There are a lot of sci fi and fantasy TV shows out there, heck, there are a whole lot of television shows in general cramming up the airwaves and bandwidth these days. And if a show doesn’t make itself standout pretty quickly, it could easily get cast as yet another one-and-done casualty of the Peak TV era. And after watching four episodes of Amazon’s trippy and murky modern-day western Outer Range, I’m wondering if it may not slip into that very void that has claimed so many shows of late. Spoilers ahead and all that.
This one already had the deck stacked against it going into its first season. It’s not based on a known property, and like so many streaming originals these days, it’s not getting much promotion beyond a few spots at the beginning of other Prime Video shows (that many people skip in order to get on with what they came to watch). It does have some star power with Josh Brolin in the lead role, but as much as I like the actor (and he does quite well in this performance), I don’t know that he is enough of a draw to compete with the mega-dollar franchises dominating the streaming services these days (like Amazon’s own The Wheel of Time).
Outer Range takes place in modern-day Wyoming on a ranch owned for generations by the Abbot family, and Brolin plays patriarch Royal Abbot who discovers some strange occurrences on his property. After hearing what sounds like thunder and feeling some rumblings, he discovers a rather large sinkhole that seems to go nowhere. There is also some strange (and at times creepy) hippy-chick that shows up and wants to camp on his property for mysterious reasons (certainly nothing to do with the big hole, right?). Meanwhile, one of his sons gets into a scuffle with the son of a rival rancher which turns fatal. And that particular rancher is trying to make a claim to a large part of Royal’s land. And then there’s that buffalo wandering around with arrows sticking out of it and the disappearing mountain.
The show starts out with an interesting sense of mystery along with a moody and tense atmosphere, but it really takes its time developing the story. That big hole is apparently supposed to be the grabber for the show, but it has played a very small part in the story so far. Royal took a quick trip through it thanks to hippy-chick, and it either took him forward in time or to an alternate timeline. But that was the end of the second episode and we haven’t been back yet.
This show is obviously borrowing heavily from the book of Lost, but what made that show so good early on was the characters. It had well-developed, interesting leads and co-leads and the audience immediately found themselves invested in their stories. With Outer Range, most of the characters beyond Brolin’s Royal are either not well-developed or not very likable. Autumn is just too nebulous and spacy, and I don’t find myself caring much about her. Tamara Podemski does a good job as Deputy Sheriff Joy, but she seems to have a mean streak that keeps her at a distance from the audience. Will Patton does some scenery-chewing as Wayne Tillerson (he played Arcane in the recent Swamp Thing series and his appearance here makes me miss that show), but he hasn’t risen above the typical TV drama bad guy yet. The rest of the characters are mostly just filler to get each episode to about an hour’s length.
I started watching this one because I like weird, quirky shows in the Lost-vein, but sadly too many of those suffer from a lack of direction and end up sinking into the murk. This one seems to be following that pattern, so at the four-episode mark I am deciding that I am done with it for now. I will keep an eye out to see if it gets renewed and what the buzz is around the show because it does have some potential, and maybe I will pick it up again at some point. But I switched over to The Wheel of Time (which for some reason I never got around to watching when it first came out) and found myself immediately hooked. And I plan on re-upping Paramount+ shortly to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That’s just the reality of the Peak TV glut of originals. If a show does not grab its audience quickly, it will get passed up and likely fade into the sea of forgotten titles.
Outer Range releases its final two episodes this Friday. If you are watching, let me know your thoughts below and whether it is worth the time to catch the second half of the first season. Good word-of-mouth can help overcome a slow start for some shows.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
