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Shows Like Yellowstone · Ranked

Shows Like Yellowstone, Ranked by IQ Score

Modern Westerns about land, family, and the cost of holding territory. Ranked by IQ Score.

Yellowstone scores 101/200 (Competent tier), and audiences who love it typically respond to its specific structural commitments: modern-American-West class architecture, family-as-institutional-territory, and slow-burn character work over genre payoff. These titles operate inside the same register.

Anchor picks: Deadwood (179) is the canonical 19th-century-Western prestige drama Yellowstone descends from. Landman (Taylor Sheridan's industry-set spin) treats West-Texas-oil cognitive material at register Yellowstone fans recognize. Justified is the canonical Elmore Leonard rural-cop drama.

12 titles · ranked by IQ Score

  1. 1
    Deadwood poster, IQ Score 179/200, Masterclass tier

    Deadwood

    Masterclass western, drama

    A town of thieves, gamblers, and gunfighters form a tenuous civilization. Educational about the frontier and language. Cognitive engagement from the Shakespearean dialogue and the political maneuvering. Entertainment fro…

    179/200
  2. 2
    The Power of the Dog poster, IQ Score 165/200, Masterclass tier

    The Power of the Dog

    Masterclass drama, western

    A rancher psychologically manipulates a widow and her son. Educational about toxic masculinity and repression. Cognitive engagement from the unreliable perspective. Entertainment from the psychological thriller.

    165/200
  3. 3
    Justified poster, IQ Score 154/200, Stimulating tier

    Justified

    Stimulating crime, western, drama

    Centers on a gunslinger lawman navigating Kentucky criminal underworld where the tension between justice and pragmatism drives encounters with morally complex antagonists across seasons.

    154/200
  4. 4
    No Country for Old Men poster, IQ Score 154/200, Stimulating tier

    No Country for Old Men

    Stimulating crime, drama, thriller

    A Vietnam vet steals drug money and is hunted by a remorseless killer. Educational about the Southwest border. Cognitive engagement from being outmatched. Entertainment from the suspense.

    154/200
  5. 5
    Wind River poster, IQ Score 149/200, Stimulating tier

    Wind River

    Stimulating crime, drama, thriller

    Examines systemic failure to investigate murdered Indigenous women on reservation, forcing viewers to evaluate institutional racism alongside crime narrative.

    149/200
  6. 6
    Hell or High Water poster, IQ Score 145/200, Stimulating tier

    Hell or High Water

    Stimulating crime, drama, thriller

    Modernizes western through bank-robbery narrative where retired ranger pursues former Special Forces, tracking class resentment and institutional capture.

    145/200
  7. 7
    Landman poster, IQ Score 142/200, Stimulating tier

    Landman

    Stimulating drama, thriller

    Taylor Sheridan's 2024 Paramount+ series anchored by Billy Bob Thornton as a West Texas oil-industry crisis manager. The structural commitment to letting industry-specific knowledge (drilling economics, lease negotiation…

    142/200
  8. 8
    Lioness poster, IQ Score 114/200, Competent tier

    Lioness

    Competent action, thriller, drama

    Taylor Sheridan builds the series on a double-agent premise: Cruz Manuelos, a young Marine recruited into a CIA program that embeds women beside high-value targets, has to sustain a friendship designed to end in betrayal…

    114/200
  9. 9
    Outer Range poster, IQ Score 113/200, Competent tier

    Outer Range

    Competent sci-fi, western, mystery

    A Wyoming rancher discovers a void on his property. Amazon's slow-burn western mystery is formally distinctive, Josh Brolin's performance anchors a genuinely strange premise. Educational about cattle ranching culture and…

    113/200
  10. 10
    The Madison poster, IQ Score 107/200, Competent tier

    The Madison

    Competent drama, western

    Taylor Sheridan's 2025 Yellowstone-universe expansion anchored by Michelle Pfeiffer. The structural commitment to letting Pfeiffer's specific dramatic register carry meandering screenplay material is the production's dis…

    107/200
  11. 11
    Yellowstone poster, IQ Score 101/200, Competent tier

    Yellowstone

    Competent drama, western

    The neo-western drama constructs ranch-family power dynamics and territorial conflict, building character resilience through generational tension and capitalist land struggle.

    101/200
  12. 12
    Tulsa King poster, IQ Score 91/200, Passive tier

    Tulsa King

    Passive comedy, crime

    The mob-comedy-drama constructs fish-out-of-water premise as crime enforcer adjusts to civilian Oklahoma life, balancing crime tradecraft with small-town earnestness.

    91/200
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Questions about this ranking

What show is most like Yellowstone?

By cognitive register, 1883 and 1923 (the prequel Taylor Sheridan spinoffs) are most directly related. Landman applies the same Sheridan-cognition to West-Texas oil. Deadwood is the canonical Western-prestige drama Yellowstone descends from.

How does TVI rank shows like Yellowstone?

Every show is scored on the same TVI rubric: Cognitive Stimulation (40%), Educational Value (35%), Craft & Quality (25%). Yellowstone's 101 IQ Score reflects competent-genre work; several of its spin-offs and influences score higher (Deadwood at 179, Hell or High Water at Masterclass tier).

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