Frank Ockenfels/Paramount+
Taylor Sheridan is television’s reigning macho melodramatist, and Tulsa King fits neatly alongside his Yellowstone and The Mayor of Kingstown as another soapy crime drama led by a marquee movie star. In this case, that’s Sylvester Stallone, who, in his debut small-screen role, demonstrates that, even at 75, he’s got more charisma than most.
More unexpected, though, is that Sheridan’s latest is less grim and brooding than corny and amusing—a shift that suits Stallone, who’s always been an underrated comedic presence, as well as lends the Paramount+ series (which premiered November 13) its own agreeably distinctive personality.
Simultaneously premiering on the linear Paramount Network, Tulsa King’s first two episodes are co-written by Terence Winter and directed by Alan Coulter, both celebrated Boardwalk Empire veterans who were ostensibly brought aboard by Sheridan to lend the material some gangster authenticity.