Following the successful run of Yellowstone on CBS, another Taylor Sheridan series is getting a lineaer window on the linear network. The popular original Paramount+ drama Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone, will make its broadcast debut on CBS this summer. The series’ first season will air on the network ahead of Season 2 launching this fall exclusively on Paramount+.
The stunt is part of the ongoing efforts by Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, Paramount+ and Yellowstone and Tulsa King studio MTV Entertainment Studios, to expose its content to new audiences on other platforms.
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish addressed the move on the company’s earnings call Wednesday.
“We’re going to run the first season of Tulsa on CBS prior to the 2nd season of Tulsa dropping on Paramount+, really using it as a broad marketing engine,” he said. “As you know, we did a variant of that idea on Yellowstone and we really saw a continued broadening of the audience, so we think that’s a real opportunity for Tulsa as well, given Stallone etc. So we also think it’s attractive from an economic perspective.”
Amid dearth of original broadcast content this past fall due to the Hollywood strikes, CBS took in reruns of the Paramount Network mega hit Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, as well as SEAL Team, formerly a CBS series and most recently a Paramount+ original. Yellowstone did so well, CBS extended its run to the first three seasons. It is unclear whether the broadcast network will make the remaining seasons available at a later date.
“I think it just speaks to that the company is working across all different parts right now as much as possible, and we’re all looking for those wins together,” CBS Entertainment President Amy Reisenbach told Deadline about the corporate synergy strategy used to get a linear window of Paramount Global series on the network.
Tulsa King, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, is one of Paramount+’s most-watched series of all-time, ranking second only behind Sheridan’s 1923. The premiere of the series in November 2022, coupled with NFL on CBS, also set a new record at the time for subscriber growth in a single day since Paramount+’s launch, and was the most-watched series on the service while in-season.
The drama follows New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a “crew” from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet.
The first season also stars Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, Jay Will, A.C. Peterson with Garrett Hedlund and Dana Delany.
Creator Sheridan serves as executive producer alongside Terence Winter who left after Season 1. The season is also executive produced by Stallone, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin, Allen Coulter and Braden Aftergood.