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‘Dutton Ranch’ Review: ‘Yellowstone’ Lands a Sturdy, Simplified Sequel

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Near the end of “Dutton Ranch‘s” two-part series premiere, something astounding happens — or nearly happens. After a hard day of ranching, Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) hit the local watering hole with their fast friend and local veterinarian, Everett (Ed Harris). A proud Navy man whose Seawolves hat never leaves his head, Everett quickly establishes himself as an honest and respected town elder. He knows everyone, but he doesn’t judge them. He works hard for everyone, but he has his preferred clientele.

Rip and Beth are among them. The new couple in town quickly wins Everett over with their compassion for lost causes (Beth) and dedication to the cowboy way (Rip), so it only makes sense to see them sharing a drink at the bar once the day’s duties are done. What makes less sense is what happens next: Everett gets called on stage — to sing. The guitarist who’d been strumming country ditties for the weary workforce wraps her latest refrain and says, “Why don’t we get McKinney up here?,” as though everyone in the bar has been waiting all night to hear the old sailor start crooning.

Now, I don’t mean to question Ed Harris’ musical talent. He’s an esteemed actor, after all, with enough Broadway experience to earn a Tony nomination, and if there’s a role showcasing his melodious vocal range that I’m overlooking, please point it out to me. But the grizzled former Man in Black and man-who-failed-to-ground-Maverick isn’t known for playing the type of gruff ol’ cowpoke who’s about to break into song. So when Harris steps behind the mic as Beth and Rip head to the dance floor, I was on the edge of my seat. Here we go! Kevin Costner would never! “Dutton Ranch” is going for something different!

And then the diegetic sound fades out, the non-diegetic score kicks in, and the scene abruptly shifts away from Everett’s forever-unknown number. For the briefest of moments, you can spot Harris on stage, singing his heart out, but you can’t hear a single note. It’s as disappointing as it is maddening. Why introduce Everett as a singer if not to hear him sing? The plot doesn’t require it, and I surely wasn’t expecting it. If Kevin Bacon or Jeff Bridges were playing Everett, then sure, but no one saw Ed Harris in the opening credits of ‘Dutton Ranch’” and thought, “Oh, boy! I can’t wait to buy the soundtrack!”

Perhaps this doesn’t seem like a point worth stressing in a review of the latest “Yellowstone” spinoff, and that may be true. But the scene — which better turn out to tease a big song-and-dance routine from Harris later on — exemplifies the best and worst of “Dutton Ranch,” a series with a low ceiling, in terms of its potential, but a relatively high floor.

Whereas the first “Yellowstone” sequel, “Marshals,” took a single Dutton family member and stuck him in a routine CBS procedural, “Dutton Ranch” returns two fan-favorites in a drama series rooted in the same open-range cowboy life as its predecessor. There are some bumps in the first four episodes (out of nine total for Season 1), but they’re related to pacing, focus, and follow-through. The core story is a simplified version of “Yellowstone” (which was never that complex to begin with) that sets up its cherished preexisting characters to thrive alongside a cast of newcomers who know how to leave their mark.

If anything, Harris and Annette Bening are already stealing “Dutton Ranch” out from under Beth and Rip. But that’s OK. Those two know how to roll with the punches, and their new series knows what its viewers want.

Mostly. For those who need the refresher, at the end of “Yellowstone,” Beth and Rip started over. Their mammoth family ranch was sold to the reservation in order to preserve the land, and they purchased a smaller homestead (though, really, what could be bigger?) near Dillon, Montana. It’s an ideal set-up for a spinoff, right? Beth and Rip are on their own, starting from scratch, building a new family legacy adjacent to their father’s (and father’s father’s) old one.

Well, for whatever reason, creator Chad Feehan and executive producer Taylor Sheridan decided “Dutton Ranch” should be in Texas, instead. (Perhaps that’s why Feehan was fired three weeks ago, well after production completed but long before an anticipated Season 2? Either way, no need to worry: The last time Sheridan fired a showrunner on one of his programs, it turned out to be the best TV series he’s made.) So the premiere episode opens with a laughably truncated ode to Beth and Rip’s maiden Montana ranch, right before it burns to the ground and they have to relocate to Rio Paloma, a small town an hour north of the Mexican border.

