Been watching the Yellowstone prequel 1883 on Paramount.
This is an extremely compelling show and the best TV western to come along since Gunsmoke went off the air in the mid-70’s.
Sam Elliot was born to play a cowboy or frontiersman.
It’s been years since a show has come along that I enjoy this much.
Anyone else been watching? What do you think?
We watched the first two episodes they broadcast for free. The amount of mumbling by the men on the show was very distracting. Basically for any conversation that wasn’t between women, we had to turn on the closed captioning.
That’s realism. In those days men were tired, dirty, sick, angry, afraid, uneducated, drunk, and wads of chaw in their mouth.
It is a great show, a western thats presented realistically. Better than Lonesome Dove which I felt was more like a western novel from the 50s as it was too sanitized and moral. This show is gritty, like Deadwood and Unforgiven.
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are excellent in their roles as well. And the daughter/narrator Isabel May is someone to look out for in the future. That girl has spunk and I like spunk.
I agree. I love, Love, LOVE this show!
Its being well promoted here.
Can I come into it cold, or should I plan on watching modern Yellowstone first?
You can watch one without watching the other. Or both at the same time. I think I’m liking 1883 better because it is an actual western.
I really liked the first two episodes, but I’m not paying for Paramount +.
I like 1883 a bit better than Yellowstone precisely because it’s really a western. The violence has a proper context–I have a hard time with Yellowstone sometimes because it’s SO over the top and I can’t for the life of me believe that the cops never get involved in all these dead people that keep showing up. Maybe I watched Longmire too much or something. 
In Yellowstone there have been a few flashbacks. Some with Josh Lucas as a younger Kevin Costner and a couple with Tim McGraw as his great grandfather. The flashbacks give Yellowstone some additional context and flavor. Nothing was revealed in them that is needed to watch 1883. Really all you know is eventually the Dutton family ends up in Montana. You don’t need to know anything else.
There are a couple of minor points that annoy me more than they should and they appear to happen in both shows.1 If you are super tough you can heal at a superhuman rate. 2 Rattlesnake bites are always fatal. 3 If you get knocked down you will hit your head and die. It annoys me whenever any of those happen.
So far I am liking it better. I love Sam Elliot so that helps. I also think Tim McGraw is a surprisingly good actor. I’m reserving judgement on Faith Hill because they haven’t given her much to do yet.
I plan to start watching it based on the comments made here. Unfortunately, that means I’m going to have to put up with having my ears blasted during the commercials. Paramount cranks the volume up during the commercial breaks, and on Paramount+ I can’t fast-forward through them like I can when I record Paramount on my DVR.
I recognized her as the teenager with the bad home life that had to move in with the Coopers for a little while in Young Sheldon. Its not surprising she is now a beautiful adult. She has quite a lot of work on her resume for a 21 year old. She is certainly holding her own next to the other actors. I just hope that in the show she doesn’t become the headstrong girl doing dumb things that she has to be rescued from over and over.
I can’t believe Yellowstone and 1883 are even related. I’m not a fan of Yellowstone but I do enjoy 1883.
Are you guys paying for Paramount+? Are there other things on there that make it worth the money?
If cost is an issue I’d recommend waiting until the series is complete and then taking advantage of an introductory offer of a free week or month so that you could binge watch the series.
Man, episode 4 is kinda brutal–something about those piles of furniture just got to me then the piano montage… dayum. I really appreciate that they’re taking their time unfolding the story and using those hard beats to drive home just how incredibly crazy/desperate the pioneers really were to essay these journeys. Fuck, man, they’re still in TEXAS with the Rockies, Wallowas, Blue and Cascade ranges still ahead. And if the Brazos is bad, how 'bout that Columbia?
I looked up what was the mortality rate of pioneers that took the Oregon Trail (which they aren’t even on yet). It seems that 6-10% died on the way. The vast majority died from disease. Although they did show a little of that for the most part cholera isn’t dramatic enough for TV.
I caught up with the latest episode last night.
There was something that bothered me. This show certainly isn’t the first show to do this and it won’t be the last. I have no trouble suspending my disbelief about the lighting of an outside scene. I understand the audience needs to see. But the people in the scene shouldn’t act like they are living with TV scene lighting.
Started with episode 1 tonight. I’m stunned at it’s powerful and moving story. Sam Elliott gives a incredible performance.
Captain You ready? You coming?
I’m thinking about it.
You coming? I rather dig a hole before the sun is high.
Guy with gun near his head. Pauses
Gets up and joins his friend.
What a beginning to a story. The heartbreak of a death and having to go forward with your life.