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Today's cuppa: Gevalia coffee

According to actor Neal McDonough, if you liked him as Detroit mobster Robert Quarles in the seventh and most recent episode of FX's Tuesday-night Southern crime drama "Justified," you're going to love him in next week's episode, "Watching the Detectives."

Here's a sneak peek:

"Episode seven was just scratching as to where old Mr. Quarles is heading," says McDonough as he's driving to work on Wednesday, March 1, on his last episode of the season. "Jeepers. After that, it's getting hopped up on my own sh** and a deep, quick, horrible descent. it's fun.

"We're flying. They don't waste any time here. The season finishes shooting tomorrow. It's the fastest 13 episodes ever. What, three months? Three and change? It's crazy. It's like doing a movie, same thing, except, in this, we're just doing a phenomenal movie."

McDonough is especially amused by one line in the show, where Timothy Olyphant's character, Kentucky U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens -- the creation of novelist Elmore Leonard -- refers to Quarles as a "big-toothed, albino-looking sonofab***ch."

"Isn't that nice?" says the son of Irish emigrants, with a laugh. "Sticks and stones. A lot of times, people ask me if I'm black. They say, 'Are you a black albino? Because you look so much like James Earl Jones, but very light.' I always say, I'll take that as the utmost compliment.'"

While McDonough is enjoying the "Justified" life, he is also mourning the loss of Lynn D. "Buck" Compton, the World War II veteran he played in the 2001 HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," who passed away on Feb. 25, at the age of 90.

Based on the 1992 book of the same name by Stephen Ambrose, the miniseries followed the men of Easy Company from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airbone Division from training at Fort Toccoa in Georgia through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge to the capture of Berchtesgaden, Hitler's retreat, at the war's end.

But Compton's story's didn't end there. After winning a Purple Heart and Silver Star in the war, he went on to join the LAPD, study law, become a Los Angeles prosecutor and later a judge. And, he was both a basketball and football star at UCLA, playing in the 1943 Rose Bowl.

"They don't make them like that anymore," says McDonough. "They can try to be like Buck, but there is only one Buck. If you're an All-American baseball and football player -- he was both at UCLA. That's insane. Then you get a Purple Heart and a Silver Star at Normandy. OK, that's crazy. Then you become an amazing police officer, and then you become an assistant D.A. and chief prosecuting attorney in the Sirhan Sirhan case.

"You do any of those things, just one of those things in your life, you've achieved greatness. He achieved greatness on so many levels. And the most amazing father -- his daughters just doted on him his whole life. He was the guy. He's left his mark, an indelible print on me, that's for sure."

And Compton left McDonough with more than just memories, starting with his wife and mother of his four children, South African former model Ruve Robertson.

"Were it not for Buck," McDonough says, "I would never have met Ruve, the first night I got into town, doing 'Band of Brothers.' I would never have had the career I've had, doing all the Spielberg projects, would never have done everything, wouldn't have been able to say in public that I'm a Republican, if he hadn't coerced me, saying, 'Tell them who you are.'

"So, talking to Buck as much as I had during his life, he helped me in so many ways. I'm going to miss that guy so much."

McDonough was among hundreds of guests who attended a 90th birthday party for Compton in January.

"I gave a speech," he says, "just crying like a baby, talking about how much I loved Buck."

And the day before Compton died, McDonough was able to speak to him over the speakerphone.

"At least I got to say goodbye that way," he says. "That was tough. That was really tough."

Today's cuppa: Coffeeshop coffee

Before tomorrow's turkey stupor, I'll give thanks for things in my life and the world at large. Today, though, it's all about the TV.

Here's what I'm thankful for right now ...

* That Discovery and Science Channel are simulcasting "Punkin Chunkin 2010 " tomorrow, on Thanksgiving Day. Ever since "Junkyard Wars" days, there's hardly been anything better than watching an unsuspecting gourd flung through the ether to its eventual splat-tastic demise -- except when you add in Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of "Mythbusters" as hosts. (BTW, it starts tonight on Science Channel with "The Road to Punkin Chunkin.")

* That no more Bristol Palin-hating wingnuts did anything abominably stupid during the "Dancing With the Stars" finale on Tuesday (at least as far as I know). Getting drunk and shooting your TV? Sending a threatening letter with white powder that just scared the heck out of a bunch of innocent people at CBS Television City, where ABC's "Dancing" is filmed (and "The Price Is Right," why the hate for Drew Carey)? And, death threats? DEATH THREATS? Someone needs a reality check. Reminds me of what I was taught as a kid, that how you treat others says nothing about them, but it says everything about you.

* That we didn't have any entertainment-industry strikes by any of the many alphabet-soup unions, whether it's the WGA, the DGA, SAG or AFTRA. Yes, there was a labor dispute at NBC's "The Biggest Loser," but that was settled in what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, and nobody got hurt. With any luck, none of the contestants gained any stress weight either.

* That Thom Beers keeps making TV shows. Yes, I do watch History's "IRT: Deadliest Roads" -- in which North American truckers navigate terrifying mountain byways in Northern India -- while curled in a fetal position and through my fingers, but It's the most fun you can have behind the wheel while not actually getting behind the wheel (or risking a hideous death plunging off a cliff, as often depicted in the Thom Beers Graphics of Doom).