Dutton Ranch is dead, but “Dutton Ranch” is just beginning.

And so is Dutton Ranch, because Beth and Rip aren’t about to change the name of their ranch just because the original was wiped off the face of the earth. Dutton Ranch II is acquired so quickly, the actual transition from one owner to the next isn’t shown until the second episode, even though Rip & Co. are already wrangling cattle in Episode 1.

Ed Harris as Everett McKinney in Dutton Ranch, episode 2, season 1, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. Photo Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+.
Ed Harris in’ Dutton Ranch’Courtesy of Emerson Miller / Paramount+

Similarly clunky execution creeps in when the series shifts into montage mode, aka when creator Chad Feehan and director Christina Alexandra Voros try to recreate the sweeping odes to nature “Yellowstone” relied on to convey the Duttons’ deep appreciation of the soil, the herd, and ranching in general. Here, such extended sequences of cowboys steering their steeds and working their land feel rushed. They don’t fit the existing vibe, even when they’re trying to set it.

Still, their mere presence goes a long way to reminding audiences what they liked about the original “Yellowstone,” as do a few more key facets. Hearing Rip tell someone to “shut the fuck up” with a ferocity that betrays his underlying affection remains strangely endearing. So does Beth’s inability to suffer fools, be it a gaggle of screaming bachelorette partygoers or a restaurant owner who doesn’t respect his staff. There’s a reason these two were tasked with carrying the “Yellowstone” mantle forward, and “Dutton Ranch” gets it.

It also repositions the pair as straightforward heroes. In the original series, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his children weren’t exactly pure of heart. Kayce (Luke Grimes) spent most of his life trying to escape his toxic family, while his siblings consistently broke the rules in ways that were only justifiable as acts of self-preservation.

Beth and Rip aren’t nicer now, by any means. They’ll still beat the hell out of a guy they’ve never met and burn his house down if they decide it’s warranted, but you won’t feel conflicted when it happens. Maybe that will change as the season goes on, but for now, it’s easy to enjoy them fighting for their place in a territory already claimed by someone else, especially when said someone needs to get cut down to size.

The Duttons got away with a lot of lawbreaking because they were the big dogs in Montana — but everything’s bigger in Texas. Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening) rules the rural area via 10 Petal Ranch, and her corruption is as plain as the nose on her problematic son’s face. Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) is a loose cannon, and when he makes the biggest mistake of a life filled with plenty, it’s clear who’s wearing the black hat and who’s wearing white when the Jacksons and Duttons face off.

Despite an uneven structure, “Dutton Ranch” largely knows how to harness its inherent advantages. Bening gets to sink her teeth into a whiskey-swirling Southern villainess (while filling John Dutton’s shoes as the powerful-yet-compromised old-school boss), and Harris puts on the charm as the generous grandpa-type. Hauser and Reilly are doing their respective things, and even though the Texas landscape is a drier brown than Montana’s majestic greenery, the vicarious dirt-under-your-fingers experience endures. All told, it’s a more straightforward drama than what “Yellowstone” was going for, but given where that show ended up, maybe simpler is better.

“Dutton Ranch” doesn’t need to be different. In many ways, it was designed to be more of the same. but it does need to do one thing: In a figurative and literal sense, it needs to let Harris sing.

Grade: C

“Dutton Ranch” premieres Friday, May 15 on Paramount+ (and the Paramount Network at 8 p.m. ET). Two episodes will be released initially with a weekly release through the finale on July 3.

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Channel 4 Making Stroke Documentary ‘Trauma: My Broken Brain’

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EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 is teaming with the Stroke Association on a documentary sereis looking at young people living with the aftermath of a stroke.

Trauma: My Broken Brain follows three young survivors through the most frightening days of their lives and the grueling journey back to independence.

Every five minutes someone in the UK suffers a stroke – there are 1.4 million stroke survivors living in the UK today – but the aim of the doc is to show that this is only the beginning of recovery. Filmed over seven months with access to these young adults at the most terrifying and testing moments of their lives, the series meets Dan (28), a dancer left confined to a wheelchair, barely able to speak following emergency brain surgery; Saskia (22), a self-described social butterfly left bedbound after a brain bleed so severe her family feared she would not survive; and Dec (20), who collapsed just four months into a new relationship and spent weeks in a coma, his family and girlfriend unsure if he would survive.

