I think it's telling that the audience score is 85% and the IMDB score is 8.4/10.
Not sure why this one isn't doing so hot with critics, but that score is just criminal. Yellowstone is BY FAR my favorite show on television right now and it's the only one where I make sure to be in place and ready to go when it airs.
Egh, I'm liking parts of it so far. But it's still a mess. It's only the first season but it's acting like they're on season 4 now. And now Kayce's wife is dying(?). And for some odd reason (maybe I've seen too much HBO) it seems like the whory sister and gay brother are gonna hate f**k each other.
Yeah, the narrative is tightly packed. I can see where you are coming from. I just finished watching the first season and it is easier to follow what's happening if you can watch it in it's entirety in one go, like I did. There are a lot of plot points that are thinly addressed, if addressed of all, but I get what your saying. The plot is very thick for the amount of episodes there are. I don't know why people are giving you grief for merely airing your opinion.. Although I loved the show, I think you are right in that respect.
What I mean is: it is stupid.
John Gotti replaces Ben Cartwright to run The Bonanza.
Can the Dutton's go a day without killing anyone?
Is Montana so backwoods & medieval that they don't do autopsies on accidental deaths? (& if they do, are Montana pathologists so hayseed that they miss things like no water in the lungs of "drowning" victims & bruised necks & crushed larynx?)
This show portrays more unsolved murders in Yellowstone County in the span of days to weeks than the whole state has in years!
This is a totally inaccurate portrayal of Montana. It is worse than the movie "Cut Bank," & that was bad.
In order to enjoy the show, I think you may have to adjust your perspective and the way you approach it. You are thinking from a realism standpoint, when instead I think you should look at it as a soap opera. It's a modern-day primetime soap set in the West. Think of it kind of like Dallas, but darker and more serious.
Now that still may not excuse the laziness surrounding the journalist's death--that is not great writing no matter how you slice it--but when you understand that it's a soap opera, it does make sense of all the murders and high drama. The Duttons are essentially a mob family. Think of it like Goodfellas in western garb.
I don't think it was ever meant to be an accurate portrayal of Montana, anymore than Murder She Wrote, with its one or more new murders each week, was meant to be an accurate portrayal of small-town New England life.
I have wayyyy too much time on my hands, so I watch wayyy too much TV.
I started watching this series because I am originally from Montana & have been homesick for many years & find myself reading fiction & nonfiction that occurs in Montana & watching drama & documentaries that feature Montana.
("Cut Bank" was horrible. I think they made it in Edmonton. Why didn't they call it "Edmonton"?)
Anyway, since this isn't Yahoo Answers, we can be civil & agree to disagree. Although I perversely continue watching it, I simply can't enjoy it for the reasons you do (I don't like soaps & never watched even one ep of "Dallas").
I started being critical from the first ep. Kaycie (forgive my spelling) & his wife come upon a meth cooker who has been badly burned related to the lab exploding & Kaycie puts him out of his misery & if I remember correctly, the law was pretty much okay with this & saw it as justifiable. Not even in the "wild west" (like Montana, I guess, is meant to be portrayed) in the 21st century is that kind of euthanasia permissible.
I'll tread cautiously with my next point, & I do not mean to imply any racism whatsoever, & I may have to stand corrected as my memories of Montana comes from only what I observed growing up, & my travels there, & that was long ago & I certainly didn't grow up in or travel the whole state, but the whole time when I was growing up in a quite rural agricultural/oil area, I saw very few (like I think 4) African Americans. "Yellowstone" so far, to my recollection, features two African American ranch hands & an African American law enforcement officer. That seems, perhaps, per capita-wise, inaccurate to me.
I'll concede that where I find the writing to be ridiculously bad, some of the acting I find halfway decent. Kostner doesn't do a bad job of representing a salty old rancher, & Cole Hauser's portrayal of a truly dangerous sociopathic ranch hand reminds me of a couple of people who would rather fuck than fight that I knew growing up & gave a wide birth to.
