New Taylor Sheridan series Landman is getting hated on for one reason

Taylor Sheridan’s characters have been criticized for a lack of nuance and complexity, but the Yellowstone creator’s new series Landman has taken this to another level, drawing widespread condemnation. 

It’s not uncommon for Sheridan to get hate for this reason. The subjects and settings he tackles, from Yellowstone to Mayor of Kingstown and Tulsa King, are predominantly testosterone-dominant. 

Even his female-fronted series Lioness feels, at times, like the characters were written as men. But the backlash has never been quite as strong as Landman.

The new TV show centers on Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), whose job is to negotiate land leases for oil tycoons.

Where Tommy has been written with complexity and grit, the complaints have largely been around how the female characters are sexualized, one-dimensional background lurkers.

You’ve got Tommy’s ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), whose scenes mostly involve her flirting with her former husband, and their daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph), whose highly inappropriate sexual admission to her father had everyone’s toes curling.

And let’s not forget Cami, Monty’s wife. Her scenes have been inconsequential so far, despite the character being portrayed by Demi Moore. 

This is where much of the criticism comes in, with viewer one writing on Reddit: “Landman is the worst f**king show on TV, along with the current season of Yellowstone and most if not all of Sheridan’s television series. 

“Poorly written, misogynistic toilet paper based in a reality that doesn’t exist – just fantasies in Sheridan’s mind of how he wants life to be and what he wants to be will never be. He doesn’t understand real dudes and definitely doesn’t understand women.”

Another said, “I started watching with my 19 year old son – was SO uncomfortable, the women are over the top,” before describing Ainsley’s admission in Landman Episode 1. 

“My SON was actually the one to repeatedly call out how ridiculous the women were,” they continued. 

“Ex wife calling on facetime wearing a see through red lace bodysuit and leaning down repeatedly in front of the camera? Teen daughter flashing her whole ass IN FRONT OF HER DAD like it was nothing? Dad asking his daughter questions about her sex life? 

“The dialogue was a joke, we picked on it the whole time. Jon Hamm was better, scenes with the workers were actually good.”

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“I wanted to throw up watching this,” added a third. “My hubby and I were excited to watch this too as he’s an oil and gas worker. But why the f**k did we have to watch weird 17 year old exploitation.”

One viewer, who said they consider themselves to be “old school,” commented, “But I cannot believe how much they sexualise the girl that they explicitly say is 17.

“The ex-wife character is absolutely ridiculous. I actually skipped ahead the first time she ‘facetimed’ on what was obviously a professionally filmed segment because I was cringing so bad.

“I thought the only saving grace was gonna be the son working with the tight knit Mexican family. Michael Pena is an amazing actor… then NOPE they are all dead.”

Outside of this issue, Landman struggles with its focus. As we said in our two-star review, “Ultimately, tense phone calls, various legal troubles, and disjointed character relationships mean it’s difficult to ever really get a grasp on what Landman is trying to do.”

Not everyone has been criticizing the female characters of the show, however, with one person pointing out, “Literally none of his characters are nuanced. Male or female. They’re all soap opera characters. Not saying it’s a bad thing. Just saying.”

Another said, “To those who don’t like the woman characters of this show, unfortunately as a 50 year old female in Dallas, this show isn’t far from the truth.”

With eight more episodes to go, we’ll have to wait and see if things improve. Landman Episode 3 drops on November 24. You can also read our recaps on Episode 1 and Episode 2, and check out new TV shows streaming this month.