Justified- From Girls to Guns

Boyd Crowder- "Would you shoot me, if you get the chance?"

Raylan Givens- "You make me pull, I'll put you down."

Sure I may be a few days late and a couple dollars short, but FX's new series Justified showed so much promise that I needed to get my initial thoughts on the premier down.

Now he may be most famous for his time on Deadwood, but the only thing I knew Timothy Olyphant as was Kelly from The Girl Next Door. He was great as Elisha Cuthbert's porn producer, but we're only one ep in and his Raylan Givens character seems to be that much more fantastic. Olyphant portrays such a hard U.S. Marshall that is yet so calm and collected all the time that he is hard not to love immediately.

The prologue-esque cold open starts the series in Miami. Raylan is in a meeting with a South Florida gun runner played by Peter Greene. The protagonist desperately pleads with the mobster to leave Miami or he will have to do away with him.  Unfortunately for Greene's character, this time there was not time for one last kiss as Raylan shot him on sight. Greene pulled first though, so it was "justified".

Of course this horrific event leads to Raylan's necessary transfer to Kentucky, where he grew up. Fortunately for Raylan, his giant cowboy hat won't look so out of place anymore. Once relocated, the heat in southeastern Kentucky is already brewing as an old acquaintance of Raylan's is around town blowing things up.

This fella is a Nazi by the name of Boyd Crowder. Apparently somebody forgot to tell Boyd that Roy O'Bannon took away his "wingin' it" privileges back in 2000 (skip to 9:00 mark). Seriously where does this Boyd character get off blowing up Sanka's church like that?

Speaking of the former bobsledder, I loved him in this small role as the pastor that only has a church so that he can sell weed from it. I also love that Raylan knew that all he had to do was name drop Peter Tosh to get the champion push cart driver to talk.

Anywho, how bout this chick Ava? Of course she had a crush on Raylan. I love that she is real cute and unassuming even though less than 24 hours ago she murdered Boyd's brother Bowman (also her husband) in cold blood. All she wants to do is make out and cook fried chicken for Raylan. The good U.S. Marshall could get used to that.

And by the end of this series premier Raylan finds himself in a similar situation that he went through back in Miami. This time it was him and Boyd at the dinner table discussing life and chicken. Of course the roles were reversed as Boyd now wanted Raylan to get out of town before he shot him on sight. Although the roles were reversed, the results were the same. Boyd pulled first and Raylan took him down, with his holstered gun no less.

Justified has all the key components for a great show. A great lead character. A few good surrounding characters. Promise of good storytelling. And an interesting and different setting (I do not watch another show that takes place in Kentucky). There's only been one episode, but it is one that I would recommend starting.

Fantasy Idol Results- Seacrest, Chill Out

Ellen- "I actually feel more mariachi."

Ellen continued her good week with a few more comfortable and funny moments during tonight's show. Meanwhile Seacrest is getting more and more like Jeff Probst on these results shows, and that's not a good thing. As Probey Probst does during tribal council, Seacrest has begun to over probe the Idols when it's time to hear the results. He's giving them difficult questions that have no real way of being answered. He's also allowing them to go on and on when he should just interrupt them so that don't sound so stupid, which they all eventually do. I really liked Lee DeWyze before he was forced to talk so much. Please stop doing this Ryan.

There were a few good things to come out of the first Finals results night. The production to start the episode was a major improvement on past years' Last Night's Recap. Secondly, it was great to see David Cook back on the Idol stage, where he performed well with Jumping Jack Flash. And finally, I liked that they changed it so the losing contestant doesn't have to sing the same song they just got eliminated for. It didn't help change the judges mind tonight, but it might in the weeks to come.

And now to the results...Kieran dim the lights. Safe, safe, safe. Bottom three was not much of a surprise as Paige Miles, Tim Urban and Lacey Brown found themselves in the uncomfortable silver stools. As Tim was the first to be relieved from the peculiar position, he once again went into his shocked out of his mind routine that is really starting to tick me off. Get a life pal. Just be happy, give the others a hug and sit down.

