Taylor Sheridan, the man known for making iconic TV shows like Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, and Landman, is also the man known for bringing a show to its downfall.
Yellowstone, which essentially put the name of Taylor Sheridan on the Hollywood map, was arguably one of the finest TV shows in Hollywood. However, thanks to some bad writing (by Sheridan) and a core philosophy of women in television shows, Yellowstone had one of the biggest downfalls in all of television history that should be studied.
Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone is hailed as “Nuclear giraffe sh*t”
What started as the Dutton family taking care of their ranch quickly turned into an all-out war, with everyone fighting to take control of the ranch. From government officials to their own family, Yellowstone was an iconic piece of television that had an eventual downfall.
A still from Yellowstone | Credits: Paramount Network
The first four seasons of Yellowstone were great. From the slow introduction to the violent pacing and the internal politics within the Dutton family, the Taylor Sheridan show was indeed at its peak.
However, when a fight broke out between Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan, things took a turn for the worse. The show’s descent into a lack of creativity and originality started when things became difficult between Costner and Sheridan. Even fans stated that the show was terrible despite having great potential, and some even called it… “nuclear giraffe sh*t”.
Yeah, we don’t know where the “nuclear” came from, but we do agree with their sentiments. Many have claimed that Taylor Sheridan was simply done with the series and wanted to wrap everything up quickly (sounds like an HBO show that we know of, wink).
Despite having a potential that some (our team) would call an ‘Infinity Gauntlet idea’, Yellowstone failed to achieve the greatness that could have turned the show into one of the finest endings of all time. However, Taylor Sheridan couldn’t keep up.
How Yellowstone sat upon a pile of wasted potential
A still from Yellowstone | Credits: Paramount Network
The show ended in 2024. Fans were unhappy (understandably), and things were not looking too good for Yellowstone 5B (which was the second part of season 5). Kevin Costner’s John Dutton had been killed off-screen, and the ranch was in shambles.
Although it isn’t confirmed whether Taylor Sheridan meant to go this far for Yellowstone, we do agree that there was an overt plot armor and several of the female characters weren’t given any development arc.
For example, Beth is a fierce lady who has always been shown to be an untouchable force. Surviving two murder attempts with confrontations, being manipulative, and at times, cruel, even, but she never had any bad repercussions for her actions.
Jamie Dutton, on the other hand, was always the sacrificial character who would take the brunt of everyone around him. Although he did have somewhat of a character arc (that of betrayal), it always felt incomplete to an extent.
Other character arcs were also inconsistent, as several plotlines were introduced, only for Taylor Sheridan to abandon the storylines mid-way to focus on something else.
Several female characters have been nothing but just wives in Yellowstone who do not have a really important influence on the storyline of the TV show, except Beth, and she always gets away with her tactics.
Taylor Sheridan really fumbled up what could have been one of the greatest TV shows in the world (much like David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, never forget). Naturally, there should be a case study on what went wrong with Yellowstone and how this mighty show came to its downfall.