* That, after a bruising fall season, midseason is charging in to save us, armed with such returning goodies as FX's "Justfied," Fox's "Kitchen Nightmares," NBC's "Parks and Recreation," and ABC's "Shark Tank," "Wipeout" (the winter edition) and "V."

There is also a bunch of promising new shows, such as NBC's "Love Bites," "Harry's Law" and "The Cape"; and Fox's "Bob's Burgers" and "The Chicago Code" (formerly known as "Ride-Along," from "The Shield" executive producer Shawn Ryan).

* That, on Dec. 1, "Celebrity Rehab" is coming back on VH1. 'Nuff said.

* Finally, and most importantly, that America's first responders and armed forces keep watch on the holiday, protecting our homes and lives, along with the liberty that allows me to not only watch good TV, but to complain when TV isn't so good. God bless and keep safe.   

As a "Deadwood" fan, I was happy to just see Tim Olyphant working on a TV series and doubly happy to head back to Santa Clarita to watch him do it. The first time I went to the "Deadwood" set, I saw the scene in the first-season finale where Olyphant's Seth Bullock gets his sheriff's badge. This time, he was just having a conversation, albeit one that might endanger his current U.S. Marshals badge.

The more things change ...

'Justified' finds its old Kentucky home ... in California

Set in an 1870s mining camp in the Dakotas - but shot on a ranch in Santa Clarita, Calif., about 30 miles north of Los Angeles - "Deadwood" starred Timothy Olyphant as a Stetson- and gun-belt-wearing marshal with a big mustache, a short fuse and a propensity for killing people in the first episode.

 

In FX's "Justified," premiering Tuesday, March 16, Olyphant plays a Stetson- and gun-holster-wearing 21st-century U.S. marshal with sort of a goatee, a short fuse and a propensity for killing people in the first episode.

 

Oh, and it films in studios perched on top of a hill in ... Santa Clarita, Calif. (except for the pilot, which shot in western Pennsylvania).

 

To be fair, except for the whole hat, marshal, gun and Santa Clarita thing, Olyphant is the main element the shows have in common. Well, there are also appearances by "Deadwood" alumni Ray McKinnon and Brent Sexton and, on this particular day on the set, resplendent in an orange jumpsuit, fellow alumnus W. Earl Brown.

 

Based on a short story called "Fire in the Hole" by novelist Elmore Leonard ("Hombre," "Get Shorty," "3:10 to Yuma"), and adapted by head writer Graham Yost ("Boomtown," "Band of Brothers," "The Pacific"), "Justified" casts Olyphant as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a man whose "shoot to kill" philosophy had landed him in hot water and back home in Harlan, Ky.

 

"I'm a big fan of Elmore for years and years," Olyphant says. "I always thought it would be great to get my hands on those stories. I was very hopeful that the show was going to be as special as it sounded. I knew a little bit about Graham. I knew his work. I was very excited about that ingredient as well."

 

In the scene at hand, Givens and his boss, Chief Deputy Marshal Art Mullen (Nick Searcy), are answering for some questionable things in Givens' personal life. As with many things in Givens' personal life, the incidents eventually link back to local bad boy Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins, "The Shield").

 

See, although Boyd is a bank robber, a white supremacist and a general ne'er-do-well, he and Givens have a history, having grown up and dug coal together. The two clash in the pilot, and Givens draws his gun, but since Goggins is doing nine of the 13 first-season episodes, the "shoot to kill" edict seems more optional than Givens originally admits.

 

"He's amazing," says Yost about Goggins, "and he's just a great guy. There had to be charm in Boyd. We knew with Boyd, going in, that who we cast was critical for the success of the pilot, therefore getting it to become a series. So his casting was really instrumental.

 

"To that extent, we owed him to keep him around, because without him, we wouldn't be on the air."

 

"What's so interesting about the pilot for me," Goggins says, "and one of the reasons I wanted to get involved, I think these two men are cut from the same piece of cloth. They're two acorns that fell from the same tree, but one went in one direction, and the other went in the other direction.

"They're not dissimilar. They're both running from things in their past."

 

You might think that, having been shot by Raylan, Boyd might be angry and bitter, might want revenge. You might think that, if you've only seen the pilot.

 

"You have no idea what you're in for," Goggins says. "This is really interesting. The Boyd Crowder that you meet in the pilot will not be the Boyd Crowder that you meet in episode two.

 

"There is a massive transformation in this person's life based on the events in the pilot, because he got shot. That humbles a man, absolutely. I think you will see a new type of man that is the man of God.

 

"Boyd Crowder, he exists in extremes. This is not a gray man by any stretch of the imagination. The pendulum will definitely swing in the other direction. It's going to be a wild ride for fans of 'The Shield' and also for fans of this show, to see what Boyd does."

 

On a practical level, Yost faces the challenge of making Santa Clarita - a land of tan rolling hills dotted with scrub and live oaks on the edge of the high desert - believable as Kentucky.

 

As to how he's going to match the lush green look of the pilot, Yost says, "We don't. I'll just tell you, we don't. What we do, hopefully, is match the character and the writing and the style."

 

Reminded that Kentucky is horse country, Yost says, "We got this place for one episode, this fabulous estate in Malibu that looks Kentucky-ish ... no, it doesn't. But it has the riding ring and the horses. People just go with the story."