Sterlin Harjo

Stories

It’s a lowdown saga of pain, persistence and Tulsa

In old movies and TV shows, we saw journalists like Woodward and Bernstein, Lou Grant and Murphy Brown, Edward R. Murrow and maybe Clark Kent.
Some were fictional, some weren’t. Most were unscarred; they had thriving news organizations backing them.
And now? Meet Lee Raybon (the central figure in the poster here), the jey character in “The Lowdown,” which debuts at 9 and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 23) on FX. He’s battered, bruised and broke; he works free-lance, with no employer to shield him.
“I think that’s all we have left, you know?” writer-director-producer Sterlin Harjo said in a Zoom press conference. “We have citizen journalists.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2025
News and Quick Comments

After just three seasons, terrific “Dogs” will depart

For TV buffs, that Billy Joel song title seems accurate: Only the good die young.
Earlier this year, the wondrous “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” voluntarily ended after just four seasons. Now we learn that “Reservation Dogs” (shown here) will do the same after three.
No, that’s not fair. Not in a world where “Alice” had nine seasons, “My Three Sons” had 12, “Ozzie and Harriet” had 14. “Ozzie,” in fact, had 435 episodes; when “Reservation Dogs” finishes its final season – starting Aug. 2 on Hulu – it will have had 28. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / June 30, 2023
Stories

Stay or go? The question propels a strong series

Sterlin Harjo had achieved an elusive goal – being an independent filmmaker.
Alongside the usual projects (documentaries, shorts, a few TV episodes), he had made three scripted movies. Each, he said, got “good reviews from the critics who saw it – which are, like, maybe five.”
Then “Reservation Dogs” (shown here) happened … and the number was much higher than five. “The first season was featured on more than 80 critics’ year-end best lists,” said John Solberg of FX,
FX makes the show – with an all-Native cast and crew — for Hulu, which has just started streaming the second season. The first won awards — including Peabody and American Film Institute– and is nominated for two more (best comedy and best new show) by the Television Critics Association. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 4, 2022
Stories

No reservation about it: Here’s a fun show

Growing up 8,000 miles apart, these two men emerged with similar tales and memories.
Sterlin Harjo is from small-town Oklahoma, with Seminole and Muscogee roots; Taika Waititi is from New Zealand, with Maori roots. They could easily swap boyhood adventures.
“The stories were never sad or depressing,” Harjo said, in a virtual session with the Television Critics Association. And these fun accounts “are not the stories that ever get told about native people.”
At least, not until now. “Reservation Dogs” (shown here), starting Monday on the FX hub of Hulu, offers a sly wit. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 6, 2021