Who went home? Lacey Brown. Quiet Pool is 1 for 1 during the finals. Here's another reason why the finals are better than the semifinals. It's much more likely that the better contestants will advance on the big stage. Many people don't start watching until the finals and therefore the semifinals is voted on by more diehard fans. In the finals the casual fans join in and vote for who performs the best. In the semis you most likely get the fans of contestants who don't care what happens during the show, because they are gonna vote for their favorite no matter what.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (7)= 7
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Bottom 3 (-4), Safe (7)= 3
Lee DeWyze- Safe (7)= 7
Week 4= 17 Total= 36

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Safe (7)= 7
Paige Miles- Bottom 3 (-4), Safe (7)= 3
Aaron Kelly- Safe (7)= 7
John Park
Week 4= 17 Total= 35

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami- Safe (7)= 7
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown- Bottom 3 (-4), Eliminated (-8)= -12
Michael Lynch- Safe (7)= 7
Week 4= 2 Total= 20

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (7)= 7
Week 4= 7 Total= 7

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (7)= 7
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 4= 7 Total= 6

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Safe (7)
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Week 4= 7 Total= 5

LOST- The Coward James Ford

UnLocke- "I had problems that could have been avoided had things been different."

James 'Sawyer' Ford has been one of my favorite television characters for the past few years. Although I loved his sideways story, he took a few steps backwards for me tonight. Unless he is lying to UnLocke, Widmore, Kate and everybody else about his end game being getting off The Island, Sawyer's got some serious issues.

So Sawyer, you've been on this Island for over three years. You've seen a Black Smoke Monster eat people. You've seen a fellow passenger be reincarnated by said Smoke Monster. You've watched another fellow castaway be revived by a magic hot tub. And you think that you need to just get off of this Island and everything will be okay? You have to be kidding right?

Please tell me this whole thing is one big hoax, because you know that Kate, Jack and the rest of the Oceanic Six have already been off The Island and since come back. It wasn't enough for them to get off the Island, why will it be enough for you? This character has never been this dumb before.

Don't get me wrong, I loved his idea of having Widmore and UnLocke beat the crap out of each other (if Widmore's armed gunmen would even have any effect on the Monster), but my man James has to have a better end game. Destroy the Island? Rule the Island? Something to make things different around those parts. Leaving the Island won't solve anything, as we've seen before.

Now that I got my complaining out of the way, I can get to what was really good about this episode. James Ford making the right decision in the sideways world. As he said, he got to a point where he was going to be a criminal or a cop and he chose cop. I thought this was very indicative of the sideways world in that most of the characters are making better choices and/or leading better lives than their Island counterparts.

Well not all of them. It seems that Sawyer, Jack, Lock, Linus are all better people in sideways world, but not Kate or Sayid. We already know that Sayid has fallen to the dark side, does that mean that Kate is destined for darkness as well?

I loved Sawyer as a detective, especially when we first find out, because he was almost mirroring the Sawyer we saw in flashbacks oh so long ago. That is until we found out the whole thing was a setup by the LAPD. Studly. His code word for his partner Miles to come in and save the day? Lafleur! Perfect.

Other Points

- As the quote at the top shows, UnLocke continued to explain his feelings to characters on the show this week. This time it is with Kate in order to let her know what he thinks baby Aaron might be in for. Since "Aaron has a crazy mother too" the kid might be the next one to take Smokey's place.

- UnLocke- "I'm the smoke thing." And Sawyer doesn't even blink twice at it.

- UnLocke explains that the Temple people think they are protecting the Island from him, but he really just wants to leave. I don't buy it. He kills because he's a killer. There's something bigger for him than getting off the Island. Even though Jacob is dead, maybe he needs to kill Jacob's soul as well?

