''Blood & Oil'' is an American prime time television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

created by

Josh Pate Joshua Warren Pate (born January 15, 1970) is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He wrote '' The Grave'', '' Deceiver'', and '' The Take''. Pate also co-created '' Good vs Evil'', ''Surface'', and ''Outer Banks''. Early life Jos ...

and Rodes Fishburne, that premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on September 27, 2015. The series follows a young couple that moves to fictitious Rock Springs,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, after the biggest

oil discovery Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

in American history. The series features an ensemble cast headed by

Don Johnson Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Em ...

as oil tycoon Harlan "Hap" Briggs. ''Blood & Oil'' also stars

Amber Valletta Amber Evangeline Valletta (born February 9, 1974) is an American model and actress. She began her career as a fashion model, landing her first of sixteen American ''Vogue'' covers at the age of eighteen. During the 1990s, Valletta reached the st ...

as his catty socialite wife, Carla;

Scott Michael Foster Scott Michael Foster (born March 4, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Captain John Paul "Cappie" Jones in the ABC Family comedy-drama series ''Greek'' (2007–11), Leo Hendrie in the ABC Family drama ''Chasing Life'' ...

as his villainous son Wick; and

Miranda Rae Mayo Miranda Rae Mayo is an American television actress. She starred as Lacey Briggs on ''Blood & Oil'' (2015) and has appeared on '' Chicago Fire'' as Lieutenant Stella Kidd since 2016. Life and career Mayo was born in Fresno, California and be ...

as his illegitimate biracial daughter Lacey who has an affair with Hap's personal driver, AJ Menendez (

Adan Canto Adan Canto (born December 5, 1981) is a Mexican actor. He is known for his role as Sunspot in the 2014 superhero film '' X-Men: Days of Future Past''. On television, Canto played Paul Torres on the Fox drama series ''The Following'', and in 2015 ...

), who leads a triple life.

Chace Crawford Christopher Chace Crawford (born July 18, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his television portrayals of Nate Archibald on The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007–2012), and of The Deep in Amazon Prime Video original series ...

and

Rebecca Rittenhouse Rebecca Rittenhouse (born November 30, 1988) is an American actress. She has played Cody LeFever in the ABC prime time soap opera ''Blood & Oil'', Dr. Anna Ziev in the Hulu romantic comedy series ''The Mindy Project'', and Maggie in the '' Into t ...

play young couple Billy and Cody LeFever, while

India de Beaufort India de Beaufort (born India Beaufort Lloyd; 27 June 1987) is a British actress and singer. Early life de Beaufort is of British and Indian background. Her maternal grandfather was born in Calcutta, where his family lived for around 350 years ...

plays bar owner/loan shark Jules Jackman, and

Delroy Lindo Delroy George Lindo (born 18 November 1952) is an English-American actor. He is the recipient of such accolades as a NAACP Image Award, a Satellite Award, and nominations for a Drama Desk Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a Tony Award, two Critics' Cho ...

plays a sly sheriff, Tip Harrison. The original order of 13 episodes was reduced to 10 on October 23, 2015.

Production

Development

The project was written by

and Rodes Fishburne, with

Tony Krantz Tony Krantz (born June 16, 1959) is an American film and television producer, writer, and director. Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, spending 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). He started the ...

as executive producer. In September 2011, ABC bought the script (then titled ''The Bakken'') along with several other projects by Krantz, but did not order a pilot for the 2012–13 television season. In October 2014, the project moved to the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

under the title ''Boom'' and would be produced by

, but was never filmed. On January 30, 2015, it was announced that the project had returned to ABC and had been picked up as pilot, which was filmed in Northern Utah and was directed by

Jonas Pate Jonas James Pate (born January 15, 1970) is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He wrote and directed ''The Grave'', '' Deceiver'', '' The Take'', and directed '' Shrink''. Pate also co-created '' Good vs Evil,'' ''Surface'' and ' ...

. On May 7, 2015, ABC picked up the pilot to series (still untitled). By May 27, 2015, the title was ''Oil''. On June 1, 2015, it was reported that

Cynthia Cidre Cynthia Cidre (born September 10, 1957) is an American screenwriter and producer. She is best known as a showrunner and executive producer of TNT prime time soap opera ''Dallas'' (2012–14). Cidre was the creator and an executive producer for th ...

had been hired as executive producer and co-

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

of the project, now titled ''Blood & Oil''. On August 5, 2015, it was announced that Cidre would be replaced by

Jon Harmon Feldman Jon Harmon Feldman (born 1967) is an American screenwriter and film director, director. He has created and worked on TV series such as ''The Wonder Years''; ''Tru Calling''; ''Reunion (TV series), Reunion''; ''Dawson's Creek''; ''Doctor Doctor (19 ...

as showrunner, after the production ran into problems due "to its big scope".

