The most-watched show on cable is now one of the most popular programs on network television. Outside of football, “Yellowstone” is bringing in a massive new audience on Sunday nights and is definitely benefitting from the popularity of “60 Minutes” which regularly averages over ten million viewers. If the series has lost a little bit of its bite due to some censored moments, it certainly doesn’t look like the mainstream cares.
In the move from Paramount over to CBS, “Yellowstone” still earned a TV-MA rating although a representative for the cable network confirmed that several changes had been made. The changes are relatively minor, however, ensuring that Sheridan’s original rough-and-tumble vision for the show is still kept relatively intact, according to Country Living. In a smart move, CBS confirmed that any censored words will simply be muted instead of inserting any automated dialogue replacement (or ADR). Coming up with substitutes for cuss words to meet broadcast standards has been a long-standing, often hilarious tradition when an R-rated movie makes its way to network TV. (The highly censored version of “The Breakfast Club” turns John Hughes’ seminal high school drama into an unintentional comedy.)
In addition, any sequences containing too much violence or sexual content will be softened in order to meet the community standards of citizens who happen to reside outside of the seemingly lawless Great Plains of Montana. For those already familiar with the show, that basically means that the mischievous matriarch of the family, Beth Dutton, won’t be quite as menacing or bare-skinned in certain scenes.
