Taylor Sheridan’s best Western TV show isn’tYellowstone, it’s his other Western series,Lawmen: Bass Reeves.Yellowstonechanged the Western TV gamewhen it premiered, showing how to do a neo-Western correctly in a way that would satisfy fans of the genre and bring in new viewers.
Since then, the series creator Taylor Sheridan has expanded his universe of TV shows into modern gang stories, special forces shows, and, of course, more Westerns, often centered in theYellowstoneuniverse. However, one of hisWesterns happens to take place outside that universe, and it’s the best of his shows.
Taylor Sheridan’s Lawmen: Bass Reeves Is About The Real-Life American Western Icon
Lawmen: Bass Reevesis a 2023 miniseries that stars David Oyelowo as the titular federal peace officer. Bass Reeves was one of the first African American Deputy U.S. Marshals to the west of the Mississippi River. Working out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, with his range focused on “Indian Territory”, Reeves captured over 3000 outlaws in his day.
The series tracks Reeves through most of his life, starting with his years as a slave before he escaped and, after the Civil War, his time as a lawman in the Indian Territories that he knew better than anyone. In those unmarked lands, rustlers, thieves, and murderers ran wild, necessitating someone with Reeves' tracking and sharp-shooting skills.
Why Lawmen: Bass Reeves Is Better Than Yellowstone
Yellowstoneis undoubtedly a fantastic series, but when it comes down to it,Lawmen: Bass Reevesis a stronger show. Part of that comes from it being a miniseries, so just about every episode is crucial, while withYellowstone, there are sometimes entire seasons that fans would like to forget.
The soap opera aspects ofYellowstoneare a part of the series' charm, but, at the same time, can become wearisome after a while.Lawmen: Bass Reeveshas a more propulsive energy that starts off slowly but quickly gallops into something exemplary. It’sYellowstonewith the fat cut off.
Lawmen: Bass Reeves Is Taylor Sheridan’s Most Underrated Series
Taylor Sheridan has been a part of a lot of TV shows, butLawmen: Bass Reevesis the most underrated. A big reason that it flies under the radar is that the show was not actually created by Sheridan; he doesn’t even hold a writing or directing credit. This is a show firmly in his collection, but it’s the most tangentially related to him personally.
If the series had not started as a spinoff of1883, itself a prequel toYellowstone, we may not even be referring to it as one of Sheridan’s shows, and it’s possible the show would have garnered more interest. As it stands now, people who write offYellowstonelikely write offLawmen: Bass Reevesfor the same reasons.
