Tulsa King

Dwight Manfredi leaves prison expecting a place in the organisation he served. Instead, he is sent to Tulsa to establish something new. Tulsa King makes that displacement the starting point for a crime story with a substantial comic streak.

Sylvester Stallone is the main reason to watch. Dwight's certainty is funny when the people around him do not share his assumptions, and Stallone can make irritation engaging without abandoning the character's authority. Martin Starr, as Bodhi, is a particularly useful contrast. Andrea Savage plays ATF agent Stacy Beale.

I enjoy it as lighter gangster entertainment, with reservations about the writing and how easily some situations accommodate Dwight. It is not a substitute for the best crime dramas, but the central performance makes the premise worth a try.

The Sopranos would come first for a deeper family-and-crime story. Lilyhammer offers a related pleasure in watching a gangster apply familiar habits to an unfamiliar place.