There's a lot going on in this week's Justified, and quite a few familiar faces. If "Thick As Mud" has a particular pop to it, it's because Elmore Leonard has a co-story credit for this ride.

While Limehouse is determined to keep Dickie (and anyone else) away from what remains of Mags' money, Boyd and Arlo are burying Devil's body after his bloody end, and Raylan's relationship with Winona is as rocky as it's always been...and oh crap, Dewey Crowe is missing some internal organs. That last part is courtesy of that creepy prison nurse Lance (Clayne Crawford), who just will not go awa...

Valentine's Day is almost upon us. I don't have a valentine this year, but I'd like to give a few out to 10 celebs whose work I have particular affection for.

1. Adam Levine

My favorite The Voice coach is someone I'll always admire, and deservedly so: he has more hardware than a Home Depot. This past year alone, he and Maroon 5 scored their first American Music Award, a People's Choice Award and a Grammy nomination. I totally concur with my friend Jesse Blaze Snider, who referred to them as a band "with three near-perfect albums." (And a fourth on the way, reportedly due in June.)

Now,...

Justified: just when you think you've got it figured out, it keeps unraveling and then it punches you in the stomach. And it's worth all the pain, because it's the best series on TV.

This week, Devil's a little restless, but that's because he's got a meeting with Quarles. What the heck is going on? One of those instances where someone thinks they're bigger than they are, that's what. After his conversation with Boyd last week, Devil is twitchy, and Quarles does his best to make him feel important. "This is an opportunity that only happens once," he teases, and Devil is listening.

...

Timothy Olyphant might be the star of FX's Justified, but he's far from the only one. Actress Erica Tazel has made the most out of her first series regular role as the no-nonsense Rachel Brooks.

From the pilot episode, Rachel has proven an effective balance to Raylan's more outside-the-lines approach, and we've seen their relationship grow along with her character. One of the highlights of season two came in "For Blood or Money" where we got to learn a lot more about Rachel, who has become one of Justified's most pleasant surprises, and that's because it's obvious how much thought a...

If you want to see just how far Justified has come, "Harlan Roulette" is the episode to look at. Colorful, intriguing and at a few points unsettling, it's the complete package.

Ellstin Limehouse is having words with Ava. He says she looks good, and she replies "better than the last time we saw each other," which is just one heck of a loaded sentence. She wants him to meet Boyd. And so, on a bridge in the middle of the night, with plenty of glowering from various minions on both sides, the two converse. "It has come to my attention that you are in possession of something that belo...

Episode two of Justified's second season is a solid standalone that also continues to hand us pieces of a masterful bigger picture.

Last week's episode ("The Gunfighter") started Justified's third season off strong. "Cut Ties" keeps up the standard, but in a different way.

Raylan wakes up in Winona and Gary's house, quickly mistaken for Gary by the realtor who's showing people around. Have a joke about Winona cheating on him with a realtor again. Once Raylan wakes up and pulls himself together, he visits Boyd in prison and actually asks him for relationship advice. Boyd points out that ...

It's fitting that day-and-date with his TV reprise, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens made a triumphant return to print.

Devoted fans of FX's Justified will know that the show's unique hero (so pitch-perfectly played by Timothy Olyphant) has his roots in a short story and a pair of novels. Ironically, it's the TV show we have to thank for Elmore Leonard's new novel Raylan, according to Justified showrunner Graham Yost.

At the recent Television Critics Association press tour, Yost (below left, with Leonard and Olyphant) told reporters, "It started when [Leonard] was visiting the set in the fir...

Here's why I call Justified the best series on TV: because every season, I ask myself "How can this possibly get any better?" and it always does.

"The Gunfighter" starts off simply enough, but within minutes we're reminded that everything in this world is much more complex than it appears. Winona finds herself being pulled over by the state police; seems that Art has been trying to reach her. She arrives at the hospital, where Art tells her "he's going to be all right," and we don't need to be told who he's talking about. Yes, that's Raylan taking a nap in a hospital bed, where we kn...

Fans eagerly awaiting Justified's third season tonight shouldn't miss the newest Raylan Givens novel, which hits shelves today.

Before he was played to perfection by Timothy Olyphant, the character was created by legendary novelist Elmore Leonard.

Raylan's first appearance was in the 1993 novel Pronto, which was followed by 1995's Riding The Rap and the 2001 short story Fire In The Hole. The latter has been cited as the inspiration for Justified.

Now Mr. Leonard has brought back the literary incarnation with a new work, appropriately titled Raylan. At this weekend's Television Critics As...

2011 was a fantastic year for entertainment. Here are my eleven favorite things from the year that's about to wrap, in chronological order...

1. Southland, TNT

(Season 3 began January 4)

I have to admit that I didn't keep up with TNT's gritty Los Angeles cop drama as much as I would have liked; it fell victim to sharing Tuesday nights with three other shows on my watch list. Yet when I did find time to catch it, I was no less than impressed every time.

There's been talk about the show's TV-MA content (allegedly the reason that NBC axed it), but the real talking point should be the st...

