Great show. I haven't started the 2nd season yet, but found the first one very well made. I love period pieces, and this one got the whole "seedy underbelly of the 60s" thing down pretty well. The Manson part of the plot was a bit disjointed, but everything was well-acted.
And that "Hollywood slapping the cylinder shut": believe it or not, people actually did and do that, partly because they saw it in the movies, just like for a while gangbangers thought they had to hold a pistol tilted sideways 90 degrees. Life imitates art, art imitates life.