Jun.06, 2010

I don’t have the time to speak on the few shinning diamonds we have on TV, but Burn Notice; The Closer; Mad Men; Damages; Psych; and Breaking Bad are among the great shows presently being shown on the small screen. One may notice that the shows listed are all shown on cable… it is a testament of the mostly dross that is now part and parcel of traditional TV like ABC, NBC, and CBS.

Once upon a time, movie stars thought it a put down to be seen on the TV, but those days are long gone due to the fact that an actor can make millions by having a successful show on the small screen: Bill Cosby; the cast of Friends; The cast of Seinfeld; Raymond; and Charlie Sheen can testify how lucrative it is. The one show on the small screen shown on the FX channel, which compels me to write about it in glowing terms, is called “Justified”.

The premise of “Justified” is based on the exploits of a United States Marshall … splendidly played by Timothy Olyphant; it has the great dialogue we’ve become accustomed to from Elmore Leonard’s characters. This Marshall’s life is complicated to say the least: he has daddy issues because the Marshall’s father is deep into crime… engaging in loan sharking, money laundering, and whatever illegal schemes there are that would line his pockets.

The Marshall is sleeping with his ex wife and one of the witnesses he met on one of his earlier murder case; did I mentioned that the Marshall carries his revolver like the cowboys from the Tombstone era… wears a cowboy hat and is attired in black… and will give you a chance to out draw him…. The problem for the criminals is that the Marshall is phenom on the draw.

The reason why the Marshall found himself back in Kentucky where he has all this family drama was because he shot a famous mobster down in Miami; this is where the Marshall was initially stationed and a consequence of the shooting, he was transferred back to his home state. Of course, all those who meet their demise by the Marshall’s bullets… the shootings are always deemed justified. There is one actor in particular who almost steals the show in every episode from Oliphant… he is Walton Googins whose character is a child-hood friend of the Marshall… but in earlier episodes of the show, he was steeped into crime… so much so that he was shot by the Marshall and almost killed.

In the recent episodes Googins’ character has converted to Christianity and he is now a preacher… proselytizing and wreaking havoc on the attributes of his father’s crime syndicate: blowing up the Meth labs…. We all have seen Googins before as the cop and crime partner of the main character in the FX show, “The Shield.” It is no big surprise why “Justified” stands out; it comes from good pedigree because the great Elmore Leonard is the show’s Executive Producer.