All 5 Billy Bob Thornton TV Shows, Ranked From Worst To Best

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Some stars are born. Others are made over time. Billy Bob Thornton falls into the latter category. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1955, Thornton spent years trying to make it in Hollywood before writing his own ticket to success with the 1992 crime thriller "One False Move," which he co-wrote and co-starred in. Before long, he was writing, directing, and starring in the indie hit "Sling Blade," for which he won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay and competed in best actor. A best supporting actor bid for "A Simple Plan" quickly followed, and he was Golden Globe nominated for "Bandits," "The Man Who Wasn't There," and "Bad Santa." It might've taken a while, but the boy from Arkansas turned out to be a genuine movie star.

Although Billy Bob Thornton is best known for movies, he's thrived on the small screen as well, starting with supporting roles in the TV version of "The Outsiders" and the sitcom "Hearts Afire." He won the Golden Globe and competed at the Emmys for starring in the first season of "Fargo," winning another Globe for his lead role in the legal drama "Goliath." He's currently on TV screens across America with the hit drama "Landman," for which he earned another Golden Globe nom. 

Here are all five of Thornton's TV shows, ranked from worst to best. We based these rankings on each show's legacy, how central Thornton was to what made it great, and how good he was in each.

• Cast: Jay R. Ferguson, Rodney Harvey, Boyd Kestner 
• Creators: S. E. Hinton, Joe Byrne, Jeb Rosebrook
  
• Rating: TV-14
  
• Number of episodes: 13
  
• Where to watch: Not currently streaming
  

1983's "The Outsiders" is one of Francis Ford Coppola's best movies, and it launched a generation of stars including C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez ... and a little guy named Tom Cruise. Although it was set in the 1960s, it spoke to an audience of '80s teenagers hungry for stories about their own experiences, which would bear out through the decade with the success of the John Hughes high school comedies. The film proved to have amazing staying power over the years, so at the beginning of the '90s, Coppola decided to bring it to primetime with a network television adaptation.

Picking up right where the movie left off, "The Outsiders" TV show follows a group of troubled teens coming of age in 1960s Oklahoma. The teens often gather at a bar/service station run by Buck Merrill (Billy Bob Thornton), a Vietnam veteran and local rodeo star with a dark past. "The Outsiders" was part of the then-nascent Fox network's effort to distinguish itself with edgy, youth-skewing programs like "Married... with Children," "The Simpsons," and "21 Jump Street." It ran for just one season before getting the ax, yet it went a long way in boosting Thornton's profile ahead of his breakout, "One False Move."

• Cast: John Ritter, Markie Post, Billy Bob Thornton 
• Creator: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason
  
• Rating: TV-PG
  
• Number of episodes: 54
  
• Where to watch: Prime Video, Fawesome, Pluto TV, The CW, Roku Channel, Tubi
  

In 1998, Billy Bob Thornton played a version of Democratic strategist James Carville in the satirical roman à clef "Primary Colors." Prior to that, he starred in a very different political satire, the CBS sitcom "Hearts Afire." Created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (of "Designing Women" and "Evening Shade" fame), it stars John Ritter as John Hartman, a conservative senator's aid who falls in love with liberal news reporter Georgie Anne Lahti (Markie Post). Thornton plays Billy Bob Davis, John's longtime friend and close ally.

Much like "Primary Colors," "Hearts Afire" took its inspiration from the Bill Clinton presidency, as Bloodworth-Thomason and her husband, Harry Thomason, were close friends with the President and First Lady Hillary Clinton. Airing for three seasons between 1992-1995, the show's run coincided not just with Clinton's first term in office, but with Thornton's ascension from character actor to leading man. In between tossing off jokes in front of a live studio audience, he was picking up plumb roles in films like "Tombstone" and "Dead Man" before writing and directing his own starring vehicle with "Sling Blade," the hit 1996 movie that changed Billy Bob Thornton's life. "Hearts Afire" was already off the airwaves by the time that happened, which was all for the best.

• Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Nina Arianda, Tania Raymonde 
• Creators: David E. Kelley and Jonathan Shapiro
• Rating: TV-MA 
• Number of episodes: 32
• Where to watch: Prime Video

After winning the Golden Globe for the first season of "Fargo," Billy Bob Thornton decided to try his hand at a longer television gig, picking up another Golden Globe in the process. Among the earliest Amazon Prime originals, "Goliath" stars Thornton as Billy McBride, a once brilliant attorney who left the law firm he co-founded and turned to drinking after a murder suspect he helped acquit killed his entire family. Now wasting his legal gifts as an ambulance chaser, Billy lands a case that could be his ticket to redemption — or, at the very least, give him a chance to take revenge against his former partner, Donald Cooperman (William Hurt), who ruined his life.

"Goliath" was co-created by David E. Kelley, the TV mega-producer behind such hit legal dramas as "L.A. Law," "The Practice," and "Boston Legal" (not to mention "Ally McBeal" and "Big Little Lies"). Like those shows, "Goliath" benefits from Kelley's previous career as an attorney, as even the most outlandish legal scenarios ring true. Yet what really makes this show sing is Thornton's performance, which hints at the character he plays in "Landman." Like Tommy Norris, Billy McBride shows signs of the greatness that was lost at the other end of a bottle, and we spend four seasons rooting for him to get that back.

• Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Ali Larter 
• Creators: Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace
• Rating: TV-MA
• Number of episodes: 20
• Where to watch: Paramount+

Billy Bob Thornton has always felt like a modern day cowboy, and that persona has never been better utilized than it has in the Paramount+ series "Landman." One of the best TV shows created by Taylor Sheridan, it stars Thornton as Tommy Norris, a petroleum landman working for Texas oil tycoon Monty Miller (Jon Hamm). Once on top of the world with his own oil company, Tommy's luck took a turn for the worse during the financial crisis, leading him to drown his sorrows in alcohol. As he tries to reconcile with his estranged ex (Ali Larter) and navigate the legal repercussions from a fatal on-site accident, Tommy has to contend with a cartel leader (Andy Garcia) who wants to become a legitimate business partner.

Like almost every Sheridan-created series, "Landman" is a primetime soap opera set in America's heartland, and it has a real feel for the people who live in that part of the country. While its narratives and dialogue about renewable energies have been rightly criticized, those are merely a reflection of the ways in which big oil employees and executives justify their way of life. What's commendable about "Landman" is Thornton's Golden Globe-nominated performance as Tommy, an acerbic, ornery, gold-old-boy who's smarter and more empathetic than he lets on, which plays out in surprising ways.

• Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks 
• Creator: Noah Hawley
• Rating: TV-MA
• Number of episodes: 10
• Where to watch: Prime Video

The first season of "Fargo" remains one of its best, thanks in large part to Billy Bob Thornton's Golden Globe-winning performance. What could've turned out to be a disaster — adapting a beloved, Oscar-winning Coen Brothers movie into a limited series — instead became a landmark of prestige television. Created by Noah Hawley, the first season centers on psychotic hitman Lorne Malvo (Thornton), who meets mild-mannered insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) while in Bemidji, Minnesota. Lorne proves to be a malignant influence on Lester, encouraging him to give into the violent impulses he's kept buried beneath his meek persona. Before long the two have set off a murderous chain of events that catches the eye of Police Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) and Officer Gus Grimley (Colin Hanks).

The masterstroke of Hawley's "Fargo" is that it both pays tribute to the Coens' movie while charting its own unique course. Like the film, the series explores the violence bubbling underneath the niceties of small town America, mining laughter out of sudden bursts of bloodshed. Yet there's a strong emotional center to all of this carnage, and just like the movie, it finds light amidst the darkness. Thornton, who starred in the Coens' "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Intolerable Cruelty," is deliciously eccentric as Malvo, who is equal parts hilarious and menacing.