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FX Announces Return Dates for ‘Archer’ and ‘Justified’

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Alright gang, fire up your DVRs and get ready for FX’s best shows not about Bikers or bars in Philadelphia to return.

First is the animated brilliance that is Archer. The story of a self-indulgent, American James Bond-Type (a comparison he doesn’t welcome), and the barley functional agency by which he is employed, Sterling Archer is television’s most entertaining spy. And come Thursday, January 19th, he is back on FX.

That follows though, the premiere of the 3rd season of Justified, which will air 2 nights earlier on the 17th.  Justified is maybe my favorite show on all of television, and is the earlier casting announcements (here and here) are any indication, this newest season is primed to continue the 2 years worth of excellent programming we’ve come to expect.

FX continues to edge out Showtime, AMC, and HBO as my favorite network for original programming.

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Justified: New Season 3 Villains – Neal McDonough & Mykelti Williamson

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Somehow, the second season of Justified managed to be better than the first one. I don’t know if it’s possible to expect the same level of improvement this year, but the casting director isn’t hurting their chances. It was announced this week that the show has added 2 new villains who are sure to run into conflict not only with Raylan, but Boyd, and maybe even Dickie too.

Former Boomtown co-stars Neal McDonough and Mykelti Williamson join the cast in an attempt to replace the Bennett clan this season.

Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers) will portray ‘Quarles’, who Screen Rant described as “a Detroit gangster looking to make a power play in the void left by the Crowder and Bennett families from seasons past. Given Quarles hails from the Motor City, and supposedly has a penchant for fine tailoring – he may find himself a fish out of water in Harlan County.” 

I’ve been a big fan of McDonough since his turn as ‘Buck Compton’ on Band of Brothers, but that’s certainly not the extent of his resume. I’ve like him in just about everything I’ve seen him in, and that includes a much underrated performance in SyFy’s Tin Man (right), and of course that fact that he appeared in the only season of Terriers only further endears him to me. And Marvel fans may know he has a long history with the Comic Book Giant having voiced ‘Bruce Banner‘ in The Incredible Hulk cartoon from the 90’s and is now playing ‘Dum Dum Dugan‘ in Marvel’s latest line of movies, including this summer’s Captain America: The First Avenger. The guy is a boss actor and the fact that he’s coming to Harlan via Detroit – I can’t wait.

 

As his character is from Detroit, this is one of the few roles I would expect him NOT to wear a Cowboy hat…

The other new hire – Mykelti Williamson: “plays ‘Limehouse’ – the decidedly more homegrown of the two baddies in season 3. Limehouse comes from a small, predominantly black town in Harlan County – and has no qualms with breaking the law in order to keep his holler protected.”

Now Williamson has been in plenty of roles over the years, everything from Free Willy 2 to The Final Destination. He played a convict in Con Air and the director of CTU on 24. But the role he is still most known for is that of Forrest Gump‘s best friend – Bubba Blue.

‘Limehouse’ seems like he’ll be the one we are more conflicted towards, as ‘Quarles’ will more than likely be a straight up dickhead from the get go. Maybe a little bit like Wynn Duffy, but less crazy. Anyhow, they’ve already begun filming and the show is set to return with another 13 episode set in January. We’ll try to keep you updated till then.

And to close things out, in case the pregnancy ruins her figure, here is Natalie Zea:

Natalie Zea, Justified, Baby, Esquire
Raylan put a baby in there.
Annnnnnnnnd, you’re welcome.
TV

Critics Choice TV Awards: Results Don’t Lend Same Credibility Nominations Did…

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A couple weeks ago I got excited and told you about the quality of nominations from the first ever ‘Critics Choice TV Awards’. Representation for Community, Parks and Rec, Always Sunny, and Justified made me think someone had finally gotten it right. Then the winners were announced. Most of the good-will they had built with me has since disappeared. Let’s take a look…

BEST DRAMA SERIES

– Desired Winner: Justified
– Predicted Winner: Boardwalk Empire
– Actual Winner: Mad Men

This is about the least inspired choice possible. Way to distinguish yourselves by picking the show that has won this award 3 years running from the Emmy committee. I feel like they mailed this one in for a bid to be taken seriously, and in that bid I think they lose credibility.

It’s nice to see Justified nominated, but it looks like this one was over before it started. Mad Men is obviously not a terrible pick as all the shows were good, just seems uninspired.

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

– Desired Winner: Kyle Chandler, “Friday Night Lights”
 – Predicted Winner: William H. Macy, “Shameless”
– Actual Winner: Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”

This is again predictable. I really like Jon Hamm, but so far this looks just the same as every other awards show out there, giving gold to maybe the most over-rated show on television.

