.

Still, for the faults that this show may have had, and it did occasionally get a little boring (OK, sometimes a lot boring), it had ambition, and I can appreciate that. I'd much rather have a show try and break the mold and occasionally fail miserably than have yet another lazy cookie-cutter medical drama thrown my way. These are the shows I will remember, long after Three Rivers has disappeared from my memory bank.

The series is available in its entirety on DVD this week, and you can watch episodes on Hulu for free (and the pilot is embedded right below) if you want to get a sampling, or catch up on the episodes you missed after the show got shuffled to a new night.