of a Wild West lawman, no matter how revisionist it was in its portrayal of that lawman as someone who seemed barely in control at all times, just ended up not having as much to do in a blatantly revisionist Western about how chaos gives way to civilization." Matt Feeney of Slate described Bullock as "laconic, feral, hot-tempered and a little vain", and said the character was "not so much played as embodied by Olyphant". Alan Sepinwall of HitFix found his performance "fierce and commanding" while Jeremy Egner of The New York Times said that he showed "a capacity for explosive, nuanced performance barely suggested by earlier roles." The cast were nominated for the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Years later, Olyphant remarked that Deadwood "almost has done more for me since we wrapped than while it was on. I continue to draw from it, to steal from it. I'm much better at my job now because of the things I learned while doing it. David Milch is one of the greatest writers, storytellers, directors, creative forces I've ever been around." He has been somewhat critical of his own performance: "Frankly, the show is much better than my performance ... Ian was like a little kid, playing with the props and playing with the language and he never lost the sense of fun of it all. I wasn't operating at that same level." Also in 2006, he made a guest appearance in an episode of the NBC comedy My Name Is Earl. In 2007, Olyphant starred in the romantic comedy Catch and Release. He knew co-star Jennifer Garner from their days as struggling actors in New York, and was excited for the opportunity to play a romantic lead. Lael Loewenstein of Variety felt "Olyphant clearly has a bright future" while Desson Thomson of the Washington Post described him as "the strongest performer here" but that he was "entirely misplaced, an estimable actor caught in a thankless, frilly role." Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club remarked: "Olyphant's trademark volatility makes him a livelier romantic lead than the usual stuffed shirt." Similarly, Stephanie Zacharek of Salon found him "effective here precisely because he seems a little sharp and dangerous. He's not your typical cuddly romantic lead." Olyphant's first post-Deadwood roles were the action movies Live Free or Die Hard and Hitman (both