I Think We’ve Finally, Actually Reached Peak Taylor Sheridan

Sheridanverse #3

Taylor Sheridan writes roles for himself where he’s the coolest, toughest guy in the world. (Ryan Green/Paramount+)

Since 2021, when super-producer Taylor Sheridan started overseeing multiple TV shows on the air at once, I’ve wondered when the bubble would burst. There’s going to come a time when he’s stretched so thin that the quality of the product declines and his audience loses interest, and/or he reaches a saturation point where he can’t get any bigger. Miraculously, though, even though he keeps adding shows to his empire — he’s created or executive produced eight scripted shows since 2018, with more on the way — his new shows keep getting better, and his popular shows keep getting even more popular. He keeps going to the rodeo and not getting bucked off. He’s been holding onto the bull for six years straight. 

In the past two months, he released new seasons of four shows: Tulsa King Season 2, Lioness Season 2, Yellowstone Season 5B, and Landman Season 1. This past Sunday, Nov. 17, each show released new episodes, including the season finale of Tulsa King and the two-episode series premiere of Landman. He wrote four of those five episodes. Tulsa King, which became a genuinely big hit in Season 2, almost doesn’t count because even though Sheridan created it, he doesn’t write or direct it. The other shows, he writes every episode and directs at least a few episodes every season. He also acts on Lioness and Yellowstone. It’s an absolutely insane level of output, and, as his physique in Lioness shows, he’s still finding time to lift weights. 

Taylor Sheridan is one of the most important producers in TV right now. His only peer in terms of prolificacy and influence is Ryan Murphy, and Murphy doesn’t write every line of dialogue on his shows. The cowboy is singlehandedly keeping Paramount+ in business. The “+” in stands for “+aylor Sheridan.” He’s on an all-time great run.

I think this is the peak, though.

That’s not a bad thing. The Taylor Sheridan empire is not showing signs of decline yet, and won’t anytime soon. He’s going to stay major for years to come. But I dont’t think his empire will get any bigger than it is right now. And that’s because of what’s happening with Yellowstone. 

John Daddon 

Yellowstone is not only Sheridan’s biggest show, it’s the biggest show on TV. It’s grown its viewership season over season, and the 5B premiere was its most-watched premiere yet. It’s also unquestionably Sheridan’s worst show, especially since he seemed to lose interest in it sometime around Season 3. The soapy modern Western has always had aimless and inconsistent plotting, annoying characters, and insurmountable implausibility, but it’s gotten worse the past few seasons. The level of cognitive dissonance I experience watching Beth Dutton spit venom at everyone for no reason makes me feel insane. She is the cruelest character on TV, an unrepentantly spiteful maniac, and the show is still presenting her as aspirational. Sheridan thinks she’s a badass girlboss (positive), but she’s really a badass girlboss (derogatory). He gets a lot of shit for not being good at writing women, but that’s not totally fair; he has some good female characters, like Elsa Dutton from 1883 and Cruz Manuelos from Lioness. He’s just really bad at writing this woman, who happens to be his most important one.

Currently, Yellowstone mostly serves as a vehicle to advertise Sheridan’s 6666 steaks and vodka and whatever other product he needs placed, which is so cringey every time it happens. And Kevin Costner’s abrupt exit created a story problem that is impossible to solve in a satisfying way. There’s no good way to end a story when the character that story revolves around suddenly vanishes before he was supposed to. 

Yellowstone is slated to end with 5B. There was reporting that it might get renewed for Season 6 without Costner, but nothing seems to have come of that since the summer. It could still happen — plans change quickly in the Sheridanverse — but I think the better creative decision is to let Yellowstone end. From a business standpoint, though, there’s nothing that can replace Yellowstone. None of Sheridan’s other shows are anywhere near as big, nor could they be. TV sequels and spinoffs are never as popular as the original. Does anyone like House of the Dragon more than Game of Thrones? 

So when Yellowstone ends, the Sheridanverse will immediately get smaller by default. It’s removing Jupiter from the solar system. And even if it does get renewed without Costner, it will continue in diminished form. It will never be as relevant again. Even now, without Costner, the show is in the zeitgeist because of the drama around his exit. If Yellowstone keeps going once that’s over, it will just be a zombie show that keeps going because it’s too big to fail, and will shed fans and goodwill every season. It would become The Walking Dead with cowboy hats. 

The Madison, the show that’s being described as the sequel to Yellowstone, will be big. It has Michelle Pfeiffer and one of the guys from Suits. But it won’t be as big as Yellowstone. The conditions that created Yellowstone no longer exist. It arrived on the Paramount Network at the tail end of the cable era, as the legacy studios were preparing to launch streaming services in an attempt to catch up to Netflix. The bottom fell out after that. The new streaming era of competing with Netflix and TikTok and YouTube is too fragmented to replicate the type of success the old era was capable of creating. Yellowstone is the last show that will ever become a giant hit from cable TV.

Instead, Sheridan should double down on what he’s already doing, without the albatross-like complicating factor of Yellowstone’s success. He should focus on making high-quality, highly relevant shows that he cares about, like Lioness and Landman, which contain some of Sheridan’s best writing in years. In Season 2, Lioness has leveled up into a top-tier show, and Landman, his newest show, is the kind of show every streaming service wants to make.

“Taylor? It’s Billy Bob. Can I borrow some money?” (Emerson Miller/Paramount+)

Landad

Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton as an oil company fixer. I reviewed it for TV Guide last week, and I praised it heavily. It uses some real fire for explosions instead of relying on wack-ass CGI fire, which I respect immensely. Landman takes a lot of elements from Yellowstone and does something a little different with them. It’s funnier, more nuanced, and more relevant. Sheridan is very smart to take on the modern Texas oil industry. It’s the perfect subject for him, because he’s not afraid to approach hot button issues with some complexity. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how people on the left shouldn’t write Sheridan off. He makes shows that appeal to people off the coasts better than anyone else right now, and it’s important to understand why. Sheridan’s shows don’t push a conservative political agenda, but like a lot of Americans across the political spectrum, they are populist and not woke. They meet people where they are. 

Landman, for example, doesn’t assume that its audience thinks the oil industry is one-dimensionally evil. It’s an industry where men with felony convictions or eighth-grade educations can earn six-figure salaries that support their families. It’s dangerous and destructive, but it’s meaningful work. The fact that a show that respects the oil industry exists at all is evidence of a rightward shift in culture, but Landman doesn’t do “drill baby drill” climate change denialism either. While it doesn’t condemn the oil industry, it doesn’t depict it positively, either. It’s an ugly, greedy, exploitative business. Landman is an ambivalent show that takes the oil industry seriously as an unavoidable presence in American life, which it will be until the oil runs out.

Sheridan is the only person making shows like this right now, and Hollywood wants to make more of them. So far that reason alone, his empire will stay powerful even after Yellowstone ends. He may not ever again release four shows on the same day and have them all be hits, though. If this is Peak Sheridan, let’s appreciate the moment.