Justified

I was late to the party on this one. The cowboy hat fooled me. I figured it was a western. Even when I realized I was wrong, that it was in fact Elmore Leonard, I still didn't get around to it until they pulled the plug on "Terriers," and we were looking for something new.

"Let's just give this a try," I said, and then we were hooked.

For me, a large part of the appeal of the show is Timothy Olyphant. The funny thing is, I had previously thought that Olyphant was a major part of my problem with "Deadwood." (The other part being that I could never fully get on board with the language of the show. I didn't really care if they cussed or not, but the way they talked just seemed convoluted to me, and my ears rebelled against it.) But at that time, I did not think that Olyphant was leading man material. I thought he was stiff, a Ken doll who lacked any kind of charisma. It's hard to believe now, as I basically think that Olyphant could now stride on screen and read a phone book, and I would be attentive. He's great looking, and he seems engaged. His mind seems always to be working, which is important for this role, because his character is often saying one thing and thinking another.  He has become a geniune star to me, and I would now pretty much want to watch all of his work. Let me say that this show is full of fine performances,  but for me, I watch this show for Olyphant.

The writing is great in the show. I had heard that the writers had a saying, "What would Elmore do?" and it does seem that they stay true to the writer. I also heard that Elmore Leonard told Timothy Olyphant that he could lose the hat, that, say, perhaps one day a wind came up and blew the hat away, and that would be the end of it. I will go on record to say I would miss the hat. It was originally a deterrent for me watching the show, but I have grown very fond of that hat, and I would miss it if it was gone.