Rob Henderson joins me to discuss Season 1 of Yellowstone. I had only heard about the show when I saw a controversy blow up on Twitter where Matt Walsh was attacking boomers for liking it while denouncing the series as woke propaganda.
Rob uses a phrase that I love to describe the series: “profoundly unsophisticated.” Every character tells you exactly what they’re thinking or what they’re planning at each moment. You get wild coincidences and strange chance encounters that add shootouts, horse chases, and action scenes to the show without having much basis in the plot. The politics are just as unsophisticated as the plot and character development, being based in a primitive kind of NIMBY fundamentalism and anti-rich animus, with a progressive but not exactly woke worldview on social issues.
All of that being said, Rob and I are going to keep watching. As smart guys, we like sophisticated shows, but it can also be fun to turn your brain off for an hour and enjoy shootouts and the Montana landscape. And, I suspect, deep down, we feel joy at the thought of continuing to snigger at boomers and what they consider sophisticated entertainment as we imagine observing a show like this through their eyes. Ok, maybe not Rob, but that’s definitely what’s going to keep me watching.
We laughed a lot during this one. I think you’ll enjoy it, even if you haven’t seen the show.
Listen here or watch on YouTube. Note that on YouTube, the Narrative Control podcasts are no longer on the CSPI channel. You can keep up with new episodes at the Richard Hanania channel, which has everything connected to this newsletter.
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