Tuesday, March 16, 2010

'Justified' review: Sepinwall on TV

Yesterday, I ran an interview with Elmore Leonard about why FX's "Justified" is one of the few adaptations of his work that he's happy with (and talks a lot of trash about the ones that displeased him). Today, I have a review of why I like the show:
Raylan Givens is a man with a code.

"I want you to understand: I don’t pull my sidearm unless I’m gonna shoot to kill," Givens tells an opponent.

Later, he puts it in even simpler terms: "You make me pull, I put you down."
You can read the "Justified" review here. I'll have a separate post up tonight at 11:11 p.m. (FX pilots often tend to have weird running times) with some more specific thoughts on the pilot.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm calling it The Reincarnation of Seth Bullock.

Unknown said...

Alan, are there any serial elements to the show? I'll be watching anyway but I definitely prefer shows with some sort of arc, even if it is as slight as something like "Burn Notice".

Alan Sepinwall said...

Kevin, it's mildly serialized (in terms of Raylan dealing with people from his past now that he's moved back home), but largely episodic.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Alan!

groovekiller said...

Alan, is this a TNT-type show or an FX-type show?

I know it airs on the latter but the trailers gave me a distinct TNT-show vibe.

FX, TNT, and USA shows all have their own tone and I think you could watch any episode in a vacuum and figure out on which network it airs.

Hatfield said...

I'm so in for this show it's ridiculous. Is this a standard 13 episode season?

Word verification: "chextra." When you have too much cereal?

Nicole said...

I just realized that Walton Goggins in this, so I will definitely watch this.

Unknown said...

The way many fans follow "Lost", I've always followed Elmore Leonard. Love his dialogue and love his books (my dream adaptation would be "Cat Chaser"). Great interview, Alan. EL pinpointed exactly why some of his adaptations failed and why this one deserves a chance.