By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Billy Bob Thornton racks up nominations again thanks to his starring role in Taylor Sheridan’s latest hit, Landmanbut this is not its first streaming series. In 2016, Billy Bob Thornton starred in Amazon Prime Original, Goliathlike Billy McBride, a former lawyer who found himself at the bottom of a bottle. The series was largely ignored by critics and audiences, but thanks to Landmanhe’s finally being looked at the way he deserved to be in the first place.
One man against the titans of industry
Goliath begins by pitting Billy against his former law firm, Cooperman McBride when he takes on the case of a man who died in an explosion. Borns Technology, a large company and one of Cooperman’s biggest clients, claims he committed suicide, but the man’s sister is convinced there is more going on and asks Billy to take the case in hand. Immediately, it’s clear that the powerful men want the case to never go to trial, but Billy, with an interest in working and a need to atone for a past mistake, is not going to go away quietly.
Before the series began, Billy helped defend a murder suspect and, although he won the case, the suspect took advantage of his new freedom to murder a family. On his way out of Cooperman McBride, Billy made an enemy of his former partner, Cooperman, played by William Hurt, and his ex-wife, Michelle, played by Maria Bello, who remained with the company. The basic configuration of Goliath isn’t groundbreakingly original, but it’s well acted and the writing is the type you’d expect from creator and megaproducer David E. Kelley.
Each successive season sees Billy take on a different “Goliath”, which includes the Mexican cartel, Los Angeles politics and a massive agricultural conglomerate. The role mirrors Billy Bob Thronton’s Tommy Norris in Landmanthe confident and arrogant man who works for one of the biggest players in the oil industry. The two shows share a track and a lot of the same themes, but are just different enough that it’s easy to binge them at the same time.
Goliath was ignored by everyone
Alongside Billy Bob Thornton, the cast of Goliathwhich returns almost every season, includes a host of familiar faces, including Dennis Quaid, JK Simmons, Jena Malone, David Cross and Haley Joel Osment. It only aired for four seasons, with less attention for each successive season, but the show maintained the same level of quality throughout. Each season on Rotten Tomatoes has been reviewed by fewer and fewer critics, with a total of five reviewing season 4, but those who watched it called it a perfect 100% new experience.
It’s easy to forget that a series is streaming, or to simply ignore it in the first place, since every week a different streamer airs another expensive show with at least one big Hollywood star attached to it. There is no science behind what will or will not become successful; For example, Goliath fell through the cracks, while Landman has already earned Billy Bob Thornton another Golden Globe nomination.
Goliath is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
