Desert King

There are shows you start watching and have high hopes for. This show is about a family owning a very large amount of land in the outback of Oz . Which could make for a lovely scenic drama. The land and it's charisma is unfortunately ruined by extremely poor script writing. It's very over dramatic, has characters that are borderline charicatures and there's way too much totally unbeleivable stuff happening. While as a viewer you want to be swept up by a story about a family that has characters with depth and and complexity. They try that but the characters fail to form a family you engage with. There's way too much crime and drama happening, which again is poorly written.

Apparently people just constantly shoot, rob and hurt each other in the big land down under.

So I really wanted to like this, but the writers made this a second rate crime show that despite some great actors doesn't deserve a high rating.

I will however have hope for a second season if they dial the drama and violence back a lot, and let some intelligent people do the writing. There is a foundation with the scenery and a good cast they can build on. But that's it.

If ever there was a clone of a show, this is it. This is basically Yellowstone in Australia. It is watchable, and the acting good, but wow, every has a problem and there does not appear to be a good guy. In Yellowstone you either like or hate the main character. Here, there is no way to like someone who is abusive and basically a selfish jerk. But that is my opinion. There are some twists in the plot that will keep you interested, and it is something that will hold your interest, but it does not have the quality of Yellowstone and in some places falls flat. At the end, it leaves it open for a second season but so many of the characters you liked in the show were killed off, so why would I want to watch a season two since the remaining characters are not ones that are interesting.

It is worth a look.

It's Yellowstone set in the rugged outback of northern Australia! And if that sounds both fun and slightly over the top, that's exactly what it is.

I'm only a few episodes in, but it's already hitting all the marks. Rampaging bulls? Yep. Bar fights? Tick. Rampaging killer dingoes (?!) You betcha.

The cheesiness is held in place by some nice performances, particularly from the ever-reliable Anna Torv and the marvellous Robert Taylor, here playing a flabbier, viler and more misogynistic version of Kevin Costner's Yellowstone character.

The best character, though, is the scenery, which is every bit as stunning as you'd expect.

I'm looking forward to finishing this one!

This show is filled with amazing talent and the backdrop is beautiful.

The plot is believable and easy to follow but the characters are difficult to like. It wasn't until episode 5 any of them showed any sign of redemption. It was just so hard to root for anyone.

The entire premise of the show is tragedy upon tragedy. Episode 5 brings a reunion of sorts then bam... more tragedy.

There are only 6 episodes and perhaps episode 6 is what brings it all together but honestly, I was so thoroughly depressed after the 1st 5 episodes I couldn't take anymore.

There is such a lack of balance between hope and despair. It wasn't an enjoyable watch for me at all. I only stuck it out as far as I did because I'm such a fan of some of the actors and actresses.

Yes, it's going to be compared to Yellowstone. Yes, it has same over the top plots, conflicts and wacky characters. Yes, you can point to a lot of similar issues.

For me two main problems are stuff that just happens because it has to drive plot forward. Plots that make no sense. Family patriarch just decides on succession without really considering pros and cons of each option.

Second is plot holes that exist for similar reason, to drive plot forward. Station is supposed to be the size of Belgium yet is run by family (4 members initially, later expanded to a bit more) and what seems lie a skeleton crew. But of course greedy corporations try to take it away from them.

I also didn't like how everything keeps building up. Tensions rise, conflict deepen, passions get stirred... and then things gets resolved (after a fashion) within half an hour.

But it's ot a bad show, if you can look beyond that. Camera work is good, nature looks gorgeous....