Not every TV show has to reinvent the wheel, send critics into a tizzy, or achieve some extraordinary artistic height. It takes all sorts to make the streaming world go round; sometimes, all I want is a bit of mindless, good old-fashioned escapism. Nothing too dumbed-down, just a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and that doesn’t take me for granted. I say all that because it explains why my current TV guilty pleasure happens to be Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King — the Paramount+ gangster comedy from producer Taylor Sheridan and showrunner Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire).
The show, which has just returned for Season 2, stars Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfredi. His character is a wisecracking old-school mafioso, dispatched (banished, really) to Tulsa to set up a criminal operation there that kicks money back up to the “family.” Notwithstanding the mafia connection, though, it’s important to point out that Tulsa King is not some dark, HBO-style mafia drama with sickening violence, brooding villains, and the kind of shocking twists and turns that send the Internet into an uproar.
The show is actually grade-A Dad TV. It’s the streaming equivalent of a burger and fries. There’s nothing original or revelatory about it, but it’s packed with plenty of old-school action and straddles the line between cheesiness and fun. I mean, come on, it’s hard to dislike a show where Stallone gets to ham it up as a tough guy with a heart of gold who wears expensive suits and growls lines like: “When I play my hand, you won’t see it comin’.”
Briefly: In Tulsa King Season 1, Manfredi has just gotten out of prison after 25 years. He quietly did his time and — importantly — never ratted on his “employer.” As a reward, the family basically gives him a license to go to Tulsa and do … whatever he wants. Manfredi meets the locals, susses out where there’s money to be made, and starts to get his hands dirty while cracking a few skulls along the way.
I call Tulsa King my guilty pleasure, though, because while Stallone does a fine job here (I actually didn’t realize he could be so funny), this show is … a little insane. His character, for example, is 76 years old, and we’re supposed to just accept that he can build a criminal operation from scratch. During the first season, he runs what amounts to a protection racket on a store that sells weed legally. Likewise, there’s a local biker gang that’s killing people in order to maintain control of the market on … (checks notes)… the nitrous balloon business (I’m 100% serious).
Having said all that, the show is entertaining as hell. Stallone and his crew are both fun and funny. In Season 2, Manfredi & Co. continue to try and build up their Tulsa empire, but new threats emerge from the Kansas City mob and a powerful local businessman. Manfredi also has unfinished business back in New York. Meanwhile, this season also brings new tough guys played by Neal McDonough and Frank Grillo.
Long story short, Tulsa King is the farthest thing from prestige television, but I don’t care. It’s entertaining, which is more than I can say for a lot of what’s available to stream these days.