Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Takes The View To Task In Can’t-Miss Landman Episode
Taylor Sheridan’s Landman heats up in Season 2 Episode 5, turning a casual father–son chat into a drive-by on ABC’s The View as Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy delivers a razor-edged takedown. Here’s the jab fans are buzzing about—and why it lands.
Landman took a quick, surprisingly spicy swipe at ABC's The View this week, and it came during a father-son phone call about absolutely nothing. Classic Taylor Sheridan move: a throwaway moment that turns into the thing everyone is talking about.
The setup
Season 2, Episode 5, titled 'The Pirate Dinner,' opens on T.L. (Sam Elliott) calling his son Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) because he is locked out of the house and bored out of his mind. Tommy runs through options to kill time, casually tossing out daytime TV and, specifically, The View. That sends T.L. into the obvious follow-up: what even is that?
Tommy basically paints The View as a panel of rich people venting about rich people, Trump, and pretty much anyone else on their nerves. He says it is funny, but not in a punchline way — more like the kind of laugh you have when something wildly inappropriate happens in a quiet room.
T.L., being T.L., is not buying that this is entertainment. They go back and forth for a beat, then Tommy walks his dad through finding a spare key and the conversation shifts back to normal life.
Why this lands harder than a typical joke
Landman does not usually name-check real shows or step into current politics by name, so hearing The View and Trump referenced outright pops. It is a clean little character moment — Tommy's world-weary take versus T.L.'s no-nonsense filter — but it is also a pretty pointed jab for a Sunday-night drama.
The show around the jab
In case you are just catching up: Landman is a neo-Western drama set in West Texas, created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace and inspired by Wallace's 'Boomtown' podcast about the oil boom and the chaos orbiting it. Sam Elliott is a new addition this season as T.L., Tommy's father, and his gravelly, unimpressed energy fits right in.
- Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris
- Sam Elliott as T.L., Tommy's father (new this season)
- Demi Moore
- Jon Hamm
- Ali Larter
- Jacob Lofland
- Michelle Randolph
- Mark Collie
New episodes of Landman drop Sundays on Paramount+.