“Yellowstone” pulled off a rare feat with its first season. Despite being critically divisive at best, the show turned into an overnight sensation, and since then, it has gone on to become one of the biggest series in the world. Of course, the man chiefly responsible for this achievement is creator Taylor Sheridan, who has also been spearheading a slew of spin-offs based on the flagship series.
However, to hear it from the man himself, he wasn’t all that surprised to learn that “Yellowstone” got poor reviews during its initial run. The writer-director said as much when he appeared on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. On the episode, Sheridan mused that “1883” reminded him of how he’d look back on history while he was growing up, while “Yellowstone” was more like the “punk rock me.”
He also embraced one of the show’s earliest criticisms about the show’s approach to storytelling, suggesting that it was a deliberate part of the series’ genesis. “It has no plot, really,” he admitted. “Don’t take my land; I want your land. In that, I have a lot of opportunities to poke fun, but also k ind of point out different points of views, and kind of really study a way of life and a world … “There’s a lot of defiance in the way I do it.”
Yellowstone and its spin-offs have been better reviewed since
Fortunately for Taylor Sheridan, “Yellowstone” has since gone on to receive much better reviews. While the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes for Season 1 was a meager 57%, it has achieved 84% or better with each subsequent season and even scored itself a perfect 100% for its third season.
Still, Sheridan had more to say about the way critics responded to his megahit neo-western and its polarizing first season. “It’s not surprising that critics hate it because it’s designed for them to hate,” he explained. “[Critics were] confounded by its success. The New York Times have done multiple, multiple articles where they’re doing this essay on ‘Why is this sh** so popular?'” he recalled.
Now, as “Yellowstone” enters the twilight era of its run, with the show expected to conclude with Season 5, Part 2, it has never been bigger. Despite the challenges that the Paramount Network series has had to face over the last year, most notably with its star, Kevin Costner, fans can likely expect to see the show return by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, for those viewers who are craving more, there are at least two further spin-offs currently in development in addition to a planned second season for “1923”.