Raylan Givens fans are in for something of a dry spell. Now that the second season of FX's outstanding 'Justified' is over, we'll likely have to wait until early 2012 to see the U.S. Marshall again. The good news is that we'll also get a new Raylan Givens novel, appropriately titled 'Raylan,' from Elmore Leonard early next year.

At the Peabody Awards ceremony on Monday, Leonard spoke about the show -- the first television adaptation of his work to have both staying power and critical acclaim -- and I also sat down to talk with Graham Yost, the show's creator and executive producer, about what transpired in season 2 and where the show might go in season 3.

There are no spoilers as such in what's below, but it sounds as though the stories of Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) and fellow Harlan, Kentucky native Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins) will be even more deeply intertwined going forward.

At the end of my interview with 'Justified' executive producer Graham Yost, an unexpected thing happened. He brought up 'Psych.'

Don't worry, the second season of 'Justified,' which arrives at 10PM ET Wednesday on FX, is not an homage to the USA show about a fake psychic. In its second season, 'Justified' is better than ever; it's still a rich and intoxicating blend of shaggy yet taut storytelling, sterling dialogue and terrific acting. The FX show remains deeply embedded in the world created by Elmore Leonard (who wrote the stories on which 'Justified' is based), and U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is not heading to Santa Barbara to visit Shawn Spencer.

But as Yost and I were wrapping up our chat, I said that I looked forward to watching 'Justified' because it's, well, fun.

"That's the whole goal," Yost answered with a smile.

Graham Yost may have brought the noir western back to television with the hit FX series 'Justified,' but it's not his first foray into the wild west. That is if you can actually call his first western "wild."

According to his IMDB page, Yost's first writing job was for the short-lived Nickelodeon series 'Hey Dude' in the late 80s and early 90s, an afternoon sitcom about the day in the life of an Arizona dude ranch. He wrote 13 episodes of the series, the most of any other writer on the staff.

He went on to write a number of screenplays for hit action movies such as 'Speed' and 'Broken Arrow,' and even contributed to critically acclaimed mini-series including 'From the Earth to the Moon' and 'The Pacific.' Still, it just amuses me to know that such a storied and impressive career all started on Mr. Ernst's ranch. It also shames me a little bit to admit that I remember watching that show.

It's high noon for the bad guys on the upcoming FX series 'Justified.'

The exclusive new trailer for the series opens with star Timothy Olyphant as lawman Raylan Givens shooting a bad guy at a beachside resort.

"You know we're not able to shoot people on site anymore,' says Givens' commander.

'He pulled first,' quips Olyphant's Givens.

FX held panels for Archer and Sons of Anarchy on Friday morning, but by then press tour fatigue had set in, and the energy in the room was low for both. It was especially low for Archer, a Adult Swim-esque spy cartoon by the creator of Sealab 2021 that most of the critics hadn't yet seen. The panel seemed to be more content with answering with wise-ass remarks that made themselves laugh but the just served to make us tired masses annoyed.

Things perked up, though, when the network presented five of its show-runners to talk about what it's like to develop edgy dramas for basic cable. But since the theme of the week has invariably been "Leno at 10," the questions often came back to the fact that NBC with one fell swoop wiped out five hours of scripted drama per week. And the show-runners took every opportunity to bash the Peacock for it.

And it got ugly: "I feel they should take the American flag down in front of the building and just put up a white one," said Rescue Me's Peter Tolan, "because they've clearly given up."

If you were speculating about whether Timothy Olyphant's character of Wes Krulik was coming back for season three of Damages, it's looking like he's not.

The edgy star's been tapped to play the lead in an FX drama pilot based on Elmore Leonard's short story "Fire in the Hole" (looking forward to the pairing of Leonard and Olyphant). The show revolves around U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Olyphant), who returns to his hometown of Kentucky.

Creator and executive producer Graham Yost describes the character this way: "He has a certain jaggedness, but he also loves his job. He is like an anachronism: He wears a hat, cowboy boots and a holster on his hip. It's a little bit like he was born 100 years too late."

'Tis the season to kiss television networks' butts. January is a big month in Los Angeles, when writers and producers are pitching their show ideas to all the networks. This week, networks placed their orders for a whole bunch of new dramas, including some created by well-knowns such as J.J. Abrams and Ridley and Tony Scott. Here is a list of some shows we know about so far:

• Six Degrees, J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias), ABC: stories of six strangers in New York intertwine.
  
• Jericho, Jon Turteltaub, CBS: social, psychological, physical chaos ensue when a small town is cut off from the rest of the world after a nuclear disaster.
  
• Orpheus, Ridley & Tony Scott, CBS: a man's girlfriend is involved in a cult.
  
• Faceless, Joe Carnahan, FOX: prosecutor goes undercover to an underworld organization (a prosecutor?).
  
• Heroes, Tim Kring, NBC: everyday people discover they have super hero powers.
  
• Seeing Red, Graham Yost, NBC: a cop talks to dead people to solve cases.
  
• Untitled Alicia Keys project, Alicia Keys, UPN: inspired by the life of Alicia Keys, the show is about a 24-year-old musician who grew up in Hell's Kitchen.
• Underfunded, David Breckman & Rob Abrash, USA: a brilliant agent for the Canadian Secret Service solves cases despite the agency's severe lack of funding.

So... which of these shows do you think we'll actually see on the air next fall?

[Via The Hollywood Reporter]