Action thriller Drive and Steven Spielberg's latest epic War Horse lead the International Press Academy's nominations for the 2011 Satellite Awards with eight nods apiece.

Both movies are up for Best Film, alongside The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, Hugo, Moneyball, Midnight in Paris, Shame and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy while Drive's Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks are among the nominees for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively.

Competing with Gosling for the Best Actor trophy will be George Clooney (The Descendants), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar), Michael Fassbender (Sh...

If last week's Dexter was more of a standalone episode, this week's throws us right back into the season-long arc, inducing squirms and gasps in equal measure.

Dexter's decided to go to the baptism Brother Sam invited him to after all, even though the idea of religious faith goes right over his head. It's too bad that they don't have time to have a discussion, because it might've come in handy when Dex is called out to deal with the "wicked rodeo" we saw at the end of last week's episode. New guy Mike (Billy Brown) quickly points out to the Metro team that it has something to do w...

For every movie that you hear about, there's probably at least a dozen that you don't. It shouldn't surprise you that some of those flicks that don't get a big release or promo push are really, really good. Maybe even better than those big blockbusters that do get all the attention.

I recently spoke with Richard Gabai, director of InSight. The flick stars Natalie Zea (of Justified fame) as an ER nurse who begins experiencing the memories of a young stabbing victim whose life she tries to save. She partners with the detective working the case (Sean Patrick Flanery of Boondock Saints) t...

Something must be going right for Boss: Starz renewed the Kelsey Grammer-led political drama for season two well before next Friday's series premiere. I recently sat down with star Jeff Hephner to find out what's so intriguing about Chicago politics and how his character, Ben Zajac, fits into the picture.

Ben is an idealist, who grew up in Chicago and whose passion for his hometown caused him to leave a lucrative law career for the murky world of public service. His charisma is not scripted; it's courtesy of Hephner, who is as affable and charming as they come. If that's not ende...

Justified fans can get their Ava Crowder fix when Joelle Carter appears on NBC's Prime Suspect.

Carter plays Louise Iannacone, the wife of a stockbroker who becomes Detective Jane Timoney (Maria Bello)'s first suspect when he's murdered, in the episode entitled "Great Guy, Yet: Dead." It will air Thursday, October 13 at 10 PM ET/PT on NBC, with a re-air that Saturday, October 15 at 9 PM ET/PT.

She's best known for her role on Justified, where she's spent two seasons as Ava, the former love interest of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Emmy nominee Timothy Olyphant). In season two, with Raylan...

Watching CBS' new series Unforgettable gave me a hint of deja vu.

The procedural reunites former Without A Trace star Poppy Montgomery with that show's network and its executive producer, Ed Redlich. Montgomery, who's become a redhead but still looks better than most of us, stars as former Syracuse cop Carrie Wells. Carrie has the gift (or the curse) of remembering almost everything - except for the murder of her sister.

It sounds familiar, doesn't it? A main character with a tragic past, not to mention that she used to be sleeping with her new partner - former Nip/Tuck lead Dylan Walsh...

Modern Family came full circle at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, winning the very first honors of the night and closing the show by topping the prestigious Comedy Series category.

Mad Men looked set to dominate the night, going in with 19 top nominations, and it continued its winning streak for the best drama title for the fourth year in a row.

But the stars of the period drama didn't fair so well - Jon Hamm was a four-time loser for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Kyle Chandler claimed that prize for his role in Friday Night Lights, while Julianna Margulies beat t...

The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards take place tomorrow. ChaCha recently polled a selection of its users on the nominees fashion choices, expected wardrobe malfunctions, impromptu kisses and more.

Who is going to be fashion's biggest nightmare at the Emmy's this year?
January Jones – Mad Men (24 percent) (She just had her baby, so we don't think she'll show up this year.)
Anna Paquin – True Blood (37 percent)
Mindy Kaling – The Office (37 percent)

Who is most likely to have a wardrobe malfunction?
Christina Hendricks – Mad Men (11 percent)
Evan Rachel Wood – Mildred Pierce (57 percent) or...

It may be a little early to predict the Emmy winners, but unlike the Oscars, not much changes in the Emmy Awards season once the nominations are out.

The Emmys can be very tough to predict, but we'll take our best shot. Here's who we think will go home with the gold on Sept. 18th. Do you agree?

Outstanding Drama Series
'Boardwalk Empire'
'Dexter'
'Friday Night Lights'
'Game of Thrones'
'The Good Wife'
'Mad Men'

After yet another outstanding season, it looks like 'Mad Men' may make it four in a row. Its only real competition is 'Boardwalk Empire,' which took the Golden Globe, and...

On SyFy's new original series Alphas, veteran TV actor Malik Yoba plays former FBI agent Bill Harken, the team member who always operates by the rules. As the show rolls out its second episode tonight, Malik sat down with me to discuss his new role and how it fits into his small-screen career.

You can also check out my recent interview with Alphas co-star Laura Mennell.

Let's start at the beginning. What drew you to Alphas and the role of Bill?

