Yellowstone fans banded together to fire back at Quentin Tarantino after the iconic director dismissed their favorite Western drama as little more than a ‘soap opera.’
The online drama kicked off after the Pulp Fiction creator, 61, was asked to compare movies with modern TV shows during a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
While Tarantino admitted that some recent TV series are ‘pretty good,’ he argued they are never as ‘compelling’ as feature films and used Yellowstone—which recently saw the departure of Kevin Costner—as his prime example.
‘I didn’t really get around to watching Yellowstone’the first three years or so. Then I watch the first season, and I’m like, “Wow, this is f****** great!” I’ve always been a big Kevin Costner fan, he’s f******wonderful in this,’ Tarantino recalled. ‘And I get really caught up in the show, I’m having a great time watching. And the first season, I’m kind of talking like, “Oh, this is like a big movie.”‘
He continued: ‘While I’m watching it, I’m compelled. But at the end of the day, it’s just a soap opera.’
And just to drive the point home, he added, ‘You don’t remember it five years from now,” which, naturally, set fans of the hit show on fire.
The backlash came fast and furious, with Yellowstone lovers flooding social media to defend their beloved series and call out Tarantino for his ‘dismissive’ take.
One critic clapped back, ‘Is there anything that man does like besides his own work?’ an another chimed in, ‘He also loves to hear himself talk.’
Yet another even took aim at Quentin’s own recent Oscar-winning work, posting, ‘In that case once upon a time in hollywood is a tv movie.
Despite the growing storm of criticism, Tarantino doubled down on his critique of the Yellowstone series during his podcast appearance
‘You are caught up in the minutia of the moment,’ he argued. ‘The difference is I’ll see a good western movie and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. I’ll remember this scene or that scene and it built to an emotional climax of some degree…
‘There’s not a payoff on this (TV) stuff. There’s just more inter-connectional drama. And while I’m watching it, that’s good enough.
‘But when it’s over, I couldn’t tell you (what happened). I can remember who the bad guy was in the first season of Yellowstone. But I don’t remember any of the details of it, and I don’t remember any of the bad guys for season two or season three.’
While the Yellowstone fanbase hit back, some listeners agreed with Tarantino, acknowledging that something might be missing in the long-form storytelling of modern TV.
‘It’s an interesting thought. I tend to agree with him. Something is lost In these shows. But I tend to be a movie goer and biased in that regard,’ am X user shared.
Tarantino’s uproar comes after Yellowstone fans were less than thrilled with the latest episode’s heavy focus on Taylor Sheridan, the creator of the show who also plays horse trainer Travis Wheatley.
The social media consensus was clear: Sheridan was taking up far too much of the action for a character who’s little more than a bit part.
Many fans were quick to point out that this seemed intentional—now that series star Costner is no longer part of the show.
Costner departed Yellowstone before part two of the final Season 5 in June, amid much drama, including rumors of a feud between him and Sheridan.
Now it seems Sheridan may have been making up for the absence of Costner’s John Dutton with some screen time of his own, complete with a strip poker game that featured real-life supermodel Bella Hadid.
’15 minutes of story and scenes wasted with watching Taylor Sheridan showboat on his own show, partying and just doing his thing. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what he does in real life too,’ wrote one unimpressed viewer.
Taylor also appeared in a pivotal role in the finale of his show Lioness on Sunday. And he had a role on the Yellowstone prequel 1883.
Another added, ‘As if Taylor Sheridan wasted one of the last episodes of this show by inserting himself so he could parade around with half-naked women. We could have had 8 more episodes of Kevin Costner instead of this bs #Yellowstone.’
One fan lamented, ‘Yeah, and they’ve treated the best actor on the show, @modernwest, Kevin Costner. He was willing to come back, and of course, Sheridan’s ego got in the way. What a sad end for John Dutton’s legacy.’
Someone else quipped, ‘Being generous on the 15 minutes 🙂 Felt more like an hour with 25 minutes of storylines that we actually want to see.’
The episode had all the subtlety of a neon sign flashing, according to another critic, as they commented, ‘The episode was a look at me I’m Taylor Sheridan. He may as well have Kevin Costner just come out of the shower at this point.’
As for the rumored feud between Taylor and Kevin, another follower chimed in, ‘I think now we know: what caused the fall out with Costner, oh boy Sheridan wanted to be the man lol, and I sure do miss Costner editing this guy’s terrible scripts.’