Channel 4 has taken the rare step of teaming with a charity on the doc. It is being produced by Stream Media Group, which was also behind the same network’s Anna Richardson: Love, Loss and Dementia, made with the Alzheimer’s Society.

Channel 4 commissoning exec Simon Lee said: “This is an ambitious and important series that challenges perceptions and gives a voice to young people whose lives have been transformed by stroke, as they embark on the long road that begins after survival.”

Stream’s Victoria Noble added: “What struck us throughout filming was how little people understand about stroke. Survival is often seen as the end of the story, when in reality, it is only the beginning. By sharing their journeys with such honesty and courage, Dec, Dan and Saskia revealed the reality of rebuilding a life after stroke, and the truth behind the long and unforgiving journey to reclaim the right to live an independent life. Alongside the extraordinary support of their families, their stories offer a powerful insight into resilience, determination and hope. It’s been a privilege to tell their stories.”

Noble is EP with Ben Padfield and producer is Laura Hooper. Series director is Storm Theunissen and production executive is Fiona Ridgers. The show was filmed with access to The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust and Clatterbridge Rehabilitation Centre, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

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Dori Media Hitting Cannes With Unscripted Shows Like ‘You Show Know’

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EXCLUSIVE: Power Couple seller Dori Media is heading to Cannes with the largest unscripted slate in its history.

At MIPCOM, the Israeli company will debut the likes of games shows The Hive and You Should Know, docu-series My Hottest Years and primetime reality format New Love, which is from Power Couple maker Abot Hameiri.

Also on the slate is Paraiso Tropical, a doc exploring a mysterious Panamanian plane crash, and Seekers, which looks at humans’ search for meaning.

“We have been listening to our clients across the globe, many who are looking for affordable content that can help them break through with their local audiences and we are headed to MIPCOM with our largest slate of unscripted programming, a slate that features many new offerings that we believe can do just that,” said Dori Media Group CEO Nadav Palti.

Studio quiz show The Hive comes from and is from United Studios Productions and channels Kan 11 and Makan. The show’s USP is that knowing the right answer isn’t enough: Contestants need to know when to take a risk, when to block an opponent, and how to build a strategic play.

You Show Know is another quiz, this time from Shenhar Productions. Questions are tailored specifically to each contestant, drawing from their social media feeds, meaning they should, in theory, know the answers.

Doc series My Hottest Years comes from Drucker-Goren Communications and is for Kan 11, looking at what happens when women’s hormones change, while New Love is a dating reality show for Reshet 13. The format sees women live with a carefully-selected stranger for 72 hours, before they decide whether to stay for another three days or replace them with someone new.

Paraiso Tropical is a co-production from Apertura Films and Ajimolido Films in which filmmaker Abner Benaim reopens the case of a passenger plane that exploded over Panama, killing all 21 on board, including his under. Seekers, meanwhile, runs to six parts and follows the human experience through the eyes of an Amazonian chief, an Advaita monk, an African healer, a Hindu sage, a Native grandmother and a Buddhist psychologist. Édgar Ramírez, Riley Keough and Jamie-Lynn Sigler all feature.

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‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4 Actor Bids Farewell To Character Who Dies

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SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4, Episode 9, titled “Mae Rides The Bus,” now streaming on Apple TV.

The title of the second-to-last episode of Ted Lasso Season 4 hints at a goodbye to a beloved character who has been around since the first season.

Episode 9 bids farewell to Richmond’s own Mae Green (Annette Badland) who dies doing what she loves: supporting the Lady Greyhounds at their away match against Bristol City in the stands.

“That’s what happens. You’re involved with folks, and they disappear. They go, and she loved her life,” Annette Badland told Deadline. “She made the very best of her life and really relished it. So she went, I suppose, for her, in the very best way.”

The Crown & Anchor pub owner was invited to take the team bus to the away game after she had hinted that it would be difficult for someone with her “level of seasoning” to make the two and a half hour drive. Thus, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt) invite her on the shuttle with all of the players, and they embrace Mae as one of their own on the drive.

