The first season of Taylor Sheridan’s (Yellowstone, Lioness, Tulsa King) latest series Landman has arrived on Blu-ray and DVD. The series is set in West Texas, where Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) works as the head of operations for the M-Tex Oil Company, owner by billionaire Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), who not just the boss, but also a friend. In his job as landman, Tommy is a fixer, problem solver and facilitator. When he’s not securing leases on the land for the oil drills, he’s (literally) putting out fires at the drill sites, dealing with the local cartel who is often “borrowing” planes and trucks to run their products, and schmoozing with the local law enforcement to keep things running. Tommy is pretty much living he bachelor life at his company-provided housing, along with roommates petroleum engineer Dale (James Jordan) and company attorney Nathan (Colm Feore).

Howeever things are about to get much more complicated. This week things have proven to be particularly challenging, with a gas truck crashing into a plane containing the cartel’s latest drug shipment, and the cartel demanding repayment for their lost product. Also, a major disaster at one of the sites throws everything into chaos, and Monty sends causation lawyer Rebecca Falcone (Kayla Wallace) to assess the situation, but she doesn’t know anything about the oil business. To make things even more challenging, Tommy’s 22-year-old son Cooper (Jacob Lofland) has quit school and is starting his first jay on the job as a roughneck on one of Tommy’s crews. Cooper has aspirations of running his own oil company one day and wants to start at the bottom to learn the business, but he may be too nice and soft for this line of work. Meanwhile, Tommy’s 17-year-old daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) has also come to visit her father for Spring Break, and decides that she wants to stay and spend some time with her daddy. Though Tommy isn’t too keen on her uninhibited ways and hearing abut his daughter’s sexual activities. And rounding out the family drama is Tommy’s wild and over-the-top ex-wife Angela (Ali Larter), who suddenly decides she wants to give their relationship another go (despite her already being remarried to a billionaire). Even though both of them think it’s a bad idea that’s never work, they decide to go for it anyway.

Landman may be my favorite Taylor Sheridan series yet. The series was inspired by the podcast Boomtown, hosted by series co-creator Christian Wallace. What Yellowstone did for exploring the life of the cowboy, this series does for the roughnecks and landmen who work the dangerous oil business in Texas. The series finds this thoroughly entertaining blend of humor, drama, action and suspense, and there are lots of twists and turns throughout the season.

The role of Tommy feels like it was written specifically with Billy Bob Thornton in mind. Tommy is this rough, flawed, former alcoholic who can be tough when he needs to, but still has a heart, especially when it comes to his family. Tommy feels very much like Thornton’s Bad Santa character—Tommy can be quite crass and despicable at times, but he’s always hilarious to watch. There is such great chemistry between Tommy and his daughter Ainsley. Just like her mother, Ainsley knows how to work her father to get what she wants, and he just can’t help but give in to her requests. There is so much laugh-out-loud banter between these two, especially as Ainsley has no qualms about telling her father exactly what she’s been up to with her boyfriend. It’s easy to see where Ainsley gets her personality, because Tommy’s ex-wife Angela is quite the firecracker. Ali Larter is hilarious in this role, and has amazing chemistry with Thornton. It’s easy to see why Tommy and Angela got together, but just as easy to see why they ultimately didn’t work. These two are constantly getting on one another’s nerves, but you can tell that there is still love between them, and there are some really sweet moments between them.

Just like his father, Tommy’s son Cooper seems to be a magnet for trouble, especially when it looks like he has started up a relationship with recently-widowed mother Ariana (Paulina Chavez). Cooper is intelligent and wants to learn the ropes of the oil business, but he may be too kindhearted to be a roughneck. When Tommy isn’t dealing with family issues, he’s also constantly dealing with issues at the job sites—horrible tragedies seem to keep finding him, some of which hit close to home. He is also fending off the latest threats from the drug cartel, who are getting tired of sharing the land. Tommy also finds himself constantly at odds with the company’s new cutthroat causation lawyer, Rebecca, especially when it starts to feel like she’s going to try to make him the fall guy for the recent accidents.

The cast is amazing, and have such great chemistry with one another. The Norris family is so dysfunctional and it’s hilarious to watch these people around the dinner table. The series also has many fun running jokes, such as Ainsley and her boyfriend referring to their extracurricular activities as “bible study’ to Tommy, or attorney Nathan growing increasingly uncomfortable while trying to work out of the house only to have Tommy’s underage daughter and ex-wife walking around in skimpy bathing suits. Demi Moore also appears in the series as Monty’s wife Cami, and there are some really heartfelt moments as she deals with her husband’s increasing stress over the issues at the company. While the series does have very witty writing, and a lot of humor, there is also a lot of heart-wrenching drama and some very sweet moments. There are also some very action-packed sequences as things go wrong at drill sites, or things take some ominous turns. I found this first season to be quite captivating, and the 10 episodes made for a great binge. The season also sets things up for what should be a very interesting second season. I look forward to seeing more of these characters!