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

– Desired Winner: Connie Britton, “Friday Night Lights”
– Predicted Winner: Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
 – Actual Winner: Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”

This is a show that I admit to have not watched, so I can say anything against the pick, but can’t speak for it either. Julianna Margulies is a solid actress and I’ve heard only good things about this show, so I’ll just give them the benifit of doubt and assume this was the right pick, but it’s too bad FNL didn’t get any love from the voters. This is the spot I thought Mad Men would get it’s statue, but obviously they still cleaned up without it…

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

– Desired Winner: Walton Goggins, “Justified”
– Predicted Winner: Walton Goggins, “Justified”
– Actual Winner: John Noble, “Fringe”

Normally I wouldn’t have any problem with the greatly under-rated Fringe collecting some accolades, except in this case where it costs Goggins a much deserved victory here. Noble is great, I just thought it was Boyd Crowder’s year is all…

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

– Desired Winner: Margo Martindale, “Justified”
– Predicted Winner: Margo Martindale, “Justified”
 – Actual Winner: TIE: Margo Martindale, “Justified”/Christina Hendricks, “Mad Men”

Well HOLY SHIT, I almost called one right! Justified almost took the spotlight, but instead had to share it with – You Guessed It – Mad Men. Now I love Hendricks from her days on Firefly, but come on. This is a sham. A tie? BOOO. Martindale should’ve had this one to herself.

BEST COMEDY SERIES

– Desired Winner: “Parks and Recreation”
– Predicted Winner: “Modern Family”
– Actual Winner: “Modern Family”

I really have no issue here. Parks and Rec I thought deserved it, but Modern Family is a great show. And to be honest, with the quality of nominees here, so long as it didn’t go to Glee or The Big Bang Theory I was gonna be ok with it. That being said, Modern Family would’ve been 3rd on my list, behind Community at 2nd. Anyhow, who can complain about a show that stars Sofia Vergara and Julie Bowen, with Al Bundy to boot?

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

– Desired Winner: Charlie Day, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
– Predicted Winner: Steve Carell, “The Office”
– Actual Winner: Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

This is without a doubt the biggest issue I have with this list. The Big Bang Theory is unbelievably stupid and keeps getting rewarded for it’s formulaic CBS assembly line style of comedy. Nothing against Parsons personally, but this just seems to be a show about who non-nerd imagine real nerds act. And his character is annoying. I hate this show. And when you take into account the other 4 nominees, this decision makes even less sense…

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

– Desired Winner: Martha Plimpton, “Raising Hope”
– Predicted Winner: Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”
– Actual Winner: Tina Fey, “30 Rock”

Not it’s not unusual to hear me praise Tina Fey, I’m a huge fan of her’s. The problem I have here is that this was easily the weakest season of 30 Rock to date, while Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation really took off this season and I just don’t get the choice. Sure, in 2009 – Fey over Poehler is a no-brainier, but this one just seems like a reputation win…

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

– Desired Winner: Nick Offerman, “Parks & Rec”
– Predicted Winner: Nick Offerman, “Parks & Rec”
– Actual Winner: NPH, “How I Met Your Mother”

If Jim Parson’s won is my #1 issue, this is my #1B issue. I like NPH, but as we’ve talked about in the past HIMYM isn’t what it once was, and this was without a doubt Nick Offerman’s award. Offerman’s ‘Ron Swanson’ is the best character on television and he was absolutely robbed here. It makes me wonder if the voters even watched Parks and Rec this season. As much as I like Harris, he actually would’ve been last on my list of the 5 nominees…

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

– Desired Winner: Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
– Predicted Winner: Jane Lynch, “Glee”
– Actual Winner: Busy Philipps, “Cougar Town”

I was rooting for Bowen because I think she gets overlooked, but I can’t badmouth Busy Phillips. I don’t watch Cougar Town, but she was a principal character on Freaks and Geeks, and was in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles so she’s ok in my book…

This could’ve gone anyway really, all the nominees were deserving.

Where I will give them credit is that they awarded the first Critics’ Choice Television Icon Award to Danny Devito, star of Taxi and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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Justified: Season 2 Finale – ‘Bloody Harlan’

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The first season of Justified far exceeded my expectations. Raylan Givens delivered on every level and the show produced not one, but two of the best characters on television today. That first season ended with one of the best finales I’ve ever seen, and somehow season has not only managed to avoid being a let down, but actually turned out better than the first.

Last night that 2nd season came to an end in a ‘full circle’ kind of way, and I loved it. There aren’t many shows on anymore that can put you on the edge of your seat, but that’s wear I sat through the whole episode. The finale picks up with Raylan talking to Art about transferring to Glenco, which is a move to make Winona happy. Boyd requests a parlay with the Bennetts, and Loretta McCready disappears from her foster home.  These 3 events set up the rest of the episode.

