Justified Craft, Breaking Away, & Car Living

MEANWHILE, BACK IN the subject of TeeVee...

The Globe has a nice profile today by Stephen Cole of Elmore Leonard where he rhapsodizes about how thrilled he is with what Graham Yost has done with the character of Raylan Givens in Justified.

The trick to storytelling, Leonard believes, “is leaving out the parts readers skip.” That’s something Justified, which airs in Canada on Super Channel Monday nights, manages with economy and wit, he says. The story of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a Stetson-wearing lawman who returns to Harlan County to deal with a messy past, manages to pass Leonard’s creative checklist.
“Last night’s show was terrific,” the writer says. “Action all the way, good story, suspense .... The funny stuff was funny.”

“I got a whole bunch of his paperbacks and handed them out to writers,” Toronto-born Yost says. “We wanted everyone to get the rhythm and feel of Elmore Leonard.”
Yost literally handcuffed writers to Leonard by having inspirational bracelets made up that read WWED – “What would Elmore do?”
“I gave ’em to my kids and grandkids,” Leonard laughs, adding that whatever Yost did, his actors captured Leonard’s sound.

Part of what I love about Justified is that it manages to create its world so effortlessly & instantly, but then goes around and breaks all the rules of what you're supposed to do to establish a TV series.   They go to L.A. in the 3rd episode.  L.A.!  I mean, who does that? Changes locale in ep 3?

They also did a nice slow burn building up the Daddy character as a formidable foe, then introduced him as a character who seemed weak and past his prime (though still capable of some real kicks.)

I am completely addicted to this show, which makes up for...


Breaking Bad.  I know, I know, I read the tweets & the interviews saying that the show is bananas now, but, as suspected, losing all sympathy for Walt just sort of drained my desire to watch the series. Something's gotta go.  While I like my antiheroes, I guess I just don't like things quite so nihilistic.  Hey, if I want nihilism, I look in the mirror.


I will also say with some relief that I screened the first episode of HBO Canada's's new show from George F. Walker, "Living in Your Car," (which Canadians can watch online here) and enjoyed it -- with a couple of lingering questions.  I was not a big fan of either This is Wonderland or (especially) The Line, so I'm delighted to say that the pilot for LIYC is brisk & snappy.  It's actually a pretty textbook example of how to introduce a lot of backstory in a smart & funny, breezy way. 

The lead, John Ralston, is enjoyable and charismatic.  I don't know what kind of pop new Walker collaborator Joseph Kay (who created the show with Walker & Dani Romain) brought to the table, but the feel of this show is much more current than the last couple.  I just am not sure, like Breaking Bad, if it's going to be a series with the kind of legs to keep me hooked.  As played in the pilot, the Ralston character is charismatic but not a bit sympathetic. I'm going to need a reason to care about him in subsequent episodes. Still, it's another strong case in the argument that Canada's premium pay services are following their American counterparts by churning out the most consistently engaging and interesting homegrown shows.

I just hope we're not treated to a scene of a woman in a slip in a motel having a long argument with somebody anytime soon.