The shale oil boom in North Dakota has been a major force in the United States and has revolutionized the state economy, which now boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the country and a billion dollar budget surplus.
Since 2006, the oil boom has been credited with many things including the revolutionary use of new technology, stabilizing the U.S. economy, contributing to the worldwide surplus of crude and creating a new crop of millionaires.
And now…North Dakota oil has inspired television.
ABC Studios announced on Monday that it has cast Don Johnson for the leading role in its new project Boom, which tells the story of a young couple that moves to the Bakken in search of a better life. Johnson, best known for starring in the 80's cop drama, Miami Vice, will also serve as the executive producer.
“According to Variety, the drama is “set in a modern-day “Wild West,” the potential series tracks the pilgrimage of a young, ambitious couple, seeking a better life, to the oil fields of the Bakken, where they come across roughnecks, grifters, oil barons, criminals and fellow prospectors.”
Other actors cast in the project include Scott Michael Foster Rebecca Rittenhouse and India De Beaufort.
This isn’t the first time the small screen has tackled the subject. Reality television has made several attempts to capture the experience of the oil patch including Black Gold (truTV) , Bayou Billionaires (CMT) and Discovery Channel’s Backyard Oil.