The other week I wrote a piece where I said how hard it is to get people to watch Mad Men but if we are going to the other end of the scale, Justified must be the easiest. But there it is neatly stuck away on 5 USA, drowning in the deluge of CSI and NCIS.All you have to say, to a prospective viewer, is that it has the best story lines, nastiest villains, sharpest dialogue and great leading man (Timothy Olyphant is truely magnificent as Raylan Givens) on television and you probably have a bite. This is the sort of show that ten years ago, would have been on Channel Four at ten o'clock, instead of The Killing USA, (I'll bet they would love to put subtitles on that and get a million more viewers) and Justified would have been a hit. But quality television these days seems to do a fine job of hiding away, while the dross, endless Mid whatever it is Murders and Frost are churned out so many times everyone can talk along with it like it's The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The thing is Justified seems to cross so many genre boundaries, urban western, crime drama, knockabout comedy and, with the calibre of its villains, it is almost a superhero show. Justified has just finished its third season and, if you're a fan, I don't have to tell you how great it was. It ranks amongst the best just for its litany of villains alone. This season we added to the rogues gallery the fantastic Robert Quarlers (Neil McDonough) who entered all brash and cocky but we saw him unravel as his excesses, bad luck and, of course, Raylan started to get to him. Also we got Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) a sly, kind of, charming character, who just happens to be slaughtering pigs most of the time, we'll look forward to how he develops in season four. But I think the most under rated bad guy is Wyn Duffy (Jere Burns) whose face seems to be permanently caught in a wind tunnel. You can just feel the contempt Raylan has for him. Like the classic time he threw a bullet at a baffled Wyn and and said: "The next one might be coming a little faster."
That's another thing, that line would be the series stand out in most shows, but Justified has more fantastic lines per show than any other but who really knows, as this greatness is tucked away on 5 USA. Wouldn't it be something if Channel 5 decided to scrap Big Brother and put on Justified in its place, from the start, all three seasons? Think how much more the average BB viewer would get by watching Raylan, Boyd, Ava and Arlo and not hell-bound wannabes questing for fleeting celebrity. Yes, I know I sound like an idiot, but I can dream can't I?
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