Kevin Costner's 'non-woke' Yellowstone was the most watched show or movie in America last week with more than 8 million people tuning in to the season four premier last Sunday.
The runaway popularity of the 1883 period ranch show, streaming on Paramount put it over heavyweight favorites like 60 Minutes and NCIS Los Angeles, which had 7.5 million and 5.3 million views, respectively.
The premier also ranked in second place in Digital Entertainment Group's Top 20 streamed movies or shows last week, only losing out to the film Free Guy, while previous Yellowstone seasons also placed at the 11th and 19th spots.
Although Yellowstone is often compared to HBO's Succession - they came out the same year and are both family-business dramas - it breaks the mold for hit series as it's based not on the East or West coasts, but in Montana. It is shot in Utah.
And unlike shows like Succession that play up current drama in the Big Apple or Los Angeles, Yellowstone avoids modern-day issues and political correctness conflicts, and instead puts a lens on rural, 1880s America where local businesses are losing wealth and power in a changing nation.
Kevin Costner plays John Dutton in the hit show Yellowstone, which became the most watched show in America last Sunday
Yellowstone garnered more than 8 million viewers last week with its season four premier
Yellowstone is set in 1883 as ranchers try to conquer the West and set up their fortunes
The show beat out its contemporary, Succession, whose third season premiered last month
The show premiered in 2018, and although it had respectable ratings, it's season three premier last year drew only about half - 4.23 million viewer - of the current season's viewership.
Yellowstone focuses on Costner's John Dutton, a landowning rancher in Montana overseeing his wealth and family, a setting rarely seen among modern top-rated shows.