- Another great mirror scene in the sideways world as Sawyer gazes into it before smashing it in.

American Idol- Rolling Stones Gather No Votes

Crystal Bowersox- "I haven't thought that I had the competition at all...but thank you for saying it."

It is very weird to watch the last two performances of an episode of Idol and then go back to watch the first ten, but that's what I had to do tonight after coming home at 9:40.

Well Ellen was on her game tonight. As Pops pointed out to me, someone must have told her that if she didn't start being funny she was gonna get canned. That's not to say that she was laugh out loud, knee slapping hilarious tonight, but her witty comments were definitely an improvement on her awkward commentary during the semifinals.

Now let's get my favorite out of the way first so we can move onto the contestants that both me and Slezak are not biased in favor of. Crystal Bowersox absolutely killed it once again, this time changing You Can't Always Get What You Want to fit her style perfectly. Her little riffs, especially the talking piece in the middle, were great. She can do so many different thing vocally that it seems like she has been at the top of the charts for years.

Then we have the other three that were good tonight.

Didi Benami might have the best sound to her voice in the competition. Although her performance of Play With Fire wasn't out of the box vocally, she showed decent power and had great tone throughout. The anger she produced on her face as "Don't play with me" came out of her mouth was truly fantastic to see.

Lee DeWyze might continue to be David Cook Light, but I really don't care. I loved Cook's voice and I love Lee's. He changed Beast of Burden simply by putting his raspy voice on it and he did a great job with it.

While Siobhan Magnus's glory note was completely off tune and screechy at the end of Paint It Black, the final falsetto moment made up for it. Her vocal skill is definitely there, but tonight was not nearly as good as last week, I don't care what the judges tell me. Having said that, she gets the okay from me if only for letting us know that Cape Cod is "divided into towns."

Honestly I thought the rest were pretty bad. If I had to pick one to go home based on tonight it would be Lacey Brown. Her baby doll voice is losing its luster and her off tune singing is shining through. The worst part of her take on Ruby Tuesday was the way she changed such a great part of the song. When she sped up "still I'm gonna miss you" it killed me because it's such a great moment in the original song.

The rest of my bottom four would consist of Aaron Kelly, Casey James and Andrew Garcia. Aaron's place mostly has to do with my hatred for him, because I thought his Angie was serviceable tonight. Casey and Andrew on the other hand just blew up there. Casey obviously shouldn't do fast songs or use the electric guitar and his voice doesn't have the power or range to go far in this competition. Garcia, meanwhile, just obliterated Gimme Shelter. I was literally laughing during the entire performance at his attempt at the song. Strap the guitar back on and try to sing Straight Up every week buddy.

Michael Lynch, Paige Miles, Katie Stevens and Tim Urban were okay in my book this week. Lynch showed he obviously skills during Miss You, even if his confidence is turning into unbearable undeserved cockiness. Paige was way better than any of her other performances with Honky Tonk Woman, even if she is as bland as Lil Rounds. Katie finally picked a great song to showcase her big voice, but still didn't do much else with Wild Horses. Urban decided to dial back Under My Thumb into a reggae song which allowed him to not murder himself like he did with Apologize a few weeks ago. It was a weird choice but not a horrendous vocal so good decision.

Chuck- Casey Wants to Chat

Morgan- "You went on missions?"
Awesome- "You haven't?"
Morgan- "What? Of course...dude...I...never saw you out there."

Since the Olympics ended, Chuck has had a few landmark events occur in a row. First it was the whole Chuck/Hanna and Sara/Shaw, then it was Morgan finding out about Chucky's spy life and this week we got what may be a short-lived firing of John Casey.

Before tonight we didn't know much about the growling one's background. Tonight we found out that he had a fiancé and child before being turned into one the best black operatives this country has ever seen. Although Casey has been as hard as they come over the three seasons we've been watching him, you could always tell there was a softer side to the Colonel. In this week's ep he proved it with his explanation to Chuckles near the end of the ep.

