Margo Martindale and Jake Johnson
What kind of family must it be where slacker bartender Nick Miller (Jake Johnson) is seen as the responsible one? That answer becomes clear in a sporadically amusing road-trip episode of Fox's New Girl (9/8c) that takes the roomies to Chicago to lay Nick's scoundrel of a dad (former guest star Dennis Farina) to rest. The formidable Margo Martindale (Justified, The Americans) presides over the ridiculous antics as Nick's gruff but needy mom, and cable clown Nick Kroll hams it up as his emotionally volatile brother. As usual, Schmidt (Max Greenberg) hijacks the proceedings with his death neuroses, and while he wonders "What's with this open casket thing?" it's his encounter with said coffin and its contents that provides the episode's biggest laughs.
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Tina Fey
Our top moments of the week:
15. Tackiest Move: After Andy Dick's earnestly charming debut dance on Dancing with the Stars, Brooke Burke-Charvet bursts the positive-energy bubble in the room by abruptly and awkwardly asking Dick about being a recovering addict. "Is there a part of you that's concerned, considering that you're a recovering addict, of the pressure that the show puts on everyone?" she asks. "Uh, OK, so you went there," Dick replies, before...
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Justified
Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) finally got his man out of Harlan alive on the Tuesday's episode of Justified, but the end of the Drew Thompson mystery/pursuit doesn't necessarily mean an end to the case — there are still two episodes left this season, after all. TV Guide Magazine called up executive producer Graham Yost for a preview of the homestretch.
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Timothy Olyphant, Jim Beaver, Erica Tazel
How long has the Justified fan waited for someone to ask this question to Boyd Crowder: "Where did you get all of those teeth?" You'll likely be grinning yourself, while cringing at the edge of your seat, as the pleasures just keep multiplying — a high-octane Justified highball of great banter, tremendous suspense, clever twists and reversals — in a harrowing, hilarious and fantastically entertaining episode, so eventful you might mistake it for a season finale, but thankfully there are still two more episodes to go (Tuesday, 10/9c, FX) in this terrific fourth season.
It has all been building to this violent showdown between the forces of good (the U.S. marshals) and evil (everyone else, from Boyd's crew to an army of thugs and snipers representing the Detroit mob). The target is Drew Thompson (the great Jim Beaver), a 30-year fugitive in sheriff's clothing, currently in the marshals' custody, although they feel like sitting ducks, outnumbered and outgunned in Harlan as they calculate several desperate escape maneuvers while awaiting rescue. The episode, written by exec producer Graham Yost and Chris Provenzano, is titled "Decoy," and revolves around a series of standoffs, confrontations and subterfuges that leave few unscathed and unbloodied. Special props to Patton Oswalt as the loyal and lovably resilient Constable Bob, who even Raylan has to admit is a "tough son-of-a-bitch" by the time the dust settles, following a tense encounter outside a (metaphorically apt) high-school principal's office.
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Jim Beaver
The title of this week's pivotal episode of FX's Justified (Tuesday, 10/9c), "Get Drew," may evoke memories of an Elmore Leonard classic (Get Shorty), but Justified is a modern classic in its own right, honoring Leonard's spirit with wit and suspenseful grit and twisty plotting that just won't let up. That's especially true after last week's revelation of the identity of the long-missing and much-sought-after Drew Thompson, who sets off a multi-faceted manhunt.
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Theo James, Chi McBride
Midseason scheduling can be so confusing. If I had a dollar for every reader e-mail wondering where the heck Vegas disappeared to — the answer: It's off for two weeks to allow the new Golden Boy to benefit from an NCIS lead-in, but will return next Tuesday — I could afford another vacation. Which is where I was when Golden Boy premiered, so here are a few thoughts on the second episode (10/9c) before the show moves to its regular Friday time period (9/8c) this weekend.
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Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Nicholson
Our top moments of the week:
13. Best Second-Place Finish: While donating baby goods to the local children's orphanage, Bryan and David quickly fall in love with a baby girl named Nikki on The New Normal. Although their own baby is less than two months from being born, the couple decides they want to foster Nikki anyway. But when they go back to get the paperwork started, they are...
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John Landgraf
FX president and general manager John Landgraf came to the network in 2004 when the channel's scripted offerings were limited to Nip/Tuck and The Shield. Since then, he's built a stable of hits, from the recently departed Rescue Me to ratings monster Sons of Anarchy to the critically beloved Justified. Landgraf talked to TV Guide Magazine about doing Elmore Leonard justice, bucking the antihero trend — and why he didn't pick up Breaking Bad.
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Connie Britton
Send questions and comments to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I've never written to you before, but I'm hoping you can look into a crystal ball for me and reassure me about the fate of Nashville. I'm totally hooked by this show, which is saying a lot since I haven't watched anything regularly on the big three networks for about 10 years or so. I'm extremely worried that Nashville is doomed for cancellation, since it appears that the ratings are pretty lackluster. Any gossip or buzz that you can pass on to reassure me?
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Timothy Olyphant
He had us at "Kablam!"
From the first time Justified's retro lawman Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) did his Gary Cooper walk into the frame and — within the pilot episode's opening three minutes — laconically disposed of Miami hit man Tommy Bucks, we've loved him. After being transferred to his home state of Kentucky, the deputy U.S. Marshal has had to put down his share of scofflaws and ne'er-do-wells in Harlan County. But Season 4 has...
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