CRANK UP THE VCR:

"Longmire" is the best of two worlds: a modern crime drama with dry wit and sometimes heart-wrenching emotion that's also got a glorious setting under the big sky of Wyoming. Based on the novels by Craig Johnson, the series revolves around Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) and a small clutch of deputies in a sprawling northern county adjacent to a Cheyenne reservation. If it weren't for a few modern conveniences, like cellphones and trucks, it might as well be 1875, so rugged and unspoiled does the scenery look.

That includes Walt Longmire. Blessed with Mr. Taylor's deep voice and a delivery not unlike Clint Eastwood's in earlier days, Walt instantly feels like the real deal. When we first meet him in the cabin where he lives alone by a meadow near a forest in the middle of nowhere, it's clear that this is the lawman of old, who doesn't say much but gets the job done. That, and more, in a rugged vein, is all part of Walt. But he's also a middle-age widower who is deep in grief a year after his wife died.

Walt is just waking up--literally and figuratively--when the story begins, and his re-entry into the world is the show's central thread. Yet this is also a detective series, and the unraveling of each week's crime is what keeps "Longmire" going. All that and great views. 

Follow @brothersjudd