Justified - A modern western.

It's sad when brilliant shows get buried. Justified is a great example and 5USA is one of the best burial grounds your remote will find. Ten years ago Justified would have been on Channel 4 at around ten o'clock, with a decent enough audience. But now it just wallows amidst the endless CSI reruns 5USA loves.

So, what's so great about Justified? Well, It comes from characters created by Elmore Leonard (Pronto, Riding the Rap and Fire In the Hole) and let me know if I'm wrong, but this must be his first unqualified television success, I remember the, short lived flops that were Maximum Bob and Karen Cisco. Justified is set in Harlan Kentucky, and it is very much a modern western. The dialogue is sharp, the story-lines are pacy and like all the best Elmore Leonard, the villains are given every bit as much time, if not more, than the heroes.

So we need a front man who can really carry the show and we have him in the shape of Timothy Olyphant as Marshall Raylan Givens. He is not a million miles away from Seth Bullock, the character he played in Deadwood, but Raylan, although every bit as deadly, is lighter, funnier, and much more laid back. Timothy Olyphant is perfect in the role, he walks like he owns Harlan and takes very little lip from anyone. The first season saw Raylan do battle with the Crowder family and his complicated relationship with Boyd Crowder, played excellently by Walton Goggins. They are always one step from being friends or killing each other. But Raylan is also plagued by his father, surely the most evil parent since Livia Soprano. Add to that an ex wife and girlfriend who was married to a Crowder and you have the ingredients for an entertaining and complex show.

Now into its second buried season on 5USA Justified has thrown up an even nastier foe for Raylan in the shape of the Bennett's. A hillbilly family, all smiles one moment, then shockingly violent the next. I can't wait for the show down.

But I do wonder how many other buried shows are out there? Little gems tucked away, only watched by a small, loyal band.

Over