Yellowstone, the most popular drama series on cable television, is now winning on network television as well. Re-premiering on CBS to massive audiences, the network plans on keeping the ball rolling by heading right into Season Two this weekend. Outside of football, there isn’t a series that comes close to pulling Yellowstone’s numbers. so how many viewers did the family drama really stand to gain? 6.6 million, apparently. Per Variety, Yellowstone’s CBS debut exceeded its original 2018 broadcast on Paramount by roughly four million, with 52% of those viewers completely new to the series. Football, watch your back!
But are CBS viewers getting the same experience as the Yellowstone fans over at Paramount? Network television isn’t known to promote cursing, violence, nudity, or any questionable content that earns Yellowstone its TV-MA rating. Well, according to Country Living, a representative from CBS confirmed that there are some minor differences to the new broadcast. For instance, certain inflammatory language will be muted. Scenes depicting violence and sexual content will also be edited to meet network standards. But Yellowstone on CBS will still carry a TV-14 rating.
Right now, Sunday night on CBS is also the only place that you can experience Yellowstone content with the wider fanbase. Paramount made the shift to try and fill out their fall television slate during the continued SAG-AFTRA strike, but diehard fans know that the series would have been on hiatus anyway. A bitter feud between Kevin Costner and creator Taylor Sheridan has put a big question mark over the future of the series, with Costner recently threatening to “go to court” over his eventual exit.
Even so, it seems fans are more than happy to reminisce about the good ‘ol days of Yellowstone. CBS is beginning Season Two of the western drama on October 29, just one week after the Season One finale aired this past Sunday, October 22. Even after airing the first episode on network television, the series has reportedly averaged 5.9 million viewers a night. With numbers like that, we could see more demand for countless Yellowstone spinoffs once the series finally returns.
