Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Landman’ arrives to better reviews than Yellowstone’s debut

Taylor Sheridan, also known as the hardest working man in crime-based media, just launched a new show last week, Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter. Here is the synopsis:

“In the heart of Texas, roughnecks and billionaires try to get rich quick in the oil industry; Tommy Norris, a struggling executive, tries to take his company to the top during the fuel boom.”

So not the ranch this time, rather the oil industry, which of course is ripe for the exploration of corruption and all sorts of other crimes. Probably murder at some point, if I had to guess, given Sheridan’s history.

Interestingly, the series reviews better than the debut Yellowstone season 1 back in 2018. Critics weren’t on board back then, as it only had a 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Landman has arrived instead with 74% at publication here. However, it is lower than the other four seasons of Yellowstone that have currently been released. It has an overall lower 66% audience score, but that’s at least higher than the 40% that Yellowstone season 5 currently has, as fans aren’t on board with its current direction in its Kevin Costner-less final episode here.

Sheridan has created or produced an astonishing amount of content for Paramount at this point, including Yellowstone, which remains one of the most popular shows in America, performing especially well on linear TV at a time when that rarely happens. But in addition to Yellowstone and a few of its spin-offs, he is also behind series such as Tulsa King, Mayor of Kingstown and Lioness. And now, Landman. All told, I think he’s up to a dozen or so in the last few years where he’s been involved in some way.

One thing to note here is that all of these shows are on Paramount Plus besides Yellowstone, as that show is locked into a deal with NBC and Peacock until 2025. But Paramount has now built up a massive pile of mostly very solid Taylor Sheridan content, with that being the bulk of its successful programming on the service. It’s hard to remember anything that’s been an outright bomb from him, because while not everything is a new Yellowstone, most of these series are generally well-received by critics and fans and have been renewed for multiple seasons.

Landman capturing Billy Bob Thornton is a huge asset as he is such a talented actor and would slide right into this kind of story. I will check it out when I get a chance.

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