A prequel to the excellent TV mini-series "Lonesome Dove" is finally coming to network television in a few weeks. It was filmed a couple years ago and has bounced around in limbo ever since. The title is "Comanche Moon". This is based on the novel by the same author as Lonesome Dove. I saw the previews and I'm afraid this may suck royally. Why? Well, anyone who knows anything about Lonesome Dove knows that the success of the original was due to the great characters of Gus and Woodrow Call. They are the central figures in the story.

So I'm watching the previews--I've seen two different versions--and between the two of them, the character of Gus appears for about 3 seconds and Call does not appear at all. I believe this is because the two actors playing the parts are awful. Awful casting that is, they may be fine actors otherwise. The guy playing Gus, Steve Zahn, (Gus is a hard-ass Texas Ranger of the old west, a traditional western badass) is the same guy who has played such goofball roles as the boyfriend in "Riding in Cars with Boys", Marvin in "Daddy Day Care", and Phoebe's husband on "Friends".

Am I being unfair by type-casting the guy? Maybe, but by any reckoning this is poor casting. I've read the book "Comanche Moon" and lest you think that maybe Gus and Call are not the central figures in the story, I'm here to tell you that they are indeed the most important characters. They are the reason for writing the book; it follows their early career as young Texas Rangers. But of course I'll sit my ass down and watch the whole darn thing anyway. Actually I'll DVR it because it is airing right in the middle of the primetime college bowl games. This is another red flag as to why I fear this will suck--why would CBS air it opposite BCS bowl games unless they are trying to hide it?. The demographic for this series is mainly men 18-50. Precisely the same demographic for college bowl games. I'll report back once I've seen it and admit my error if indeed it turns out to be excellent