Movies - TV
Justified Was Meant To Be Kentucky's Version Of The Sopranos
By JEREMY SMITH
Graham Yost, the creator of “Justified,” understood that the Bluegrass State of Kentucky deserved respect and sought to portray the blue-collar red state as the mess of Midwestern contradictions that it is and capture its sassy essence. In doing so, he knocked out six seasons of classic television, but he had another six-season masterpiece on his mind as he did it.
Yost told NPR, “I was always hoping that people in Harlan would view our show in the same way that people in New Jersey view The Sopranos, which is, ‘OK, it's not reality, but it's fun.’ We didn't want to ever insult people so we always tried to keep our bad guys pretty clever. I think if you create a lot of stupid characters, that's insulting, but if they're interesting bad guys, I think that's sort of fun.”
Even the dimmest of bulbs in “Justified” like Dickie Bennett can fire off a nifty riposte in the right situation, which is what kept fans coming back to the show. There's pride in being a native Kentuckian, and for those from Harlan County, a shared, shoulder-to-shoulder camaraderie. As Boyd Crowder tells Raylan Givens in the series finale, “We dug coal together.”