After the crew defeats Casey's old boss and saves his ex-fiancé, Miss McCue simply asks the man formerly known as Alex Coburn, "Do I know you?" Casey walks away from the love of his life and what seems to be his daughter. Once Casey is relieved of his duty and suffering through civilian life on his first night out, Chuck pleads with him to give his fiancé another try. The Colonel tells the Intersect boy that he made his decision for love of country over love a long time ago and it is too late to go back now. We can all see how much this saddens him, but his advice to Chucky is that Walker is a great girl and it is not too late for him yet. Great stuff John!

Cut to Sarah in D.C. saying she wants to move there. Ouchtown, population Chuck!

Other Points

- Another Morgan quote of the night, "I thought you were KGB...or maybe a ninja."

- How would doing back flips down that corridor help at all?

- Somebody explain to me how Chuck would actually believe John Casey was an actual member of The Ring?

- I don't like the Chuck that comes out when he takes this pill. I don't want two stone cold killers. We already have Casey for that.

- I actually thought we might be losing Ellie and Awesome to Doctors Without Borders for the rest of the season. Thank God!

The Marriage Ref- How It Can Be Funny

With all of the critical backlash against The Marriage Ref recently, I figured I would explain why the common viewer may really enjoy the Jerry Seinfeld produced show. Don't get me wrong, there are a few aspects that will detur anyone from loving this show, but there aren't enough wrong-doings to make up for the hilarity of a quality panel.

The audience can be extremely distracting, as their need to laugh and clap at every single comment made can get quite annoying. Then again they might help the panelists get their juices flowing. Then there is the Ref himself, Tom Papa. As Tyson so elequently put it while I was watching this week's ep with a few broskies in NYC*, "He's corny." Although he is extremely corny, he occasionally pulls off a good line to make up for the rest of the episode.

*There is definitely something to be said about watching a comedy with a bunch of dudes that enjoy the same type of humore as you. This week's panel, which featured Larry David and Ricky Gervais, was probably the best so far, but my position on the subject might have been exaggerated by the constant cracking up by everyone in the room.

The stories about the married couples are rarely funny themselves, but who cares? We're there to watch funnymen like LD, Gervais, Seinfeld and Alec Baldwin make ridiculous comments about random people. Baldwin and Seinfeld were a good duo to start the series with, but last night LD and Gervais showed you why this show can be unbelievable at times. It is made or broken by the panel. David's undeniable humor combined with Gervais's infectious laugh made it work this week. Next week's panel does not show as much promise. Jason Alexander, Cedric the Entertainer and Martha Stewart...no thanks.

Watching Larry David talk about anything would be hilarious. That's why Curb Your Enthusiasm is fantastic, that's why this week's Marriage Ref was very funny, and that's why if I got to pick one celebrity to just hang out with for a day, LD would be my number one choice. His disgust with human beings, and the fact that he doesn't mind sharing his negative feelings for said humans never gets old.

Other Points

-Seinfeld should have just had himself and LD be on the panel every week and rotated the third guest.

-Ricky Gervais's laugh is incredible, making The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO that much better.

-Episode two, featuring Seinfeld, Tina Fey and Eva Longoria proved that you can't have a good panel with two females. Never try that again.

-Madonna was surprisingly good this week. Maybe she just got caught up in the greatness of LD and Gervais, but I laughed a few times at what she had to say. Something that can't be said for Fey, Longoria or week one's Kelly Ripa.

Survivor Week 5- JT's 180

For as much as I didn't like JT for all of his good guy-ness the last time he was on, I'm really starting to love him for pulling a complete 180 this time around. Back in Tocantins he went about his business, winning challenges and won the whole thing because everyone respected his play. This time around he's on the Heroes All-Star Team is being as villainous as anyone out there. His previous acts of kindness make him that much more enjoyable now. It's as if he said to himself, "I've already won this thing once, let's see if I can mix things up a bit this time." I like that about JT.

