Landman (Paramount+) 

By: Rachel Brodeur

Not since Dallas has a show been more quintessentially Texas than Landman. The latest from innovative show creator Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Lioness), Landman stars Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo, Bad Santa) as Tommy Norris, the crisis manager for an oil company in Midland, Texas. 

Norris is the man in the middle of the action. He’s part executive, part everyman, and puts out literal and proverbial fires. He is honest and direct, and carries no airs about him, whether he’s in a room surrounded by the immense wealth of his oil executive boss, played by John Hamm (Mad Men), or the dusty trailers of their workers, he is relatable and commanding in a way that only Billy Bob Thornton could deliver. 

The best part of Landman is in the way the show juxtaposes the intense danger and occasional tragedy that comes with working on oil rigs, with the humor and absurdity of everyday life. There is a level of intensity that comes from the  audience never knowing when something routine will end disastrously. The perils have consequences and Landman provides a window into hardships of people at all levels. However, the series is not sorrowful or even melodramatic, because Norris’ abject realism in the face of life’s precarious situations adds a needed levity.

In fact, despite the drama, the show manages to be surprisingly comical. Norris, had spent the last few years living as a bachelor, but now has his seventeen year old daughter back in his home and with her comes his volatile ex-wife, played by Ali Larter (Final Destination, Heroes). The women are the emotional antithesis to his calm and cool and watching situations like family dinners at the local bar play out is ludacris but also wholesome. 

Some shows on television portray how a world should or could be, but Landman is one that tells people how things are. Relationships are loving and complicated, work is both routine and tragic, money is important but fleeting, and all of it is incredibly well executed and entertaining. 

Rachel’s Rating: 10/10  - Landman (Paramount+), starring Billy Bob Thornton, captures the rugged essence of life in a Texas oil town. Balancing intense danger with grounded realism, the series offers an unvarnished glimpse into the complexities of work and family, all executed with sharp storytelling and emotional depth.