by Don Hall

Apparently, Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone is a mega-hit no one's talking about online. Starring Kevin Costner as John Dutton, a widowed sixth-generation patriarch of the Dutton family who operates the Yellowstone/Dutton Ranch, the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. As the series progresses, he is continually challenged by those seeking to take control of the ranch's land.

Yes, it's a red state favorite and I didn't know anything about it until recently. But it's big, gang.

The Season 4 premiere more than doubled the live audience for the Season 3 premiere last year, reports Deadline. Season 3 started off with 4.2 million viewers. Sunday night's premiere was the most-watched cable series telecast since a 2018 episode of The Walking Dead, according to Nielsen data the Paramount Network released Monday. It even did better than the Game of Thrones Season 4 premiere, which had 6.6 million live viewers.

Even the demographic numbers were surprising. The show drew a 3.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic, up 82% from the Season 3 premiere. It had 2 million viewers in the 18-49 age range, and 2.9 million in the 25-54 demographic. That's the biggest Live+SameDay viewerships in both demographics for a cable show in 2021, Paramount Network said.

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I love Costner and would be watching it except that the first two seasons cost money I don't want to spend (like $3.00 an episode). On the other hand, I subscribe to Paramount+ and thus had access to the limited, ten-episode prequel series 1883.

1883 is the tale of the Dutton ancestors traveling along the Oregon Trail (just like the early video game most of us GenXers played on ancient home computers) on the way to Montana to settle the Yellowstone/Dutton ranch. Featuring Sam Elliot, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Isabel May, I gained an appreciation for Sheridan's work (he is the sole writer of every episode) and just finished it last night.

Here's a list of things I learned from watching this truly excellent television show.

Sam Elliot has been playing the old world weary guy for thirty years

In 1989, Elliot played Wade Garret, the mentor-bouncer to Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse. Grizzled, older than his years, wisdom dripping from his mustachioed river bed face like tired sighs. Thirty years later, he plays Shea Brennan, an ex-Union army captain hired to guide a group of German immigrants from Fort Worth, TX to Oregon. Old. World weary. Wise.

For country music stars, McGraw and Hill are great actors

Married in life, these two were a surprise in that I had heard of them both but am not a fan of their music. To be honest, I haven't listened to their music so I might dig it if I tried. Both of them are pretty goddamned wonderful as James and Margaret Dutton.

The fact that they are best friends with Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson makes the presence of these two in cameos logical and fun. Also, a surprise.

Isabel May is the next big thing

She is radiant but more importantly, she is tremendously talented. The series is narrated by her and centers much of the story around her. Surrounded by a serious cast of actors, she holds the center like a pro. I can't wait to see what she does next.

I'm no cowboy but I do love a good western tale

Maybe because I moved from the Big City to Nevada and am loving every single day in the desert, maybe not. That being said, I find stories of people on the plains, riding horses, living off the land, wearing cool vests and hats to be delightful.

Given my dad loves John Wayne movies more than the average person and that lately, my Kansas-based family has been having Cowboy Movie Night every Wednesday, it is no surprise that 1883 was a draw.

The best stories are about people affected by war rather than those who wage it

Yes, it is acknowledged that there was a near genocide of Native Americans on the land of 1883 as well as backstory that includes the Civil War but these characters were a part of history rather than the movers of it and I find that perspective so much more interesting.

It allows for a more rounded, fuller exploration of former soldiers post-war as well as these regular white people encountering regular Native Americans (some looking for cooperation, others seeking retribution).

Christ, we in 2022 sure whine about a lot of nothing, don't we?

Spending ten hours watching people navigate rivers that drown them, snakes that bite and kill them, thieves who kill for anything they can find with no law present, disease that just springs up without so much as a Tylenol available, tornadoes that destroy everything these people own, starvation, tainted water, and Indian Warriors who dip their arrows in shit to poison the shot makes idiots online saying mean things digitally seem about as weak and petty as possible.

Pissy because you have to wear a mask indoors? Try fixing a broken wagon wheel in the middle of nowhere with no food or water for days. Upset that someone micro-aggressed you about your ethnicity or hair? How about getting bit in the asshole by a highly poisonous snake as you're taking a dump by a bush and dying a painful death instead?

Taylor Sheridan is the real deal, gang

It never surprises me when I read a fantastic book that makes me so jealous of the talent that it inspires me to be a better writer, to push myself harder to find that perfect sentence.

To find that kind of writing from a television show is remarkable.

Sheridan has a florid, lush writing style that transcends the genre and a sense of character and stake that blows almost everyone else writing for television or film completely off the map.

It might just be worth the $3.00 an episode for Yellowestone.