Yellowstone

This is the type of show where cowboy/western life meets big city mafia life. This show is well cast, the first two episodes have been well written and leaves you wanting more after every episode. Not to mention the Montana and Utah scenery is beautiful.

The Dutton's remind me of the Ewing's from the 70's drama "Dallas". In short Yellowstone is "Dallas" meets "Sopranos".

(Review is only for the first two seasons)

I came into this show not expecting to like it but the storyline, acting, and cinematography is superb. Basically it's Mafia Wars in Montana with intermittent giant doses of testosterone (cowboys with guns on horses while fishing)! Costner is a master actor as lead of the Duttons. The show is at its finest when it shows the chessboard moves the Duttons and their enemies engage in.

The show gets gummed early in the second season but starts rolling again midway through. Kelsey Asbille is the weakest link as Monica and plays a poor hand badly, the storyline jettisons awkwardly out and the acting just misses the mark.

I think Cole Hauser as Rip may be the strongest acting (sans Costner himself) and looked forward to all the scenes Rip was in. Thomas Rainwater is great too. The storyline hums and the scenery is beautiful.

Just as Cormac McCarthy's "All The Pretty Horses" was a little more raw and brutal than the title suggests, this show strikes in a similar vein. Highly recommend and wish I didn't wait so long to watch it.

If you are like me and watch things on Netflix, here's something I wish Netflix had told me before I started watching: it does not have the 5th season, and it is very unlikely it will acquire the rights in the future. You'll get drawn in with season 1-4, and then find yourself thinking: wait, this is it? Where's the rest?? Nothing is resolved, nothing is wrapped up.

Well, you'll have to go somewhere else for the rest. Where that is depends on where you live.

As for the series itself, there is very little to say that hasn't already been said. Yes, seasons after 1 & 2 are not as good, but it's not such big change as to lose my interest. Certainly good enough foe me to wish I could see season 5.

Yellowstone has easily become one of my favorite shows since it originally came on. Every season has been fantastic. It sucks Kevin Costner couldn't finish the series and had to miss the last 6 episodes because of conflicting schedules. I still think they do as good as job as possible without him, I'm sure the ending would've been better with him but it was still worth watching. They now plan on doing a spin-off with Rip and Beth. I'm definitely looking forward to that. I hope the rest of the Dutton family makes some appearances. This series had plenty of action and drama to keep everyone satisfied. The cast is just about perfect as can be as they all give incredible performances. The cinematography is also as good as it gets on tv and shows just how beautiful Montana is. I was completely hooked on this show and was one of the few shows I still watched live because I loved it that much.

Let me say one thing: if you had come to me a decade ago and said that Kevin Costner's flagging career would be revived thanks to his role in a modern day western, I would probably have laughed and called you crazy.

Yet it happened. Costner's John Dutton will surely go down in the annals of TV history as one of the best characters ever.

Costner played Dutton perfectly: a doting father, a ruthless ranch owner and a man who is no stranger to violence. Unforgettable.

With "Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan has done something quite difficult: he made us care immensely about a bunch of characters of dubious moral standing.

For example, Kelly Reilly's Beth Dutton was, for the most part, a horrible person, yet you cared about what happened for her, cheered on her successes and commiserated her failures, even when said successes might have been on the wrong side of what's right.

That's because Reilly is a brilliant actress, and because she was given top-notch material to work with.

Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Wes Bentley...all brilliant.

Sheridan is a genius.

What a show. We won't see it's like again, that's for sure.