First, we learn that Winona is prego. This explains some of why she doesn’t want Raylan in the field. So perhaps we’ll see a little Raylan in the future, though more likely I think Winona either get killed, leave Raylan, or lose the baby before that happens.

Next, during Boyd’s parlay with the Bennetts he anticipates their intentions and sets up ambushes at both Ava and Johnny’s houses. This results in the death squads sent to each location being executed by the Crowder gang. The explosion we saw in last weeks preview killed not Johnny Crowder as we expected, but the Bennett’s men instead.   And the assault on Ava’s house ended almost exclusively with Bennett clan deaths.

Almost – Dickie shot Ava before escaping.

Doyle receives a call from Dickie with the news while still at the parlay. This is Boyd and Arlo’s big “F U” moment with Mags and Doyle. The Bennett assault was a failure and Boyd now has the upper hand.

Next we see Loretta has not been kidnapped, but instead commissioned a ride to Harlan for a chance at revenge on the Bennetts for the murder of her father. Raylan learns of her intentions and heads to Harlan. This is when Raylan falls victim to Dickie’s baseball bat. When Raylan recovers consciousness he finds himself strung up by his ankle in Piñata position.

This is when things looked the worst for Raylan, that is until Boyd Crowder shows up with a gun and a whole lot of bad intention. He has just seen Ava’s gunshot wound and has some swift retribution planned for Dickie Bennett. After getting Raylan cut down from the tree, Boyd allows Dickie to live at Raylan’s behest in order to help find Loretta.

Raylan takes Dickie to play ‘Human Shield’ at the Bennett’s house. When he gets there Loretta is already inside with Mags and Raylan has to deal with Doyle. Doyle seems unconcerned with the danger posed to his brother and decides he has had enough of Marshall Givens.

This is about the time that Loretta, inside the house opens fire on Mags, shooting her in the leg. This gunfire causes Doyle’s men outside to open fire – hitting Raylan and nearly killing Dickie as well. With Raylan on the ground, Doyle decides to end the feud once and for all. This results in Marshall/Sniper Tim Gutterson blowing a hole in the Police Chief’s forehead…

This brings the entire Marshall service rushing in at Art’s command, who is there because of Winona’s plea for him to help Raylan. The injured Givens limps into the house to find the injured Mags at the end of Loretta’s gun barrel. After Raylan is able to talk the gun out of Loretta’s hand he sits down with Mags. And full circle we’ve come as Mags pours a couple of glasses of her famous Apple Pie drink and, like with Walt McCready, the glass for the drink proves to be fatal. This time however, Mags poisons herself. News of Doyle’s death and Dickie’s arrest, couple with Coover’s death and Loretta’s attempted murder, Mags decides it’s all too much.

The episode and season end with Raylan’s hand in hers, and the Bennett’s hold on Harlan County officially released. I don’t think many people expected Dickie to be the only Bennett to survive the season, but such is life. This sets things up for the 3rd season where we are sure to see Boyd reclaim the county as his own.

I truly believe this is be the best running series on Television and I already can’t wait for season 3…

Video is also from Warming Glow…

OTHER JUSTIFIED ARTICLES:
– Justified: A Beacon of Modern Masculinity
– Justified: Cottonmouth – Harlan County’s Best of the Season
– FX Renews My Faith: 3rd Season of JUSTIFIED Ordered
– Justified: Episode 209 “Brother’s Keeper”

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South Park: Season 15 Premiere – ‘HUMANCENTiPAD’

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Let me start by saying that I think South Park is one of the smartest and funniest shows on television. It fearlessly attacks and satirizes everything and everyone. In a culture so disgustingly obsessed with being ‘politically correct’, South Park is a beacon of reason since they seem to try their hardest to buck that trend. So I was quite excited that the premiere of the 15th season had snuck up on me. It was a pleasant surprise to check my DVR after Justified and find a new episode. What was less pleasant was the episode itself…

The focus of the episode was around the Apple iPad. Cartman pretended to have one (of course) and obviously made fun of all the kids who didn’t have one. When he gets called out for his lies he turns to his mother for help. At this same time Apple shows up to abduct Kyle, which is a result of him clicking things before reading them. Apparently he agreed to an entire litany of things in the last update Apple sent him…which he did not read.

So Cartman convinces his Mom to forgo the waiting period before his birthday and take him to get an iPad right then. However, upon learning she cannot afford one, he proceeds to let everyone know she is ‘f–king him’. It’s metaphorical, but people then start to believe that she is actually molesting her son.

At this time Kyle is being prepped for surgery…Human Centipede style.

So while Cartman is telling everyone that his mom is f–king him (including Dr. Phil), Kyle is being made to eat a man’s poop.  The Steve Jobs then explains why this is gonna be the next best thing. Apple users eat it up.

Overall though, I didn’t get it.

