Based off of a character created by Elmore Leonard, the show’s core concept transplants a 19^th-century-style sheriff, Raylan Givens, into the modern-day U.S. Marshals Service—metaphorically, that is.  Olyphant plays Givens with a mix of menace and earnestness. This is a man prepared to do whatever he needs to in order to keep his town safe—a difficult task given the crime families situated in the town.  Even worse, Raylan’s father has his own sense of justice, and isn’t above going outside the law to get it.

The first 13-episode season won rave reviews across the board, and holds an 81% rating at Metacritic.  Olyphant has a fine supporting cast, including Walton Goggins of The Shield as reformed drug-runner Boyd Crowder, Natalie Zea of Dirty Sexy Money as Raylan’s ex-wife, and long-running character actor Nick Searcy as Raylan’s boss.  The show has already been renewed for a second season, so it’s a perfect chance to catch up on the episodes on iTunes (or if you were lucky enough to DVR them).  And if you just can’t get enough of Olyphant, check out his other projects.  He starred in the unique zombie film The Crazies, which was released in February, and is reprising the role of title role in Hitman 2. 

Olyphant isn’t all dark, though.  Next season, he’ll play a paper salesman on two episodes of hit comedy The Office.  Think Michael (Steve Carell) will be able to stand up to him?  Tune in and see.

1. Rubicon (AMC, premieres Aug. 1):  AMC has had a high success rate with original programming, previously premiering Mad Men and Breaking Bad.  This new conspiracy thriller stars James Badge Dale as an intelligence analyst who begins to question his employers’ motives after a friend’s death.  Other big names include showrunner Henry Bromell (producer of Homicide) and pilot director Allen Coulter (Sopranos/Sons of Anarchy).
2. Covert Affairs (USA, premiered July 13): USA already has a spy smash-hit with Burn Notice, and could add another with this piece of high-class fluff (and I say that in the most excited way possible).  Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) is a CIA trainee who finds herself catapulted to the lead of a case for unknown reasons.  While it comes off as Alias-lite at some points, it could be a hit if it manages to avoid some of that series more pretentious pitfalls.
3. The Gates (ABC, premiered June 20): This supernatural drama has been getting better-than-average reviews for what could be an easy Twilight cash-in.  Instead, actors Rhona Mitra and Frank Grillo bring a gravitas to this story of a suburban neighborhood with secrets, and the high-quality script doesn’t hurt either.  So far, vampires, witches, and succubi have reared their heads.  It might be worth sticking around to see what else could be lurking here.
4. Hot in Cleveland (TV Land, premiered June 16): It’s TV Land’s first scripted series, and it’s got Betty White.  What more do you want?  How about appearances by John Schneider, Huey Lewis, and Carl Reiner?  And a script that captures the best of classic shows like The Golden Girls and Frasier?  Come on, now you’re just getting greedy.

On one side, haters of the season finale think it posed more questions than it answered—a common theme throughout the whole show. Some dedicated viewers even compiled a humorous video of all the unanswered LOST questions. To make matters worse, the producers had stated in an interview during previous seasons that the island was not a purgatory. Either they lied, or many viewers got the wrong idea. What was the point of an island with mystery hatches and magical healing qualities where women can’t get pregnant if everyone was simply dead? Was the alternate life where everyone was happy supposed to be heaven? For such innovative thinkers capable of tying multiple seasons together, you’d think they could come up with a better ending than, ‘you’re dead’.

On the flip side, some LOST followers absolutely loved the finale. You can’t expect writers to answer six years worth of questions about magical smoke monsters, invisible islands, alternate realities, and time travel in just 2 short hours. Given the crazy plot they invented, they did a pretty good job wrapping it all together in the end. There really was no other feasible option for an end to such a great show. Even disappointed LOST followers have to agree—all in all the show was absolutely fantastic.

There are simply too many interpretations of the ending to pick a winner, and that is most likely what the writers were going for. A show that captured viewers interests by keeping them guessing has ended by staying true to its open ended style. Though the series may be over, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley, Sun, and Jin will never be forgotten.

