If you’re looking for something highbrow, this show isn’t for you. But like it or not, Sons of Anarchy is partially to thank for one of today’s most popular series: Yellowstone. Not only does it feature a young Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone’s creator, as an overeager cop named David Hale, it reveals where he might have gotten the idea for a story about a flinty family on a mission to protect both its hometown and its iron-forged ideals from outsiders. In Sons of Anarchy, we have the Teller-Morrows instead of the Duttons. They ride hogs not horses, and the invaders are rival motorcycle gangs rather than rich scumbags. Sons of Anarchy also worked with a smaller budget, so the cheesiness factor is that much higher. But if you can bear it for a bit, eventually you’ll get drunk on the vague echoes of Shakespeare, Ron Perlman’s leathered silverback face, and Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller, the surprisingly prudent heir apparent who might’ve been played by Kevin Costner had the show been made 40 years earlier. —Nathan King

Nathan King is a Deputy Editor for AIR MAIL