The old ranch hand with the Sam Elliot mustache comes off as ringing true & his interaction with psycho Rip is good. & every other word out of anyone's mouth is "fuck" used as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb actually is accurate. I'm not sure about some of those cowboy games & contests they engage in, I never worked or lived on a ranch so I guess maybe . . . .
But over all, we will agree to disagree.
On edit: "Think of it like Goodfellas in western garb." But the thing is, "Goodfellas" was a pretty good movie with a lot of good acting, & from what I've read about the mob, probably not a bad representation of wise guys & the mob. "Yellowstone" is a horrible representation of ranchers in Montana.
Expectations are definitely key here and if you are not in the market for what this film has to offer then you're just not going to be into it. It's not realistic for all the reasons you've mentioned and it definitely has a lot of soap opera elements.
But I spend time watching a lot of unrealistic shit. This weekend I plan to go to see Angel Has Fallen and I do not expect it to be realistic at all. I do, however, expect it to be entertaining.
But yeah, if you are wanting a grounded, true-to-life account of Montana ranch life, and can't adjust your expectations and desires to what Taylor Sheridan has in mind here, I can see why you'd be disappointed.
Personally, for me though, Yellowstone is the only show I'm currently watching where I make sure to be on the couch and ready to go each week when it airs. No DVR for this one.
Lastly, while it's not set in Montana, if you just like shows in general that are set in the West then you may want to look into Longmire, if you haven't already. Not sure if it would be up your alley or not, but I think it also is a great show.
Wow, you almost punctured the final bubble for me.
"Lastly, while it's not set in Montana,"
Believe it or not, I didn't know where they were filming it. The scenery is Yellowstonesque, & I guess I didn't want to find out that was phony also. So after I read your reply, I did a perfunctory search on Wiki, & according to Wiki, the Dutton Ranch is filmed in Darby, Montana. Although I have never been through Darby (in Ravalli County), I looked at the map & at least it's not light years away from Yellowstone County. (Probably closer than Edmonton, Canada is to Cut Bank, Montana). For some reason that I knew was fallacious even as I thought this way, I was picturing the Dutton Ranch to be a ways South East of Billings, & that, I am sure, is only because I have some familiarity with ag land in that locale.
But I'll give you everything you said in your reply. I am afraid I like to argue, & I was hoping you would vociferously defend the series, & that would give me a chance to go on & on (which it seems as if I already have) ranting about what I perceive to be the downfalls of the series, & I didn't even mention the ep in which Kacie (on another typical day in Yellowstone County, Montana) rescued the damsel in distress by killing the meth-head & then the disposal of the corpse by cremating it with charcoal lighter fluid. "A quart of lighter fluid!?" I was set to type, "Give me a break!!"
Anyway, different strokes for different folks. Enjoy the viewing, & I suppose I will go on in my contrary manner of viewing for the pleasure of being a hater.
Hey, but my bad for constantly referring to all this supposedly going on in Yellowstone County. I took a look at the map(s) https://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/maps/montana_map.shtml
to refresh myself with the geography, & The Dutton Ranch is no doubt south & west of Yellowstone County. I'm thinking Jenkins was going to set up his Casino at the North East entrance to the park, which would actually put the goings on in, probably, Park County Montana (I believe both the North & North East Entrances are in Park County) & would actually put all this action to the west (not east, as I was picturing) of Billings. The reason I am going with the North East Entrance is because of all the Indian Reservation action that is an ongoing part of the plot(s), & the North East Entrance would put everything way closer to The Crow Reservation which (incidentally & I believe somewhat contrary to the story line) does NOT come all that close to butting up with the Park. What else makes me think that this is all going on somewhere around the North East Entrance is that whenever it's time for The Dutton Gang to take someone on the final ride to The Long Black Train (station), you will note that they are crossing the Wyoming line, but NOT into Yellowstone Park. Meaning if they were at the North Entrance, it would be a bit of an inconvenient drive to get around the park & into Wyoming. So I suppose it could be 212 out of Cooke City, Montana they are taking to get to that overlook where they go when it's time to kill a ranch hand they don't like anymore.
I can sleep easier now that I have clarified that for myself.