Quentin Tarantino Slams this Most-Watched Streaming Series: “It’s just a soap opera”
The Video Archives Podcast cohosts Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. When the conversation turned to TV, Tarantino commented on how far television has come and acknowledged that it’s “pretty good.” The Jackie Brown director then qualified that statement by saying, “But it’s still television to me.”
As far as TV has come in the wake of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Breaking Bad, Tarantino thinks it’s still an inferior art form. He told Rogan that he was captivated by the first season of Yellowstone until he came to the conclusion that it would never be on the level of a feature film.
“While I’m watching it, I’m compelled,” Tarantino said. “But at the end of the day, it’s just a soap opera. They introduce you to a bunch of characters, you learn their backstories, you know everybody’s connection with everyone else… and then everything else is just your connection to the soap opera.”
The Oscar-winning filmmaker later explained that TV isn’t memorable like a film. It’s essentially entertainment for the moment that won’t stick with you. He believes TV only stays in your mind for the period you are actively engaged.
I have to agree on some level. Even the best TV series will fade from memory in time. Television is built around commercial breaks and viewer engagement metrics. Movies will probably always be a purer art form in that regard. But TV has come a long way in the last 30 years. And shows like Yellowstone tell a pretty compelling story with great characters and solid writing. The series finale was top-tier television in my estimate.
If you’re curious to see what Tarantino is talking about, you can catch all but the final compliment of Yellowstone episodes on Peacock now.
The setup for Yellowstone is this:
Kevin Costner stars as the patriarch of a powerful, complicated family of ranchers. A sixth-generation homesteader and devoted father, John Dutton controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. He operates in a corrupt world where politicians are compromised by influential oil and lumber corporations and land grabs make developers billions. Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect, Dutton’s property is in constant conflict with those it borders.
That’s all we’ve got for you at present. Stay tuned to the site for more hot takes as we unearth them. In the meantime, let me know what you thought of the Yellowstone finale on Threads.
H/T: IndieWire
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