Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Television Flipping Channels: Change Looks Good on Justified, White Collar and Southland
Posted by Ron Wynn on Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 8:32 AM
Last year, FX's contemporary western Justified made the jump from cult/genre favorite to established success, getting the network its most favorable attention and highest ratings since the heyday of The Shield and Rescue Me. The faceoff between U.S. Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) and the criminal family run by Queen Bee Mags Bennett (Emmy winner Margo Martindale) raised the show's bar so high Olyphant and executive producer Graham Yost spent months devising a worthy storyline successor.
This year's shows, which begin tonight at 9 p.m., introduce two new villains, both played by actors who worked with Yost on his short-lived, highly praised crime drama Boomtown during the 2002-03 season. Neal McDonough plays Quarles, a Detroit kingpin who's arrived in Givens' Harlan County stomping grounds to establish his drug operation in new territory.
Mykelti Williamson joins the cast as the other character, Limehouse, who brings a new flavor to Justified. Limehouse rules an African American community based on the actual Kentucky enclave Coe Ridge. Students of Southern and black folklore know the stories about this group, who are just as backwoods and deadly as any white mountain group.
There remain unresolved issues between Givens and the deadly couple of Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) and Ava (Joelle Carter), who is now Crowder's lieutenant in charge of maintaining order within his gang. Crowder wants revenge on Bennett's surviving son Dickie (Jeremy Davies) for Ava's near murder. Lastly, Givens' ex-wife and current lover Winona (Natalie Zea) is pregnant.
Justified's soaring popularity even inspired a new novel from mystery writer supreme Elmore Leonard. Raylan is now on the shelves, continuing the expansion of a figure Leonard originally only intended to be the hero of a short story.
Few crime or cop shows blend regional flavor, thematic surprises and outrageous characters like Justified. It's another example of what can happen when gifted people exploit the creative freedom afforded by cable. The only thing one can predict is there will be plenty of dead bodies and amazing sequences, plus some of TV's richest, funniest dialog. So as an appetizer, enjoy the clip reel above of Raylan's greatest hits.
'White Collar': more starch
USA Network's stylish crime series White Collar got a bit more heated than usual last season. The cliffhanger finale ended with FBI agent Peter Burke's (Tim DeKay) wife Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen) kidnapped by Keller (Ross McCall), the former partner and now sworn enemy of his friendly adversary Neal (Matt Bomer). The situation put the two men, usually allies despite their disparate roots and approaches to life, at each other's throats. The new season's first episode debuts tonight at 9, and Neal and Peter must make immediate hard choices.
Neal has to decide whether it's time to tell the truth about the art treasures and other items he's been hiding from Peter for months. He also must tell longtime friend Mozzie (Willie Garson) whether he plans to end his job with the FBI and resume the scams and art jobs that initially got him arrested by Burke — who must consider whether the odd partnership that has brought down plenty of white collar criminals has also needlessly endangered his wife and career.
The producers will bring back recurring guest stars Beau Bridges and Tom Skerritt later as the show's third season builds to another cliff-hanger. That one promises to bring even more turmoil to an already unstable situation.
Liu new to 'Southland'
Another show that has greatly benefited from departing the networks for cable is Southland. NBC originally had it, but grew nervous with its writers' penchant for pushing network boundaries for language. They also didn't like the fact that the program's loyal following was a small one.
NBC's loss has become TNT's gain. Without worries about creative restrictions, Southland has flourished on cable, even though there's not nearly as much boundary stretching as one might hope. But when the show returns for its new season tonight at 9, a fresh face may add some snap to the ensemble.
Lucy Liu may be looking far less stylish in police blue, but there's potential for her new character: a veteran cop named Jessica Tang with little patience for office politics or small talk on the beat. She's partnered with John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who's just out of rehab for pills. Should be an interesting match, in a show that could use more edge.
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Justified drinking game: Take a drink every time they should a bottle of bourbon, two if it is Pappy's.
I'll always love the show for the episode where Raylan handled a prison standoff with a discussion of Prince's Hot Chicken. (And bourbon.)
The faceoff tonight between Raylan and the icepick killer was classic. The little half-smile Olyphant gets that says "I mean business" never gets old.
You know, I thought about that while I was typing and wondered if I should qualify it as "funniest" instead. "Jurassic Bark" is just wrenching ... and then the bastards have to go and use "I Will Wait for You" from THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG to remove every last vestige of your composure.