RELATED: ‘Ted Lasso’ Episode 6 Recap: Phil Dunster Returns & New Believe Sign Debuts On New Year’s Eve

“I love the Lionesses, so I was thrilled when [Season 4] happened, and the girls are tremendous and effervescent and glorious to be around. The pub quiz scene took a couple of days to shoot, but that was like a tidal wave coming,” Badland said. “They are just so full of energy and life. So that was just something wonderful to be involved in, and just enhanced all the feelings and the camaraderie. And Mae couldn’t play football, wasn’t allowed to play football, I’m sure she’s had a lot of bad stuff in her life, but she just carries on and defies the odds and just keeps on pitching. That’s an excellent story to tell.”

In the below interview, Badland unpacks Mae’s legacy left on the series, transitioning from the men’s team dynamic of the first three seasons to the Lady Greyhounds and how Mae might come up in the finale episode.

DEADLINE: Did you know about this episode for Mae when you signed on for Season 4? How did you react when you found out what would happen for her in Episode 9?

ANNETTE BADLAND: No, I didn’t know, and I didn’t know till about, I suppose, maybe November. We were only an episode away filming that. I was shocked, but I’m very proud being in the show, and I admire Jason [Sudeikis]. I think the series is so successful because people smell it’s very genuine. The audience know it’s not made cynically. It’s not a product. It’s something Jason wants to say about the world and how we are, so you have to trust that.

I don’t know when I’ll die. You just don’t know. So, being told that it was going to happen quite close to it being filmed, you just have to go. ‘Well, that’s [that]. He told me in the storyline, so he started at the beginning [with] “I invite her to come, and blah blah, and she won’t drive, and then she comes to the grounds and she goes in the bus,” and I’m going, “Oh wow, this is…” and then “She passes.” [Gulps.] But hopefully that’s what will happen for the audience too.

DEADLINE: How did you want to approach the speech you gave in the locker room before the game? There’s the moment in the bus before where they’re like, “We’re gonna grill you about your whole life and everything you know. How did you approach those scenes with the end of the episode in mind? What you wanted to leave on the field, for lack of a better way to put that?

BADLAND: I think not giving in. She’s very outspoken. She’s a lioness who will defend you till the nth degree once you’ve got her heart and respect. Being an older woman, where you do become invisible, Mae’s never going to be invisible. She will not allow that to happen. I get ignored. You’ll stand at a counter, and people won’t bother, or they’ll walk into you. “You’ve had your time, move aside.” And Mae would not allow that, and was still in there pitching and relishing.

L-R: Jason Sudeikis and Annette Badland in Season 4 of 'Ted Lasso'

L-R: Jason Sudeikis and Annette Badland in Season 4 of ‘Ted Lasso’

Apple TV

DEADLINE: What does it say about her that she wants to sit in the audience stands or the supporters side versus the box with Rebecca and everyone?

BADLAND: Yeah, not her people, and she might have felt constrained. “Well, I’m not going to sit and behave myself or feel the fool because I’m sitting with you.” I’ll go where the folk that really scraped together to get the money, who are dedicated, [are sitting]. Even although it was her pub, she’s not part of a hierarchy. Everybody’s judged on how they are. Just not her style. Go and be with the real fun.

DEADLINE: There’s the hint of the shares and the battle that’s going on there. And Mae has shares, and she was like protecting her patrons at the pub. Can you tease anything about how could she could leave an impact that way too on the team?

BADLAND: Well, she had a very large pile of shares. I mean, they were about “yay high” (gestures to table height she sits at.) She uses them to good effect. Her instructions are for them to be used in a particular way that is quite good.

DEADLINE: I love her relationship with Ted’s son this season too. I was hoping you could talk about working with Grant and any wisdom she maybe has left with him?

BADLAND: He is a delight. He’s a beautiful young man, and bright. We got on terribly well, and I shall miss him. Really, it was great having that element in the pub too. Another side of her. I can’t tease you with anything, I don’t think, but he knows what he’s doing now with a tea towel.

DEADLINE: Keeley’s pregnancy is revealed in 409, and I’ve heard some people talk about the cycle of life and how someone passes and then a new life comes into the world. So I was curious if you had any thoughts on those themes for episode nine?

