1923 (Paramount +)

Wow, really hitting the vein while it’s hot.

Did this start already?

That was just the first teaser. First episode goes live on December 18.

I can’t believe Yellowstone has 2 sequels.

I gave up on the original after 3 or 4 episodes, I just didn’t like anybody!

Why should I watch a show about terrible people I don’t like?

You have a fair point. I got a few episodes into Yellowstone and realized the Duttons are a bunch of fascists.

But it’s fiction, and people have shown they enjoy a story about bad guys. The Sopranos (and just about any mafia move), Breaking Bad, and Succession are just a few examples of this.

I haven’t watched Yellowstone or Succession yet, but when I watched The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, despite them being bad guys, I was still kind of rooting for them. Is it the case with these shows as well?

It was for me - the characters are flawed, not evil.

Very much so. The Duttons have used murder and torture to get what they want, but that’s a fraction of what the show is about.

The meta theme across the series is about how the patriarch rancher is trying to deal with modern intrusions into his property; land developers are trying to wrestle control of the land. In this way, even though the characters are often terrible people, audiences I think are sympathetic to the situation. When the show talks about investors buying up land, pushing out the long-time residents by outpricing them or jacking up the property values until the residents sell because they can’t afford the property taxes, it’s a theme that resonates with things happening in the real world.

There’s also a lot of conflict in the show between traditionalists and the inevitable march of progress, and it can be fascinating to watch.

I’m consistent, I don’t watch any of these.

I never been to a Mafia movie… LOL.

Interestingly my take is that the Duttons of the 1880s (from 1883) are very different from the modern ones, also given the flashbacks in season 4 to the 1890s.

That being said, I think people who only have watched 1883 will be confused as to who Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren play in 1923, because they aren’t those elder Duttons.

— Alan

I recommend Goodfellas.

I’ve only watched 1883 and the family in that one was certainly likeable. Sure the dad was a cranky ex-Confederate soldier, but I don’t think he did anything bad during the show.

Also, I really really enjoyed 1883 and will certainly give this one a shot.

Sorry, no interest at all.

Anyone started watching this yet? 94% on Rotten Tomatoes last I checked. Getting very positive reviews.

I wonder if I should watch this first, or the other Yellowstone spinoff first.

I’d watch 1883 first. :)

Watch 1883 first. Neither 1883 nor 1923 would require you to be familiar at all really with Yellowstone, as they are set nearly 140 and 100 years earlier respectively, and therefore stand on their own with the only “recurring characters” being Westward Expansion and the Dutton family tree (though in 1923 the Yellowstone ranch has been built and is operational, providing the setting for much of the series).

I watched the first episode last night. I think the 94% is coming in large part from fans of Yellowstone and 1883 who are just thrilled to have more, because to be completely honest I found it slow, confusing and not nearly as engaging as either of the earlier series. Now, it’s only the first episode, so obviously there is plenty of time for that opinion to change and I expect it will improve as we get used to the new Duttons and their situations.

But wow, did anyone else have a really difficult time figuring out who the hell was whom? Thanks to Elsa’s voiceover it was at least obvious that Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) is supposed to be James Dutton’s (1883) older brother, and that he came West at the request of Margaret Dutton (James’ wife) after James somehow dies (not explained, possibly going to feature in the “flashbacks” of 1883 rumored to be forthcoming?), but that when he arrives he finds Margaret dead in a snowbank and her TWO sons (only one of whom, John Dutton, is born already during the events of 1883) starving in their cabin. From there it gets very confusing.

For much of the episode I was under the impression that Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar), the African hunter, was one of the two sons and that Jack Dutton (Darren Mann), the young cowboy, was the other mainly because I couldn’t remember the young boy’s name from 1883 and so just assumed it must be the African hunter guy and the kid was his younger brother. As it turns out, John Dutton (1883 young boy, played by James Badge Dale in 1923) is actually the older brother, and is significantly older it would seem. He seems to not have a big role in things just yet. That makes young cowboy Jack the son of John Dutton and his wife Emma Dutton (Marley Shelton). He calls Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) “aunty”, which led to my confusion…but she’s actually his great aunt, and at this point more like a grandmother to him than anything else. Adding to the confusion is the fact that John Dutton Jr. is apparently floating around in the mix somewhere (possibly not born yet?), and that is notable because he is the eventual father of John Dutton III (Kevin Costner, Yellowstone). WHEW!

It is not a good sign when you need a lot of assistance from the internet to piece together who is supposed to be who in the first episode of a series where the entire family dynamic is a main part of the show. When you tack on the very disturbing and graphic Indian School scenes, some WWI flashbacks and a completely different storyline and setting happening in colonial Africa it makes for quite the jumbled beginning to the series. Hopefully it sorts itself out in the next couple of episodes.

It’s incredibly confusing; I don’t understand why they needed to make it this complex, because yeah, the characters who I thought they were actually aren’t. Don’t call people “aunty” if they aren’t unless you explain it first. Jesus.

I found the opening episode to be mostly meh, and the African game hunter tripe (even if it is about killing man-eaters, it’s like Taylor Sheridan just decided to rip off The Ghost and the Darkness horribly) is annoying as hell (and some of it looked bad to boot). I mean, really? You couldn’t make Spencer do literally anything else?

The only really interesting part is the calling out of the religious boarding schools for natives, which was about as awful as it gets.

— Alan

Oh BTW my impression is that James dies in a Yellowstone season 4 flashback (where his character was first introduced) sometime around 1893. But that would mean his wife would die soon after if Jacob arrives in 1894.

— Alan