Some Much Needed The Dutton Ranch News ... And Why This Series Needs a Reboot and a Storyline About Big Meat

September 2026

 

Ok... I’ll admit it...

 

I have a thing for guys who drive big trucks...

 

So my heart always skips a beat when I see one in an F250...

Or a big hulking Dodge Ram 3500...

 

And Rip Wheeler has always been my kind of toxic masculinity...

 

Even if it looks like he never changes his clothes...

 

And I enjoy watching Beth’s take-no-prisoners personality...

 

So, of course, I was going to check out The Dutton Ranch...

 

Another of those spin-off moons circulating around the Taylor Sheridan sun...

 

Where someone else takes characters Sheridan created for Yellowstone...

And uses them to piggyback on the Sheridanverse brand...

 

Now I could have cared less about Kayce...

Who was always the sort of vanilla character that seemed more filler than substance on Yellowstone.....

So I had no desire to check out Marshals...

 

And apparently many others felt the same way...

 

But Beth and Rip have a more devoted fan base...

So Chad Feehan, who got his hands on The Dutton Ranch...

Was given a gift...

 

And he managed to recruit Annette Bening and Ed Harris for his series...

 

So what does he do with all this?

 

Well, it was a bad sign that he just copied a lot of the Yellowstone characters...

Kino is Jamie...

Oreanna ... a young Beth...

Beulah...John Dutton

 

And there is a Texas version of the Train Station...

And Rip is still hiring ex-cons to help run the ranch...

 

But as Carter remarks...Texas sucks if you’ve lived in Montana...

And I think he’s right...

 

Because once you take the breathtaking scenery of Yellowstone away...

All you are left with is Texas scrub...

But with no Tommy Norris to entertain... or educate you

 

But this did allow Feehan to introduce a new set of problems... and villains

Many of which are unique to a border state...

 

But Feehan does not take on...

 

In the way Yellowstone did for Montana...

 

And with surprising nuance...

 

The competing cultural forces...

At play in a location...

 

Because apparently this showrunner can only color in black and white...

 

Now Feehan did continue the Sheridan tradition of unbelievable plot lines...

 

And because cows aren’t cheap...

There is going to be a lot of hamburger wasted if that bag of fentanyl breaks...

 

Now one of the things I always enjoyed about a Sheridan series...

Was learning something new...

 

And after having watched Landman...

You can now ask me anything about drilling for natural gas in the Gulf...

 

So now I know what a lairage is...

And a little more about the economics of how that hamburger ends up in your Big Mac...

 

Which is a hot topic these days if you know any cattlemen...

 

But without Sheridan at the helm... the Big Meat storyline is not really explored...

Which would have been a great opportunity for a Tommy Norris-like rant...

 

But instead we get the cartels as the only villains...

With nothing said about corporate meat packers...

Which was a real missed opportunity...

 

Because I can tell you which one today’s rancher...

Considers more of a threat to the survival of their industry...

 

Now Feehan did start off strong with the storyline about hoof and mouth disease...

Which was heart-wrenching to watch...

 

And which brings Beth and Rip into the orbit of Beulah...

Who is a problematic character...

Because Bening can’t quite find her footing with this woman...

 

Who is supposed to be John Dutton ...

But with lots of jewelry...

And that Big Hat Texas Rhinestone Cowboy way with fashion...

 

Fighting to keep the family homestead intact...

 

But it’s clear from the beginning that Beulah is corrupt...

In a way that John never was...

And weak in ways John would never be...

 

But then Bening plays her as too likeable...

To be believable as the villain ...

 

So I got the feeling Feehan has trouble writing strong women...

Which has always been Sheridan’s strong suit...

And part of the secret sauce...

That made so many of his series must-see viewing...

 

Because not only is Beulah written with so many contradictions...

You can’t decide whether she is incredibly naive...

Or just really stupid...

 

And Ed Harris is p.... d...

Because he knows he’s being wasted...

 

And then Feehan gave Beth a soft spot...

 

For a horse...

 

And Yellowstone fans know Beth is no fan of riding horses...

 

But Jai Courtney nails his role as Beulah’s sociopathic son...

And he makes such an interesting character...

That what Feehan does with him in the finale...

Seems a shame... and a real missed opportunity...

 

So maybe that is why there will be a new showrunner for the second season...

 

And word is currently on the street that Sheridan is coming in to rescue ...

What has so far been squandered...

 

Thank god...

 

Because Beth and Rip deserve better...

 

But maybe that is just the way of spinoffs...

Because so few are able to recreate the magic of the original...

 

And certainly The Dutton Ranch...

Is evidence that it wasn’t just the characters that made Yellowstone a hit...

 

And the patriarch...in this case the matriarch... protecting the family empire...

While dealing with squabbling children...

Is a plotline so old...

 

It takes someone with real talent...

Which, obviously, Feehan doesn’t have...

 

To breathe life into such a well-worn storyline...

 

And recently...

There has been only one man....

Who has managed to do that with enough skill to keep our attention....

 

While single-handedly rehabilitating the Western as a genre...

 

But this man...

 

Despite his many talents...

 

Never seems to get that Emmy nomination...

 

And I think we all know why...

 

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