BADLAND: Oh yes, well it’s absolutely true, isn’t it? We move along. We’re here for a very short time, and the next wave, the next group of people comes in. I’m delighted for Keeley, just delighted, and poor old Roy.

DEADLINE: This episode felt like such a great send off for Mae, but could we still see a funeral or something in the finale?

BADLAND: You could, maybe. I guess, or it’s like, “Oh well, that’s it.” [They could forget about her.]

DEADLINE: What do you think she would want as a celebration of her life? Have you thought about that at all?

BADLAND: Oh, she’d have asked for a tremendous party at The Crown and Anchor. Everyone invited. Jason did modify some of 410. We talked after he told me about her passing, and he did, because that’s how he is. He’s responsive and collaborative. So he did change some of the stuff in 10, or incorporated what we talked about. She doesn’t just [go away]. She has, not an appearance, but she is still within the context.

DEADLINE: I’m also worried-not worried, but the pub was her thing. So I hope it’s in good hands in the future.

BADLAND: So does she. Oh yes.

DEADLINE: Anthony Head gets an acknowledgement in 409, and Rupert gets his mention too. How did that all weave together with Mae also leaving? What are your thoughts on that? You had scenes with Anthony in the past.

BADLAND: He came in the pub. The darts, and we were around. He came in more than that, but that was the main one. He was a beautiful man, and he will be much missed. He was charming and funny and generous, and we’d have naughty little sort of asides. And I had wondered why we weren’t — I assumed he would be in this last [season] and didn’t know, as I think very few people knew, he was ill and just couldn’t do it.

So we will miss him, and I respect him, and I think it’s a great honor to be in the episode that is dedicated to him.

DEADLINE: How did it feel embarking on this new chapter of the show after the previous three seasons with the men’s team, and how much do you think it meant to Mae? Could you talk about that transition and leaving the show behind?

BADLAND: Well, when we finished [Season 3], we didn’t think there would be another. Jason had said, “I’ve got a three series arc, that’ll be it.” And then to go back and to take, it’s very exciting because it’s a risk, isn’t it?

A female team [is] quite quite different, and the men have come with it. The male audience have gone with it, like they do with the genuine footballers. And there’s good stories, different stories in there, different tales to tell. So, I’m absolutely thrilled that it seems, in England, certainly, to have taken off this year. People don’t know what to do. They don’t know whether to watch it episode by episode or to binge watch it. They can’t wait to binge it. So that’s thrilling, absolutely thrilling. I’ve had a great time. I’m privileged to have been part of it, and I’ll just have to be in the stands, won’t I? And see how they progress.

Or there is a film called Wonderful Life, where an angel [comes down.]

Annette Badland in 'Ted Lasso' Season 4

Annette Badland in ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 4

Apple TV

DEADLINE: I could see them incorporating it. I love that movie. We watch it every Christmas. She would be such a great Clarence-esque character.

BADLAND: Yeah, popping up in someone’s conscience and tearing them off a strip or whatever. Or giving them information.

DEADLINE: I feel like Beard may need some of that for some reason. Because we don’t see his reaction, at the end of the episode. We see it’s Rebecca’s telling Ted, you don’t see the words pass, but just from his actions, you know that she’s died. But yeah, I guess curious to see what will happen with him. I love that idea. I hope you’ve pitched that and that it comes to light in the future.

BADLAND: As soon as he said she passed, I said, “Oh, can I come back as an angel?” So we did talk about it.

But he doesn’t do the predictable, does he? That’s what’s so delightful.

DEADLINE: That’s all I had, unless you wanted to add anything else about what fans come up to you and say when they recognize you from the show, or any last words before we go.

BADLAND: Ah, encountering them is terrific, and I’m very proud to have been in this because I still get messages from people saying, you know, things like “My mom’s very ill with cancer. She comes home from her treatment. We all pile on the bed. We put Ted on. We believe. We laugh.” So that’s a just tremendous thing to have in the world, and to be connected to it, and feel you’ve done that for folk. No bad thing, eh?

RELATED: Apple TV Claims Largest Weekly Viewership Ever With ‘Mayday’, ‘Ted Lasso’ And Post-Emmys Bump For ‘Widow’s Bay’ & ‘Pluribus’

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