Every week there’s a new chart from Digital Entertainment Group of the movies most watched at home, rented on DVD or digital.
This week, “Free Guy” starring Ryan Reynolds, which I watched on a plane this weekend and was very enjoyable, was number 1.
Number 3 was M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old.” Beats me why, I thought it was terrible.
More importantly, number 2 was “Yellowstone, Season 4.” Number 11 is “Yellowstone Season 1.” Number 19 is Season 3.
“Yellowstone” is a TV series, and it’s the only in the top 20. In three spots.
“Yellowstone” is a rare phenom these days. As everyone reported recently, the Season 4 premiere o the Paramount Channel broke records for a cable show with well over 9 million people tuning in. “Yellowstone” did better than almost all broadcast network shows. It performed like “The Walking Dead” in its early, popular seasons.
What does this all mean? First of all, Kevin Costner, thirty years after “Dances with Wolves,” still has his finger on the pulse of the mainstream. He was a Reagan Republican back then, and something he’s doing now is tapping into that again. Of course, this time he’s doing it in partnership with another master storyteller, Taylor Sheridan.
Water cooler shows are hard to come by. But “Yellowstone” has tapped into something out there, and it’s worth paying attention. Is it the soap opera? The Western angle? Are these MAGA people? And if they are, what does that say about the electorate sitting at home. “Yellowstone” is set in Montana and shot in Utah. Not in Beverly Hills or Manhattan or any place urban or Blue. This is something to take notice of if you’re the Democratic party looking at mid term elections.
Stay tuned…
