Who would have predicted back in June that “Yellowstone,” a throwback Western from Hollywood screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (“Hell and High Water”), was going to be the summer’s big hit?
Not me. Weren’t we all supposed to be watching “Sharp Little Lies” — I mean, “Big Objects” — whatever the sequel to the Reese Witherspoon gossip girl limited series was called? (OK, OK. It was “Sharp Objects.”)
Instead, people watched this new cowboy drama about the embattled Dutton family, whose gorgeous ranch is set in mountains northwest of Yellowstone National Park in Montana. What was the draw?
Well, they did have Kevin Costner. And these days, when Hollywood keeps spitting out one goofy-yet-aged frat boy after another with a high-pitched voice and the first name Chris, that’s saying a lot. From his breakout role in the 1987 film “No Way Out,” through “Bull Durham” and “Dances With Wolves,” Costner has been a lanky, laconic draw. (His first TV series, “Hatfields & McCoys,” set ratings records on History in 2012.) Women really like him. Not the tragically hip millennials who write about the media on underfunded Web sites, but women in the heartland. The ones who watch weekly television, not screeners provided by publicists.
“He’s our John Wayne,” says Keith Cox, president of the Paramount Network. In discussing Wednesday night’s first-season finale, Cox, a huge fan of “Hell and High Water,” revealed why he campaigned so hard for Sheridan’s show. “I’m from Kentucky. There’s something about Middle America that I love,” he says. “Stories based in a smaller town but the people are really smart but manipulative in a good way. Taylor writes those characters muscular. When I heard he wanted to do a version of ‘The Sopranos,’ but set in Montana with lots of villains, I said, ‘That’s what’s not on TV right now.’”
Cox begged for a meeting. “Taylor told me, ‘I don’t know if I want to give the show to you.’” Cox read four “Yellowstone” scripts, flew Sheridan out to LA from Utah, where he lives, and promised he’d make “Yellowstone” Paramount’s first signature drama series. “It impressed him that we knew the show and didn’t want him to change it,” he says.
‘He wanted to do a version of ‘The Sopranos,’ but set in Montana with lots of villains.’
As John Dutton, the ranching patriarch who fights dirty to keep developers and Native Americans off his land, Costner was a no-brainer. He and Sheridan had wanted to work together for a while, but their schedules didn’t match. “He loved the scripts,” Cox said. Sheridan had casting ideas about nearly every other role on the show: Luke Grimes as the rebel son, Kayce; Kelly Reilly, as the alcoholic daughter, Beth; Cole Hauser as Rip, the Silvio Dante of the piece.
Despite mixed reviews, the show premiered to great numbers (nearly five million viewers). Cox et al. were not surprised. “On certain shows you just know,” he says. “I think the biggest win was that the show just grew. Most shows dip. This show kept growing.”
“Yellowstone” succeeds in taking a very familiar story — a family of schemers led by an inscrutable leader — and dramatizing its power plays against the most scenic backdrop imaginable, mountains that stretch to infinity and suck you in (thanks to director of photography Ben Richardson).
Its women characters (there are only two) are one-dimensional and annoying — particularly Beth, who does things women would never do, like bathe in front of her family. But Cox says the female population will increase as early as Wednesday night with the arrival of a female ranch hand. “That propels some storylines,” he says. “There will also be a new gubernatorial candidate that takes on Jamie [Wes Bentley].”
Sheridan will add more villains in Season 2 as the land grab escalates. Finally, there’s Costner’s John Dutton, a cancer survivor. “He’s sick. The stakes are high,” Cox says. “He’s making a lot of moves now because he knows he might be gone soon.”
