LOS ANGELES — It's 2022, for a little while yet, and Sylvester Stallone, 76, is starring in his first scripted television series, the likable crime comedy "Tulsa King," which premiered Sunday on Paramount+.
Stallone plays Dwight David Manfredi, "a mug lately out of the jug," in Frank Loesser's immortal phrase. Dwight, a Mafia panjandrum, has spent 25 years in prison, having taken the rap (as far as I can figure) for his boss "whacking a guy I actually liked who didn't deserve it" — so complicated, the mob life — and refusing to rat out anyone to reduce his sentence. His wife has divorced him; his daughter is estranged. But instead of receiving some cushy sinecure for his sacrifice, he finds himself exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to "plant a flag." This is framed as a gift — the only one under the tree — and Dwight determines to make the best of what he imagines will be a bad thing. But not before laying out cold a disrespectful young capo and thereby painting a target on his own back.
"Tulsa King" was created by Taylor Sheridan, once again framing a series around a venerable screen icon, after "Yellowstone" (Kevin Costner) and its prequel "1883" (Sam Elliott), with Harrison Ford set for the upcoming sequel-prequel "1923." His co-showrunner is Terence Winter, who created "Boardwalk Empire" and spent several seasons on "The Sopranos," and "Tulsa King" feels like the chemical bonding of their interests and backgrounds. (Sheridan is from backwater Texas, Winter a child of Brooklyn.) Or those old ads in which chocolate and peanut butter collide to make a Reese's Cup.
