THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

yes it sure was. pumped for more dixie mafia this season. this will be the most anticipated hour of tv the next 12 weeks for me.

Yes! It’s the only show on non-premium cable that I look forward to watching.

I watched the first episode the other day and couldn’t get past how one dimensional the skinhead guys were. Does it get better?

#3 you mean the pilot episode? the leader of the skinheads played by the master walton goggins is fleshed out into as complex a character you will see on television over the subsequent 26 hours of programming that have since aired.

i thot that pilot was a superb piece of entertainment so it’s tough for me to say it gets much better but at least in regards to the multi dimensionality of boyd crowder it does.

kendynamo/4 - The pilot was almost entirely an adaptation of Leonard’s short story (the name of which I can’t remember at the moment). Lots of his writing comes out there, and not so much since (though he’s involved with the show’s production, I believe). I love the show, pilot and all, but there is a somewhat different tone after that episode.

Fire in the Hole.

And Leonard has a new book out called Raylan, and Crowder makes an appearance… somehow.

#5 - yeah i was aware of all of that, but it’s probably good to point that out. i’ve never read any elmore leonard but i follow the show pretty closely. the pilot is easily (IMHO) the best episode of season 1 but part of that is because it took a while for the writers to figure out how to reincorporate the master walt goggins.  season 2 takes a big leap forwards story telling wise and with fleshing out the characters. i’ve heard season 1 called CSI: Kentucky, which may be accurate, but I’ve never watched CSI.

Anyway, my verdict is the first season was very entertaining, the second season was superb and the 3rd season started off with an excellent episode. i have high hopes for the rest of the season and the series.

kendy/#7 - What are your thoughts on Get Shorty/Be Cool and Jackie Brown? All three movies are based on Leonard books (though I haven’t read those books, but only because I’ve seen the movies and Leonard is so prolific I figure I’ll read the material I don’t know first). The show Karen Sisco, which I never watched, was based on one of his characters, too.

If you want to sample Leonard, the first book I’d recommend is LaBrava. It’s quintessential post-Western (though, let’s be honest, all his books have many Western themes, just not the setting) Leonard.

Oh, apparently Leonard has more Raylan Givens material than just “Fire in the Hole.” He has two books, “Pronto” and “Riding the Rap,” though I think Raylan is a supporting character in both. I have not read either of those yet.

Click the Amazon link at the top-left, and copy/paste this:

006211946X

That’s his new book released this week.

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If you saw the episode this week, I think Boyd said something about Raylan being pretty enough to sell books, or something like that. 

Olyphant is on the cover of his new book.

@JD - i’m a big fan of Get Shorty, never saw Stay Cool. Jackie Brown was solid, and I enjoyed Out of Sight, too. I think it’s fun to see different directors take on Leonard’s material. The Big Bounce was a pretty big disappointment, though. 

And i really should try reading some Leornard’s books. I’ll check out LaBrava next chance I get. thanks for the suggestion. i also need to read more anyway. my book to tv ratio at the moment is kind of embarrassing.

It’s hard to imagine this season will be anywhere near as good as it was last season. I’m sure it will be fine, but Mags Bennett was one of the greatest TV characters I’ve ever witnessed.
That whole dimension of season 2 elevated the show many levels beyond its season 1 peak.

The show will most likely regress to the mean.

I was a big fan of Mags Bennett, but i think the show is the best when it focuses on Raylan and Boyd. Theyve also still have Dickie Bennett to use this season. so i dont think they necessarily have regress due to the absence of Mags (plus the new villains are looking pretty allright).

we’ll see though. you could be right, mettle. i think i also read in Sepinwall’s blog that Leonard let Yost and the writers check out a first draft of his new book, Raylan, and let them “strip it for parts” for season 2. which may have been a big part of the improvement. if Leonard stays similarly involved for season 3 they should be okay. and they still have a long way to regress before it stops being sufficiently bad ace.