• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, July 10, 2023

July is Timothy Olyphant Month as he stars in two new series within a week.

First up is a limited drama -- “Full Circle,” premiering Thursday (July 13) on Max -- about a mistaken-identity kidnapping. 

In the show, Olyphant plays a Manhattan husband and father who co-manages the eponymous company of his father-in-law, a celebrity chef (Dennis Quaid). The other manager is his wife, played by Claire Danes (pictured above with Olyphant and Quaid). 

The couple finds themselves dealing with a kidnapping plot that they have almost no connection with. 

The show’s title, “Full Circle,” hints at past events that have now come “full circle” to impact the family.

Episode One, which the TV Blog previewed on Friday, sheds no light on what this past event might be. 

The one-hour episode ends with the family coming to grips with their situation and grappling with the moral question of how deeply they wish to involve themselves in this kidnapping that has suddenly been dumped in their laps.

At the conclusion of Episode One, the family has no idea who they are dealing with either, but we do. 

It is a criminal organization based in Queens with Caribbean roots that is run by a woman who is cautious but ruthless, played by CCH Pounder.

Sorry to be so vague about these plot points, but the TV Blog tries its best to avoid playing the spoiler when it comes to reporting on new shows.

Episode One ends with a heinous, violent act that is filmed on an iPhone and then sent to the family. 

Fortunately, viewers are spared seeing this. For that, we should probably thank the director of this six-episode series, Steven Soderbergh.

Just days after the premiere of “Full Circle,” our star of the month returns in the role that made him famous on the old FX series “Justified.”

As reported here previously, Olyphant, 55, is reviving the role of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in a new “Justified” titled “Justified: City Primeval,” coming to FX and Hulu on Tuesday, July 18.

The new one will have the character created by the late Elmore Leonard relocated in Miami following his previous adventures in the hollows of rural Kentucky.

But the “City Primeval” is not Miami. It is Detroit, where Marshal Givens goes in pursuit of a dangerous fugitive.

Unfortunately, an embargo imposed by FX prohibits me from reviewing “Justified: City Primeval” until closer to its premiere date.