Quentin Tarantino Thinks Yellowstone Is Just a Soap Opera

Yes, he's seen it. Yes, he admits it's watchable. But when it comes down to it?

"While I'm watching it, I'm compelled. But at the end of the day, it's just a soap opera."

He broke it down like this: the show floods you with characters, backstories, tangled relationships — and that's the hook. The drama keeps you going, but structurally? It's all "who's sleeping with who," "who's betraying who," "who's out for blood this week." To Tarantino, that's Dallas on a ranch.

This isn't just a one-off opinion. Tarantino's had a long-standing disinterest in modern television. On Conan O'Brien's podcast, he talked at length about old-school TV from the ‘60s and ‘70s — the stuff Once Upon a Time in Hollywood paid tribute to — but he's openly said most modern shows don't do much for him.

When Vulture asked about True Detective, he straight-up said he couldn't get into it. The only recent show he says he's watched multiple times?

Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom.

"That was the only show that I literally watched three times," he told them.

Not Breaking Bad, not The Wire, not Succession. Just Sorkin's monologue-heavy drama about a fictional news network, starring Jeff Daniels as a cranky anchor with a god complex. Not exactly a crowd favorite, but hey — Tarantino likes what he likes.

So while Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone is pulling blockbuster numbers and building its own spinoff empire, Tarantino's not buying into the hype. He's fine with a little melodrama — he just wants it with bullets, grindhouse blood, and a reel change.