1. Dan, Vanessa, and Olivia have a threesome. This kinky drunk fiasco was wrong on so many levels. One, we’ve been waiting for Dan and Vanessa to hookup forever. This was not exactly the love affair we imagined. Two—Hilary Duff. Enough Said. Three—the fact that it actually happened! The awkward love triangle had a threesome on Gossip Girl and sparked enough emotion to make Dan and Vanessa start dating and Duff’s character Olivia leave the show for good.
2. Serena’s dad poisons her mom. We’ve always known something was ‘off’ about Serena’s missing father figure, but we didn’t think he’d be this much of a lowlife scumbag—or that Serena would be so whiney and weak about it. When you find out her Dad was prescribing Lily fake pills that made her fake cancer worse, you feel a renewed respect for poor Rufus and start to really want to punch Serena and Jenny in the face.
3. Chuck and Jenny hook up. No, just no. Chuck is supposed to be with Blair (who is on her way to confess her love) and Jenny just needs to grow up or leave. Or cut her hair. Instead, the unlikely (and disgusting) pair wind up hooking up (Jenny’s first) right before Blair arrives. Gross. It’s probably a good thing Little J won’t be returning next season.
4. You find out Lily and Rufus have a son–then he crashes their wedding. And dates Vanessa. And is supposedly dead. Too bad Lily makes him sorry he ever tried to meet his real family.
5. Chuck gets shot. How dare they make us wait a whole summer to find out what his fate will be? After so many ups and downs with Chuck, he’s finally back in our good graces, even earning our sympathy, and then he goes into a sketch alley and gets shot. Please let him live GG, the show won’t work without him.

After such an incredible season, let’s recap the top dances from some of our favorite stars. First, there was Pamela Anderson’s energetic Cha Cha during week 1 that brought Bruno to his feet and Niecy Nash’s thick girl dedication to her ‘jiggly parts’. During week 2, Nicole received her first 10’s for her Jive while the other dancers got in fight after fight. And who could forget Kate’s Paparazzi dance? You’ve got to give poor Kate some props for not giving up, but let’s face it…she’s a bit wacky on and off the dance floor. To catch up with the rest of the dancers, check out the episode guides on ABC or watch full episodes on Hulu.

You think it’s going to be a typical drama filled finale when Meredith finds out she’s pregnant. Turns out, drama is an understatement. The first gasp moment comes when Gary Clark, the gun man who’s out to get Derek for revenge after his wife’s death, shoots Reed square in the forehead. Then he shoots Alex—double gasp—who manages to drag himself into the elevator.  Clark then runs into Christina, who’s just broken up with Owen, and asks her where Dr. Shepherd is. Thankfully, she answers him nicely and escapes being shot dead (breathe). April—so annoying but still likable—stumbles upon Reeds bloody body and has a minor freak out before rushing to tell Dr. Shepherd there’s a shooter in the hospital. The hospital is officially on lockdown—but no one takes it seriously. Fifteen minutes later, Alex has been found by Lexi and Mark who just escaped being shot themselves, Clark has entered the room Bailey is in with a patient, Mandi Moore, who plays dead while Bailey hides under the bed and Charles hides in the bathroom. He shoots Charles and spares Bailey, who says she’s a nurse. Whew.

Clark goes back on the prowl for Derek. When he finds him, they have a stare down and a long conversation about death while Meredith and Christina watch. It can’t get more dramatic than this. Finally, Clark starts to see that Derek is a good man—until darn April bursts out of Derek’s office and Clark instantly shoots Derek in the chest.  At this point, your hands are literally shaking, your mouth is hanging open, and tears are most likely streaming down your face. Before Clark can finish Derek for good, the SWAT team arrives and he flees. He runs into Lexi and tells her he only intended to kill Derek Shepherd, Richard Weber, and her—the three doctors on his wife’s case. Again, the SWAT team comes to the rescue but only manage to graze his arm. Lexi returns to save Alex, telling him he can’t die because she loves him—all in front of Sloan (ouch) and Alex addresses Izzie in return (double ouch).  After 15 more minutes of holding your breath as Callie escapes being shot and Charles dies in Bailey’s arms, Christina is operating on Derek to remove the bullet as Meredith is forced to sit outside and not watch. Owen finds this scene and goes in to help, but finds Clark standing by the operating table with a gun to Christina’s head ordering her to ‘stop fixing him’. Christina, stubborn as always, keeps operating. Meredith takes this cue to step in and asked to be shot instead—good call, not. He’s about to shoot her when Christina announces Meredith is pregnant.  As he hesitates, Owen lunges for the gun and Clark shoots him instead. Jackson tricks Clark into thinking Derek is dead by unplugging some equipment, but Christina saves him after Clark leaves. Freaked out April then asks if Meredith’s been shot too—she’s bleeding down her leg—but no, she announces she’s having a miscarriage.

To wrap things up, Richard finds Clark in the room his wife died in, drinking. He announces he was going to kill Richard then shoot himself, but he only has one bullet left—oh, the irony.  He kills himself as the SWAT team arrives.  Arizona and Callie make amends and the drama filled finale finally ends when Derek asks for Meredith and she throws away the pregnancy test before going to tend to her husband. If that isn’t a season finale, I don’t know what is.