Roush Review: Don’t Underestimate Spectrum’s ‘Joe Pickett’
Review
Joe Pickett
Like Rodney Dangerfield, soft-spoken Wyoming game warden and all-around everyman Joe Pickett (For All Mankind’s likably laconic Michael Dorman) deserves more respect than he gets. Something of a local laughingstock because he once arrested the governor for fishing without a license, Joe is too easily disregarded as a pushover schmo. But as we soon intuit in a new contemporary Western mystery from Spectrum Originals, maybe that’s by design.
“I think you like being underestimated,” muses a wily survivalist (Mustafa Speaks) who trusts Joe above the arrogant or clownish cops who patrol the modern, quasi-wild West. A family man with modest ambitions, Joe doesn’t carry the biggest gun—he’s not that great a shot, anyway—and he’s more at home with the wildlife he protects than with what passes as society. These traits, as well as a tendency to go rogue to get justice, are what make him such an appealing underdog hero in more than 20 terrific novels by C.J. Box (whose books also inspired ABC’s Big Sky).
I mean it as the highest compliment when I suggest that anyone who followed Longmire from cable to Netflix will find a kindred spirit here. From the early episodes, this also appears to be following the outlines of Box’s disciplined storytelling more faithfully than the bizarrely baroque Big Sky.
His shady predecessor (an enjoyable David Alan Grier) keeps telling Joe to “learn how to bend,” but that’s not his way. Especially once a poacher who threatened his family, including two beloved daughters, turns up dead on his woodpile. With taut action, considerable humor and real warmth between Dorman and Julianna Guill as his wise ex-lawyer wife Marybeth, this not-so-ordinary Joe (which will stream later on Paramount+ once Spectrum’s exclusive window expires) is one to watch.
Joe Pickett, Series Premiere, Monday, December 6, Spectrum On Demand
Conversation23 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
P
I am so excited for this show. I LOVE the CJ Box Series, and I am happy that this is a more faithful rendition of the books. I wanted to love Big Sky but it just went off the rails for me. Heres to many many seasons of Joe on Spectrum
6
-
P
I’m trying not to watch this addictive series all in one sitting. The acting is terrific. It’s such an education to see what a game warden does. The wildlife are an important part of the story and the eagle was awesome. Hope there’s a second season.
6 1
-
G
I love the show--I've read every book and anxiously await the next. However I must say Joe's hat is hardly a western stetson and too small as well. He doesn't have a mustache in the books either He's such a wonderful character--he deserves a proper hat and shave!
4
-
O
We loved this. The hat is a bit dorky. But over all a great show.
4
-
G
Hoping for a second and even more Joe Picket series.
3
-
C
Love, love, love it!
3
-
O
Several trailers, teasers, and one episode in and I will not watch another. I live in Wyoming where these books are based on. First off, no self respecting Wyoming game warden or anyone around here would wear a hat like that. He looks ridiculous. Second, a bull elk poached in April would not have hard antlers. And I could go on and on. The people that made this series should do some research to at least attempt authenticity.
10 7
-
O
Awesome series! Please make a season 2!
2
-
P
Loved this series, it covered every base, action, mystery suspense and love. Along with a very emotional ending my eyes are still hurting from tears!!
Acting is incredibly great!!
Hope there will be a season 2!!
2
-
P
I'd like to see more of this Great job Spectrum and thanks for the drama series!
2
-
P
I like that there’s some diversity in the cast but would have liked to see who played Nate if he was written as in the books
2
-
B
After I read the first few books, the person that came to mind for Nate was Adam Copeland (wrestler known as Edge)
1
-
-
O
Confused how all the deer died in episode 8
1
-
G
I've seen the entire Season 1 of "joe Pickett" and found it engaging primarily because of the depth of relationship between the two leading characters, Joe and his wife Marybeth, and the immensely appealing actors who play them, Michael Dorman (a contemporary Jimmy Stewart and Julianne Gull (really superb}. But for the most part, the supporting characters, especially the villains, are one-dimensional. The apparent good guys are too quickly revealed as bad guys. The copious flashbacks become intrusive and overly explanatory, especially when they interrupt the increasingly violent events in the later episodes. Too much of the script is given over to improbable speeches. Too many decisions by Joe and Marybeth with regard to their two young daughters seem preposterously out of character, given the danger they're in. "Joe Pickett" has a good heart that stays with you. The clumsy storytelling, unfortunately, is something else..
3 2
-
B
Loved this series. The characters were perfectly cast. The feelings each character presented to us were guarded but easy for the watcher to relate to and understand. I ended up feeling totally involved all 2 seasons which only happens occasionally.
The plot excellent. The finale ending with the two creepy guys in the woods was my favorite part
-
O
The books are great, the tv series is meh. Big disappointment of the actor playing Joe (he’s really bland), and they just had to be politically correct and make Nate Romanoski black. Absolutely no reason for this.
-
P
Spot on review. The acting is suspect, the wildlife images are computer generated, and much of the dialogue is threat after threat stupid!
-
P
A tad hokey and predictable, but an engaging story and setting. Some of the acting is a bit suspect, if not downright bad! Overall, worth watching if not just for the incredible setting and scenery even though much of the wildlife is computer generated
1 1
-
C
Elk were poisoned indirectly in effort to kill the weasels that are really ferrets
-
G
Joe Pickett is terrible. Plots move like molasses. Plot holes so obvious you can drive a truck through them. The pacing is glacial. The constant flashbacks to remind the audience 3 or 4 times during an episode that Joe's father was a drunken, violent, bully are so repetitive and unnecessary, I fast forward through much of each episode. Thankfully the author, CJ Box has pulled the plug on this mess. It is insulting to compare Joe Pickett to Longmire. Longmire was a quality series Joe Pickett is not.
1
-
P
The acting is incredibly great?😂😂
1
-
O
Rotten tomatoes said it was perfectly cast... I dont know but Nate Romanowsky in the book is 6"3" blonde pony tailed guy. Have read all the books. Casting is the weak point of this series. MaryBeth is way prettier in the book🙄
1
-
O
Joe. Pickett. Miscasting all around. The hat has to go as does the thin mustache. Furthermore, long and lean in the saddle is a better western look for Wyoming. In CJ Box's books, Joe was low key and unassuming, but he was no milquetoast. The acting is the pits at times and Nate is totally miscast, although he is a better actor than most of the others.
3
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services