I thought he was cool. I didn't really get what the show was at first; I didn't realize how cool it actually was until we shot it. They ...

What happened to this year's Emmy nominations? They're...actually pretty great.

I normally can't stand TV's big awards show; it seems like the same people and series get nominated all the time, with the occasional "why did that get nominated at all?" head-scratcher for variety. But the 2011 nominations were announced early Thursday morning, and while it's still a little puzzling (though let's not name names), there's a bevy of deserving names on that big list.

Here are some of my favorites:

Finally, some love for Justified: I still maintain that star Timothy Olyphant was robbed l...

It’s time to predict this year’s Emmy nominees – never an easy task. Emmy voters are unpredictable; they tend to hold onto old favorites, but sometimes nominate newbies and throw in wild card nominees as well.

This was a good year for TV – particularly old favorites like ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Modern Family’ but also new fare like ‘Raising Hope’ and ‘Boardwalk Empire.’

Here are predictions for this year’s nominees in the major series categories. I likely won’t be right on the money, but if I can get four out of every six in each category, I’ll be happy. It can be a tough guessing game.

Nomina...

Is anyone else having a hard time believing that we're to the end of Justified's second season already? I still vividly remember last season's finale.

While "Bloody Harlan" is no "Bulletville," it's satisfying in its own way, and I can already see the possibilities for season three playing out in my head.

We start with a familiar scene: Raylan walks into Art's office. This time, he's asking for another month off, which Art agrees is a good idea. Then Raylan adds that he wants to transfer back to Glynco and return to his former job as a firearms instructor. Art needs to think about t...

If this week's Justified doesn't end up as someone's Emmy submission, I'll be surprised. So why do I feel slightly underwhelmed by it? Well, I think I was expecting a lot more than just great acting.

That great acting starts from the first moment. Raylan arrives at his father's house, which has become a crime scene. We now know for sure that Aunt Helen is dead. What a shame. Our hero sees the aftermath of her demise in slow motion and near silence. Normally, I hate slow motion scenes. Most of the time, slow motion is an annoying visual effect for a moment that's sorely overblown....

There's not much that I can say about tomorrow night's Justified without giving away huge spoilers. I can say that it's an episode that's probably going to engender some mixed opinions and none of them will be wrong.

As you've seen if you've caught any of the TV spots over the last week, "Reckoning" gives us a very quick resolution to the cliffhanger at the end of "Full Commitment." The entire episode is devoted near exclusively to the fallout from that incident, except for one scene, and that's appropriate. Making something so significant just another one of multiple storylines w...

As much as last week's Justified was a filler ep, at least now we have a lot of fun things to play with. We pick up in the fallout of last week's shootout, and the Marshals Office is buzzing with activity. Raylan totally does not care what the Army CID guy has to tell him about the two shooters, who are ex-Army themselves. The Army CID guy isn't surprised that a lot of people might want to shoot Raylan. Obviously, he's a quick study.

Gary shows up and he wants to pick a fight with both Raylan and Winona. He wants to know how much she's willing to put up with, or if it will take he...

Tomorrow night's Justified feels like the most awkward family gathering ever. I mean that as high praise.

In last week's episode, we saw a lot of actual and potential developments in relationships, and "Full Commitment" shows us the side effects of all of them. Yes, serious things happen - you can add to the body count this week - but most of what makes this hour work is the awkward, often hilarious interactions as Raylan attempts to get to the bottom of last week's fracas and everyone else gets caught up in the tornado that is Raylan Givens.

There are so many fantastic moments i...

It's hard to believe that after tonight, we only have three new episodes of Justified left. How the cable TV season flies when you're having fun! "Debts and Accounts" is the episode that pulls together all the season's storylines in preparation for the end, and while that keeps it from being the best episode itself, it accomplishes that task with relative ease.

Raylan walks into work, is immediately met by Art, and the two start talking over the aftermath of last week's shooting of Coover Bennett. This is business as usual. We've seen it in previous episodes. But today Raylan is a lit...

Picking up where "The Spoil" left off, this week's Justified delivers on last week's promises, while giving us one heck of a one-shot ride at the same time. You can't ask for much more than that.

Everyone's getting ready for Mags Bennett's big get-together, including Loretta (the underrated Kaitlyn Dever), who wonders if her absent father's asked about her, and if she can talk to him next time he calls. No, that's not awkward at all. Mags deflects the questions without missing a beat, but the cute-yet-slightly-creepy moment is interrupted by Coover (who else?). He leaves as quickly...

Considering it as a stand-alone episode, I'm not quite raving about this week's Justified like some of my cohorts have. Yet when I look at it as a part one, I can say that it's an intriguing first step. A first step down the road to hell paved with good intentions, and I mean that as a compliment.

We start things off with Dickie and Coover Bennett playing a late-night visit to a guy named Reggie with something live in a duffel bag. Yet Reggie isn't alone; Boyd is with him. So what's the situation? Dickie tells Reggie to tell Black Pike Mining that he's not interested, but Reggie say...