WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH JUSTIFIED: I could leave it at “Timothy Olyphant in a seriously good hat” but the show is so much more than that. Graham Yost is at the helm – he created the wonderful but short-lived NBC drama BOOMTOWN. Yost writes male characters very well and his lead in this show, Raylan Givens, is a character from an Elmore Leonard short story. Leonard is also an EP on this show which speaks volumes since he usually doesn’t like how film and TV have adapted his work.
Raylan Givens is a U.S. Marshal who is part of a fatal shooting and the result of said incident is that Givens is relocated to Kentucky, which is also where he grew up. While there are western overtones to the show and Olyphant’s performance is more than a little reminiscent of his role as Seth Bullock in DEADWOOD, this is not a western. This is a contemporary show about a contemporary lawman who lives by his own code of honor. Olyphant is a wonder to watch: the role fits him like a glove and he’s got a natural ease and grace about him that adds even more dimension to his performance. The highest compliment I can give is that you never see Olyphant acting. Equally good in this pilot is Walton Goggins. If you watched THE SHIELD (and I hope you did), you loved him as Shane Vendrell. Here he’s Boyd Crowder, a boyhood friend of Raylan’s, but Boyd’s gone bad and when Raylan returns to Kentucky, he has to deal with Boyd. The two have a couple incredible scenes together. At the heart of the show, it’s a police procedural but the execution is a far cry from LAW & ORDER or any CSI show. JUSTIFIED is about a man who comes home to do his day job and winds up dealing with old relationships like his ex-wife, played by Natalie Zea. Pay close attention to the last line of tonight’s premiere episode because it’ll tell you a lot about Raylan and why he is the way he is. JUSTIFIED hooked me immediately. I’ve seen a couple more episodes since the pilot and I’m in for the long haul. JUSTIFIED premieres tonight at 10pm on FX.
NEWS NOTE: Lawrence O’Donnell is filling in for Keith Olbermann on COUNTDOWN while Olbermann takes bereavement leave; his father passed away this past weekend. O’Donnell is always amazing to watch when he’s in the anchor chair and I wish they’d let him take over the show because nothing gets past him. He’s a major policy wonk and an expert in the art of debate. COUNTDOWN airs on MSNBC at 8pmET/5pmPT and repeats later at night.
LATE NIGHT NOTES: Jude Law visits THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, Snoop Dogg does the Top 10 list on Letterman and Kirstie Alley is one of Dave’s guests, Betty White visits THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO. There’s a new installment of “LATE” the very funny LOST satire on tonight’s LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON.
TODAY’S SURF WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO: “On the Run” by Tone-Z aka JUSTIFIED’s theme song.
Tonight’s rundown:
ABC: 8:00 p.m. Lost (R) 9:00 p.m. Lost 10:00 p.m. FlashForward: What Did You See? (recap)
Tonight’s new LOST episode is titled “Recon” and it’s a Sawyer-centric episode as NotLocke/AlternaLocke sends Sawyer on a mission.
CBS: 8:00 p.m. NCIS 9:00 p.m. NCIS: Los Angeles 10:00 p.m. The Good Wife
On THE GOOD WIFE: An emergency courtroom is set up in a hospital for a case involving in-utero surgery.
NBC: 8:00 p.m. The Biggest Loser (two hours) 10:00 p.m. Parenthood
FOX: 8:00 p.m. American Idol (two hours)
The Top 12 contestants perform Rolling Stones songs. I am cringing at the very thought of this.
THE CW: 8:00 p.m. 90210 9:00 p.m. Melrose Place
Bravo: 10pm: Millionaire Matchmaker
FX: 10pm: Justified (series premiere)
MTV: 10pm: 16 and Pregnant
Oxygen: 10pm: Bad Girls Club
TNT: 10pm: Southland
Ben goes on his first solo patrol. Yes, I’m still watching SOUTHLAND – luckily I can watch the east coast feed at 7pm. 10pm is a more congested timeslot now with JUSTIFIED, PARENTHOOD, THE GOOD WIFE and SOUTHLAND.
VH1: 9pm: RuPaul’s Drag Race (looks like the show is airing on both Logo and VH1)
That’s a wrap for now.
