TV tip: "Justified"

FX

Tuesdays at 10 p.m.

Remember when TV shows never killed off any of the main characters? (Sure, J.R. Ewing was shot, but he survived.) Last season, Nucky Thompson shot Jimmy Darmody dead in "Boardwalk Empire." And in Season Two of "Justified," practically the entire Bennett clan was wiped out. And now that a new season is underway, I can't help but miss Mags Bennett, the scary mean matriarch and head weed grower. I wonder if the writers had second thoughts when Margo Martindale's brilliant portrayal of Mags won her an Emmy. Based on an Elmore Leonard short story, "Justified" follows the travails of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a modern-day Wyatt Earp. Much of the show's success is the result of the wit, charm and good looks of Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant, and now that a chunk of his supporting cast has been eliminated, we'll see if that's enough.

- TIM COTTER