The Ranch has a hard time wrangling all its ideas

Netflix viewers weary of the big-city life depicted in shows like Love and Daredevil might be tempted to take a trip to The Ranch, a new sitcom starring Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson, basically playing grown-up versions of their That ’70s Show characters. The series, from Don Reo and Jim Patterson (of Two And A Half Men infamy), eschews the country’s coasts to focus on life in the “other” America, where the cattle ranchers roam and the Colt (Kutcher) and the Rooster (Masterson) play. The Ranch is also about a prodigal son and his taciturn father, with a couple of will-they/won’t-they storylines thrown in for good measure. Despite its remote setting and small cast, The Ranch feels overrun with people and ideas.
The Ranch stars Kutcher as Colt Bennett, a burnt-out quarterback who returns to his Colorado ranch home still in pursuit of a semi-pro career. The 15-year absence hasn’t endeared him to his father, Beau (Sam Elliott), who worries that life away from the ranch has made Colt as soft as the Uggs he wears. Father and son bicker for a while about Colt’s time in the outside world, which—as Rooster reminds him—was enjoyed at the expense of his family (ah, the wisdom of fowl). But this culture clash is over almost as quickly as it began, and Colt settles right back into a life of boozy late nights and early mornings as a ranch hand.