If you like watching shows that show old american times, then this is the one. This is a show which has a determined boss (corrupted with great vision vision), a hard headed foreman, drama, truth, fights,success, happiness, sadness.I would suggest you to watch the whole show and wait for the last episode, then you will feel what Bohanon felt like when the rail road work was over

I was obsessed with seeing episode after episode, and I'm not a TV watching guy. I loved the personalities of the two main characters, as I and many others had found them to be, Cullen Bohannon and Lily Bell. Lily Bell, coming from aristocrat prominence, highly intelligent and beautiful but with a fierce warrior in her, capable of taking on any man or woman in any situation. As great as the character Cullen Bohannon is, the series died when the even greater Lily Bell, the number one attraction to the series, died. Without that super hero Lily Bell, no more Hell on Wheels for me. Just can't believe how producers can be so stupid.

I have a fan theory that this is the OFFICIAL but secret prelude series to the greatest show of all time- 'Deadwood' and that when the train line reaches the town, the two shows will merge, they are both so similar in tone and quality, and both set in the almost exact historical time period.Smart, dark and gritty with moments intelligent humour, 'HOW' leaves me wanting more and wanting to live in this period despite the horror and deprivation.'Bohannon' is the sort of character, that empires are built on, I hope this show ends when the tracks arrive at Deadwood, and begins as- 'Deadwood Season 4' with a combined cast of the two shows.

The premise is good and the story line is interesting but the execution of that story line is sadly missing. What I mean by this is they had all the tools to do an accurate depiction of what is was like to live and breathe during the building of the transcontinental railroad across America. But they dropped the ball big time and insulted their viewers in doing so. To begin with, all railway tracks are laid on huge wood sleepers that are placed close together on top of well packed gravel rail beds. Never on widely spaced sleepers over grasslands. To show the later is insulting and shows that the producers , in trying to save money did not think it was important enough to do it right or that the audience would care. They are wrong. It stops the story cold and takes away from everything else that is going on, on screen as you notice this huge error. Then they show a track rounding a curve that no train on the planet would be able to make and once again don't give a crap that it is wrong. Once again to save money. I have had more then one argument with Directors or DOP's on set when they decided to shortcut somewhere for a shot that is a mistake and would be noticed by someone and when called on it they say it is "Artistic Licence" What a load of crap! In fact a good number of the hard working crew on Hell on Wheels are guys I worked with during my 16 years in the business and I know the Production Designer John Blackie very well. The characters are for the most part all caricatures of people who would be drawn to that life and it's possibilities and we never get to know them well enough to care about them. We are expected to like Anson Mounts character but he does nothing to let us like him. he is walking through the roles based upon his looks. Not good enough. Common plays a freed slave and is just as you expect his character to be. He is the one person who makes this series watchable. I am glad that my old friends on the crew are working and know that for the most part they have zero input into the finished product that is aired to the public. I just wish that producers would put as much effort into the product on screen as they do in getting the deal put together.