American Gods

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Harshaw

Throbbing Member
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The casting on this show is awesome. I was like "WTF Lincoln?" when he was initially cast, but looks good.
 

khalid

Unelected Mod
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I'm listening to the audiobook of American Gods (the one narrated by George Guidall), and I love the voicework in it. I just saw that there is a 10th anniversary audiobook that has a full voice cast, but imo if you want to listen to it, go with the George Guidall narrated one.

Both Shadow and Wednesday seem to have absolutely perfect casting. Everytime Wednesday says a line in the book now, I keep thinking how Ian Mcshane fits it perfectly.
 

khalid

Unelected Mod
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Only thing that makes me worried about this is, why the fuck did HBO change their mind on this? I hope it was just them getting cold feet.
 

Cantatus

Lord Nagafen Raider
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Only thing that makes me worried about this is, why the fuck did HBO change their mind on this? I hope it was just them getting cold feet.

Basically, they were never satisfied with the script:

I think we're all huge fans of the book, and I think the script just didn't — we couldn't craft the script as good as we needed it to be. I think we knew going in that it would be a challenge; every good book is a challenge to adapt it and find the level you need for it. The bar is high now for great dramas. And to find that bar — we tried. So it was a huge disappointment […] We tried three different writers, we put a lot of effort into it. Some things just don't happen. We have to trust at the end of the day, if you don't have a star with a great script, you're just not going to go through with it.

This was before Bryan Fuller got involved though.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
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I hope this is better than the book. I know I'm in the minority on this, but man this was one of the most boring books I've ever read.
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
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I hope this is better than the book. I know I'm in the minority on this, but man this was one of the most boring books I've ever read.

I don't think it's boring, but I definitely didn't find it to be the amazing piece of mind blowing literature people sometimes portray it as. I think Gaiman in general is somewhat overrated - he creates these brilliant concepts/settings, but really sucks at creating relateable protagonists through which to explore them, so the whole thing kind of falls flat to varying degrees.

American Gods suffers particularly badly from this, with Shadow having no real backstory, no real emotions, he just feels like a blank slate who exists for the sole purpose of witnessing the stuff happening around him, and as a result it's really hard to emotionally connect to the story.

I think in a lot of ways a TV adaption could improve on this, especially if the writers can expand on the source material and turn Shadow into a real person, and the actor can convey whatever they come up with convincingly. It's (debatably) happened before with the Stardust movie, so...
 
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Rezz

Mr. Poopybutthole
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I think the blank slate deal, especially when told from a perspective like the book, worked pretty well. You knew right away that Shadow was a guy who wasn't afraid of violence but didn't exactly like inflicting it. He was trusting but not stupid. He loved his wife but knew she would probably get laid while he was in the can. The first chapter of the book painted a pretty clear picture of the guy, it just so happens that he was "blank" (ie, the "straight man") compared to all the strange shit that happened to him.

I'm not sure I'd say Gaiman is overrated, especially after Sandman and American Gods, but I do think he has been over-exposed. He's got a specific style and the media for a time kept trying to paint him as this universally amazing writer. Guy's got his niche.
 

khorum

Murder Apologist
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I actually enjoy Gaiman's "Americana" novels---the stuff along the lines of American Gods and Anansi Boys---more than his Sandman and Neverwhere/Terry Pratchett projects.

I think that's actually a polarizing point, there are a lot of Gaiman fans who loved Sandman but couldn't stand his American novels.