Paramount/CBS Home Entertainment has released this first season on Blu-ray & DVD, though the series is also available for purchase digitally in 4K via Fandango At Home. We were sent the Blu-ray release for review, and were quite pleased by the presentation. The picture quality is excellent, with a strong level of detail throughout. Things look clean and clear in both brighter daytime scenes as well as in the darker sequences, or when orange flames are blazing. The effects look amazing, and make you really feel the dangers of this roughneck work. Much like how Yellowstone will have these beautiful montages of cowboys at work, this series showcases the work of the roughneck. The audio track provides clear dialogue and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to provide an immersive ambiance, put the viwer into the middle of the action, and showcase the show’s soundtrack.

The season’s 10 episodes are split across 3 discs, with 4 episodes each on the first 2 discs and 2 on the final disc along with over 85 minutes of bonus material (some of which is brand new to this release). The discs are stacked on either side of a standard HD keepcase, which is placed inside a carboard slipcover. The bonus material consists of several behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast and crew as well as a clip montage and some games with the cast.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (9:08:12)

• All 10 episodes of the first season :
  Disc 1 (3:29:25): “Landman”, “Dreamers and Losers”, “Hell Has a Front Yard”, “The Sting of Second Chances”
  Disc 2 (3:29:39): “Where is Home”, “Beware the Second Beating”, “All Roads Lead to a Hole”, “Clumsy, This Life”
  Disc 3 (2:09:08): “WolfCamp”, “The Crumbs of Hope”
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
• Audio: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English SDH, German, French

Extras:
All bonus material can be found on Disc 3. Items exclusive to DVD and Blu-ray are marked with an *. Play All, or select from:

• Constant Crisis: The Road to Landman* (30:47)
  The cast discuss the script, working with Taylor Sheridan, the story, themes, characters, relationships, the crew, the filming process, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes photos & footage, and interviews with stars Billy Bob Thornton (“Tommy Norris”), Jon Hamm (“Monty Miller”), Demi Moore (“Cami Miller”), Ali Larter (“Angela”), James Jordan (“Dale Bradley”), Jacob Lofland (“Cooper Norris”), Kayla Wallace (“Rebecca Falcone”), Colm Feore (“Nathan”), Mark Collie (“Sheriff Walt Joeberg”), Paulina Chávez (“Ariana”) & Michelle Randolph (“Ainsley Norris”).
• Passion and Poise: Tommy & Angela/Cami & Monty* (10:11)
  The cast discuss two of the season’s big couples, the characters, and the working relationships between the actors. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with stars Ali Larter, Billy Bob Thornton,
  Jon Hamm & Demi Moore.
  
  
  
• Welcome to the Patch: Pyrotechnics and Stunts* (14:55)
  The cast & crew discuss bringing the action to life on the screen, training at “roughneck camp”, performing the stunts, working with fire, the attention to detail, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes photos & footage, and interviews with supervising stunt coordinator Wade Allen, special effects supervisor Garry Elmendorf, and stars James Jordan, Jacob Lofland, Michael Peña (“Armando”) & Billy Bob Thornton.
• Landman: Inside the Series (22:04)
  Star Ali Larter hosts this promotional look at the series before its premiere on Paramount+. (Some of the same footage also appears in the previous featurettes.) Includes clips, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with SFX supervisor Garry Elmendorf, and stars Billy Bob Thornton, James Jordan, Kayla Wallace, Colm Feore, Jon Hamm, Demi Moore, Ali Larter, Mark Collie, Michelle Randolph, Jacob Lofland, Michael Peña & Mark Collie.
  
• Landman:Meet the Millers (2:03)
  Stars Jon Hamm & Demi Moore discuss the show and their characters.
  
• Landman:The Best of Tommy (2:18)
  Montage of some of Tommy’s memorable lines from Season 1.
• Roughnecking it with Billy, James, and Jacob (1:45)
  Stars Billy Bob Thornton, James Jordan & Jacob Lofland talk about the dangerous job of the roughneck and the tools they use.
• Digging Deep with the Cast of Landman (2:58)
  The cast answers questions pulled from a barrel such as advice for visiting Texas, who on the cast could be a real roughneck, facts about Billy Bob, and the best part of working on Landman. Participants include Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hamm, Demi Moore, Kayla Wallace, Colm Feore, Paulina Chávez, James Jordan, Jacob Lofland, Ali Larter & Michelle Randolph.

Final Thoughts:

Landman is a cleverly-written, highly-entertaining series that is hilarious, heartwarming, exciting and suspenseful, and the series does a great job of balancing all these tones. Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, and the rest of the cast have amazing chemistry—you just want to keep spending time with these characters. The Blu-ray release looks and sounds great and contains a solid selection of bonus material. After binging through season 1 on this Blu-ray release, I can’t wait for the second season!