| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Season Four of Fx's Justified started up yesterday (Jan 8, 2013).
I will posit that the first three seasons were as good as any comparable period of ANY tv show ever.
Me? Hyperbole? Nah!
I have never seen a show that can, over the course of a 60 minute episode, so consistently ratchet up the tension so well. I like different kinds of shows: Psych, Burn Notice, Downton Abbey, Adventures of Brisco County Jr, X-Files, Sherlock Holmes, et al. So I'm not "sold" on a Justified-type show.
I recommend starting with season one. But you really should give this series a look. For consistent quality episodes, it has been Grade A+
Raylan Givens rocks. And the character is from books by Elmore Leonard, who is a fantastic writer, so it's got a strong basis.
Yeah, the writing's very, very good.
Throughout season 3, the script foreshadowed Quarles' quick draw holster jamming in a climactic standoff with Raylan, and the whole thing was a red herring. I love that level of planning.
When I first saw the teasers, I was expecting some horrible, obvious, hillbilly cop show; I've never been so happy to be wrong.
This week's episode (Feb 26) was 60 minutes of television being as good as it can be. The ability of this show to consistently ratchet up tension and plot over the course of a single episode is unequalled. I cannot envision a better drama than this one.
I just binge-watched the first two seasons, while Mrs Gersen and Baby Gersen were out of town. I'm an Elmore Leonard fan, and loved the character in his books; it's awesome to see him brought to the screen (Episode 3 was the novel Riding the Rap compressed to fit 40 minutes). Olyphant does a great job. Love all the other characters, too. Really good show, and I have to say that Season 2 was better than Season 1.
I just binge-watched the first two seasons, while Mrs Gersen and Baby Gersen were out of town. I'm an Elmore Leonard fan, and loved the character in his books; it's awesome to see him brought to the screen (Episode 3 was the novel Riding the Rap compressed to fit 40 minutes). Olyphant does a great job. Love all the other characters, too. Really good show, and I have to say that Season 2 was better than Season 1.
Season 2 is the best one, while season 5 is the weakest (but still being far better than 90% of all of television).
Season 2 was your favorite?! I thought that season 1 was awesome. In my opinion the dramatic loss in story quality from 1 to 2 was enough to get me to stop watching. But then 1 is based on the book and 2 is Hollywood writers, unless I am misinformed. Season 2 isn't bad... It just seemed so absolutely meh compared to 1. So I switched my watching to other shows.
Season 2 was your favorite?! I thought that season 1 was awesome. In my opinion the dramatic loss in story quality from 1 to 2 was enough to get me to stop watching. But then 1 is based on the book and 2 is Hollywood writers, unless I am misinformed. Season 2 isn't bad... It just seemed so absolutely meh compared to 1. So I switched my watching to other shows.
One of my good friends is obsessed with this show.
OBSESSSED.
He has spent thousands of dollars on hats like the one in the show. He visited the show's setting with his brother last year and got to meet some real rangers(or whatever they are on the show) along with the person on the force who does consultation for the show. He had the time of his life, but he spends entirely too much money on hats.
Season 2 was your favorite?! I thought that season 1 was awesome. In my opinion the dramatic loss in story quality from 1 to 2 was enough to get me to stop watching. But then 1 is based on the book and 2 is Hollywood writers, unless I am misinformed. Season 2 isn't bad... It just seemed so absolutely meh compared to 1. So I switched my watching to other shows.
There was no book. "Fire in the Hole" was a short story by Elmore Leonard, in which Raylan Givens kills Boyd Crowder with a single bullet to the heart.
Anyhow, I LOVED the second season, with the introduction of the Bennetts. Seriously, I feel like that family lives right next door. Yes, it's an interesting neighborhood here in Rhode Island.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There was no book. "Fire in the Hole" was a short story by Elmore Leonard, in which Raylan Givens kills Boyd Crowder with a single bullet to the heart.
There were two books. (Originally, anyway; then one more after the show). Before FitH, Raylan Givens was the main character of both Pronto (1993; there was a 1997 TV adaptation, not starring Olyphant) and Riding the Rap (1995). The latter got compressed way down and became the basis for Episode 3 (only) of Season 1. The character Earl Crowe is from Pronto. Leonard actually started with the TV show when he wrote Raylan in 2012; the show subsequently adopted part of that into one of the Season 3 episodes.
Elmore Leonard wrote a ton of other stuff that got (some very good, some lame) adaptations as well, for example:
Leonard also wrote the screenplays for Joe Kidd (Clint Eastwood, 1972), Mr. Majestyk, Stick, 52 Pick-Up, and Cat Chaser.
Okay, look Kirth, I didn't know The Switch had been dramatized, so I'm eternally grateful! I first read the book about a month after I saw Jackie Brown, and was all like "I know those guys!!"
Nor was I aware of the books about Raylan. All my knowledge of Elmore Leonard comes from a box full of paperbacks left in the closet of an apartment I rented by a previous tenant. Does Karen Cisco feature in any of the Raylan books? 'Cause Carla Gugino shows up in a later season of Justified playing a US Marshal from Miami named Karen but they never call her Cisco. She's gotten married, then divorced and kept the name, I assume because FX didn't have TV rights to the character.
At that point I started to wonder if Ray Nicolette the FBI agent was going to show up, and, supposing he did and that Karen's father felt he needed a stern talking to, would said talking to be delivered by Dennis Farina, or Robert Forster?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Saw Life of Crime -- I hate to say this, because I'm as far from a Jennifer Anniston fan as it's possible to be, but this was a very faithful adaptation and, more importantly, a very good movie. I'd put it right alongside Get Shorty as one of the very best Elmore Leonard movie adaptations.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aww, damn thread necros. Thought maybe they decided to do a 7th season :(
Loved the show, loved the characters.