I liked how smug and gullible they made Apple users seem (since I use a PC), and Cartman dropping F-Bombs was funny the first few times, but I just didn’t laugh. Not the way South Park normally makes me laugh. It addressed how dependent some people are on their Apple products, and how useless some of their innovations are, but that people will run out to buy the stuff anyways.

The Human Centipede stuff just missed for me. And don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t grossed out by the episode, and it was actually a nice nod to Human Centipede which is a movie that I kind of, sort of enjoyed.

Something just didn’t click for me here though. I give it 2 Bears.

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Justified: Episode 209 “Brother’s Keeper”

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Regular readers to the site should already know, my favorite show on Television is Justified. They should know, not because I’ve said it multiple times (even though I have: Justified: A Beacon of Modern Masculinity & Justified: Cottonmouth – Harlan County’s Best of the Season just to site a few), but because it simply embodies the opposite of  everything I regularly point out as being wrong with TV.

And last night was no different. For those paying attention to the show they already knew going in last night we’d get to see the Bennett Clan’s ‘Everyone is Invited’ picnic. We knew Mags had something up her sleeve, but we just didn’t know what. We also knew going in that Carol Johnson, the representative of the mining company, who was under Raylan’s protection, had plans to buy out the Bennett land, and mine the mountain.

The episode kicks off with Mags and Loretta, doing what appears to be some ‘Mother-Daughter’ bonding. Mags is gifting Loretta a family heirloom, an antique hairclip when Coover busts in the room. Mags explodes at him about not knocking and proceeds to kick him out.

He doesn’t leave right away though, he stands outside the closed door long enough to hear his mother cruelly badmouth him to her apparent new favorite kid.

Coover is obviously jealous of the attention Loretta is receiving from his mother, as if she is part of the family now.


Shortly after this Boyd and Ava show up to the shin-dig, and are clearly not welcome. Local Police Chief (and Mags’ eldest child) Doyle Bennett threatens to remove them forcibly if they don’t leave, but Boyd persuades him to arrange a sit-down with Mags. At this point we still aren’t sure what Boyd’s endgame is, only that it involves Raylan’s father, and what seems to be the betrayal of his current employer – Black Pine Mines.


 This is when Raylan and Ms. Johnson arrive. Carol goes to have her final discussion with Mags, only to find Boyd is also present. Carol is under the impression that Boyd has secured Arlo Givens land for her, when in reality, Boyd secured if for himself. Mags then looks at Black Pine’s offer and demands it be tripled. She also wants a stake in the company as she reveals to Ms. Johnson, with the land now owned by Boyd and the Bennetts, Black Pine cannot build the road they would need to transport the coal. Black Pine agrees to her terms and she sells out the county she’d been so adamant in defending.

After Raylan and Ms. Johnson leave, Loretta is called over to help Coover load some kegs into the truck, as he has only one capable hand now.

This is when Loretta notices Coover’s watch, or rather, her daddy’s watch. She is noticeably frightened enough that Coover comments on it. It is now obvious that he only put the watch on to let her know he killed her dad. She heads back up to the house to remove the dress Mags gave her and switch back into her old clothes. This is her letting the audience in on the fact she now knows that her father is dead, as she attempts to distance herself from the Bennetts. But she wants her father’s watch back.

Loretta shows up at Dickie and Coover’s house sometime later. She brought Coover a gift – a joint laced with formaldehyde. Coover seemingly passes out and Loretta begins to search the house for the watch. She first finds Dickie passed out face down on the ground. She then uncovers the watch and calls in her ‘Knight in shinning armor‘ for help.

This is when Coover enters the room and Dickie wakes up. Enraged she tried to drug him Coover attacks Loretta and little Dickie unsuccessfully tries to stop him.

Justified
An unjustified Dick Choke.

Dickie’s attempt however does give Loretta time to escape out the front. Coover chases her down in the truck as Raylan, after doing a cell phone trace, arrives to find Dickie unconscious on the floor. Coover takes Loretta to the same mine shaft where her father’s body has been decomposing for some time. Raylan engages Coover again, and is losing again. Loretta picks up Raylan’s dropped gun and gets Coover’s attention long enough for Raylan to reach his backup piece and end Coover.

Upon hearing the news Mags shows up at the mine to see her son’s body being removed and learns that Loretta has been taken into protective custody. In an attempt to persuade Raylan to let her talk to Loretta, she starts to cry. Raylan is not moved, and upon seeing his unwillingness to budge, she abandons the plea and exits. That a Cold-Hearted woman.

While this episode may have, apparently wrapped up both the ‘Loretta’ and the ‘Black Pine’ story lines, Raylan’s killing of Coover is sure to elicit a swift response from the Bennett clan, meaning the last 4 episodes to come should hold a war in the making.

I think we’re due for a crescendo.