Casting

Casting advertising began in February 2015.

landed the role of rich kid Wick.

and

were cast in the main female roles. On March 9, it was announced that

had landed the leading role as the family patriarch and most powerful man in the town; Johnson is also the series' executive producer.

was to co-star as the town sheriff. On March 11,

joined the series as a main protagonist, while

Yani Gellman Yani Gellman (born September 2, 1985) is a Canadian film and television actor, known for playing Paolo Valisari in ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'', Garrett Reynolds in ''Pretty Little Liars'' and Diego Flores in '' 90210.'' Early life Gellman was b ...

and

Caitlin Carver Caitlin Carver (born March 31, 1992) is an American actress. Early years Carver was born in Monrovia, Alabama. She attended Sparkman High School in Harvest, Alabama where she graduated in 2010. Her father is Don Carver. She grew up dancing, do ...

were cast as regulars. On March 12,

landed the role of Hap's new wife. After the pilot was picked up to series ABC started making casting changes. On May 26, 2015, it was announced that Caitlin Carver and Yani Gellman, cast as Lacey Briggs and A.J. Menendez respectively, would leave the show and their roles would be recast. On July 6, 2015, it was announced that

would play the role of A.J. Menendez, replacing Gellman. On July 20, 2015, it was announced that Aurora Perrineau had replaced Caitlin Carver in the role of Lacey; the character was changed from white to biracial, since Hap fathered her out of wedlock. On August 4, 2015,

replaced Perrineau as Lacey, due to the character's being reconceived to be a bit older. Several actors were cast in the recurring roles.

Yaani King Yaani King Mondschein (born August 10, 1981) is an American actress, best known for portraying Neely Lloyd in the crime drama series '' Saving Grace'' (2007–2010) and providing the voice and motion capture for Riley Abel in the action-adventur ...

and Keston John were cast as Ada and Kess Eze. On August 21, 2015, it was announced that

Wilson Bethel Wilson may refer to: People *Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Rod ...

had joined the series as Finn, Eze's business partner. On August 24, 2015,

Tara Karsian Tara Karsian (born August 5, 1965) is an American actress and writer. She is the daughter of actress Pat Carroll. Life and career Karsian is the daughter of actress Pat Carroll and Lee Karsian, and the sister of casting director Kerry Karsian. Sh ...

was cast as local waitress Van Ness. On October 7, 2015, it was revealed that

Lolita Davidovich Lolita Davidovich ( sr-Latn, Lolita Davidović, italic=unset; born July 15, 1961) is a Canadian-born film and television actress, best known for portraying Blaze Starr in the 1989 film '' Blaze'', for which she received a Chicago Film Critics Ass ...

joined the series as Annie Briggs, Hap's ex-wife.

Cast and characters

Regular cast

as Harlan "Hap" Briggs *

as Billy LeFever *

as Cody LeFever *

as Wick Briggs *

as Carla Briggs *

as Jules Jackman *

as Lacey Briggs *

as Ahmed "A.J." Menendez *

as Tip Harrison

Recurring cast

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

as Clifton Lundegren * Peyton List as Emma Lundegren *

Paul Rae Paul Rae (born June 27, 1968) is an American film and television actor. Biography Rae was born Paul Rae Stuart in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Jean Rushing and the late Norman Stuart, and was raised in Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisian ...

as Garry Laframboise *Keston John as Kess Eze *

as Ada Eze *

as Finn *

as Van Ness *

as Annie Briggs

Episodes

Reception

Critical response

The show has received average reviews from television critics, with several critics comparing the series to ''

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

'' and its 2012 revival. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the first season has a "fresh" rating of 62%, based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads, "High stakes and bawdy plots make ''Blood & Oil's'' plain premise and characters tolerable." On the review aggregate website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, ''Blood & Oil'' has a metascore of 49 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews" based on 23 critics. Willa Paskin from ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' said of the show, "''Blood & Oil'' is not a realistic drama but an out-and-out soap opera." David Wiegland of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' had mixed feelings: "You see where all of this is going, of course, but no one is out to surprise viewers with 'Blood and Oil'. This is a soap opera. It may not last as long as either ''Dallas'', but it's working the same territory." Maureen Ryan of ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' criticized the series, stating "Aside from Don Johnson's canny oil baron, and as we found with the "Dallas" revival, one savvy old dude can't always carry an entire show on his back, especially when the rest of it is so mechanical." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''s Hank Stuever panned the series outright: "Dreadfully conceived and horribly acted." On the contrary, Gail Pennington of ''The St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' had a slightly more positive opinion on ''Blood & Oil'' in her review: "The pleasantly fresh setting is the North Dakota oil boom, but the tone is very "Dallas," and the storytelling is as melodramatic as the show's title."

Ratings

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blood and Oil 2010s American drama television series 2015 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming American primetime television soap operas English-language television shows Television series by ABC Signature Studios Television shows filmed in Utah Television shows set in North Dakota