Nothing else of major importance happened this episode, except Coach completely disregarding Tyson's plee to do his Coach-chee in private. It makes me think that those to events happened in reverse order from how they were shown. What was Coach like, my boy Ty wants me to take it easy with the Tai-chi...I'll get everyone on the squad together to show them how good I am at it. Not likely. Either way I enjoy that all but Russell have accepted Coach and his ridiculous ways.

Speaking of Russell, he went against his teammates wishes, went searching for the hidden idol, and eventually found it. What did he do? Of course he told as many people as he could. I guess he didn't get burned by this last time around, but he should have. Why not keep something like that a secret until you think you might be going home and then surprise everyone with a play at tribal? Again, he did make it to the final two last season playing this way.

Jaydon finally takes a hit in the fantasy results and everyone else catches up a bit. My heroes, Colby and Candice are hanging on by a thread so I could go for either a Heroes immunity win or a merge real quick.

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4), Im (8)= 23
Danielle (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4)= 15
Sandra (Villains)- W5 (11), Im (8)= 19
JT (Heroes)- W5 (11)= 11
Tom (Heroes)- Votes (-20)= -20
Week 5= 37 Total= 237

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4)= 15
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4), Im (8)= 23
Rupert (Heroes)- W5 (11)= 11
Amanda (Heroes)- W5 (11)= 11
Week 5= 60 Total= 155

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4), Im (8)= 23
Parvati (Villains)- W5 (11), Im (8)= 19
Colby (Heroes)- W5 (11)= 11
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W5 (11)= 11
Week 5= 64 Total= 152

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)- W5 (11), Reward (4), Im (8)= 23
Courtney (Villains)- W5 (11), Im (8)= 19
James (Heroes)- W5 (11), Votes (-8)= 3
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Week 5= 45 Total= 127

Fantasy Idol Results- Outrage About the Finalists

Let the outrage from last night's American Idol results begin with one of the ousted herself...

Lilly Scott- "A lot of incredible talent is going home tonight. I just don't know what America wants to hear."

The answer to that is trash. America apparently wants to hear the disgusting voice of Aaron Kelly, the boring drone of Tim Urban, and whatever the heck Paige Miles is for the next couple months. Here's what others are saying about this catastrophe...

Michael Slezak- "and four eliminations that ranged from deeply infuriating to moderately infuriating."
AV Club- "I was surprised, though, that Todrick got eliminated tonight."
TV Fanatic- "Still, America, you'd rather see Paige Miles and Tim Urban over the next few weeks? Really?!?"
TV Squad- "What?! Tim's in and Todrick is going home?! I really couldn't believe it."
Sepinwall- "Can Crystal and Siobhan alone keep things interesting for the next three months?"

See I'm not the only one who enjoyed Todrick over the last few weeks. Sadly though, he, along with Lilly Scott, Katelyn Epperly and Alex Lambert will not being making it to the big stage next week where the finalists will be performing songs by the Rolling Stones.

The Fantasy results look to be a three man race at this point, with me, Mags and Rizzo only having one contestant each heading into the finals. Thankfully my remaining contestant is the one they call MamaSox.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (4)
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Safe (4)
Lee DeWyze- Safe (4)
Week 3= 12 Total= 19

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami- Safe (4)
Lilly Scott- Eliminated (-6)
Lacey Brown- Safe (4)
Michael Lynch- Safe (4)
Week 3= 6 Total= 18

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Safe (4)
Paige Miles- Safe (4)
Aaron Kelly- Safe (4)
John Park
Week 3= 12 Total= 18

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (4)
Week 3= 4 Total= 0

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall- Eliminated (-6)
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (4)
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 3= -2 Total= -1

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Safe (4)
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly- Eliminated (-6)
Alex Lambert- Eliminated (-6)
Week 3= -8 Total= -2