# Empire on ABC **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201 "2005-06-28T15:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/21 "2005-06-29T02:29:42Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Well, he did want that. It’s just that the people he wanted to give the power to were all named “Caesar” LOLOL!! Well played :D. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/22 "2005-06-29T02:40:31Z")
I’ve been a Rome nut since I read \*I, Claudius \* 25 years ago. I’ll watch just about anything Roman (especially if it’s not Xtian propoganda, like _Ben-Hur_). It’s about to start! Ave atque vale! ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/23 "2005-06-29T03:31:06Z")
Well, I wasn’t too disappointed. Lots of problems, of course. Atia obviously was not Caesar’s sister, and I can’t see Octavian – a boy who forced the Senate to name him consul at the age of eighteen, and who pretty much ruled the world by the time he was thirty – as an angst-ridden, hesitant pretty boy. Shades of Anakin Skywalker. And there were too many references to “my lord” and “Emperor,” which would have been anathema to Rome’s anti-royalty sentiments. Much of the dialogue was Hollywood blockbuster-level corny. And Cassius might as well have been twirling a black, curly moustache. But I did like how they handled Mark Antony – devoted to his friend and leader Caesar, _until_ he finds out that he’s not his heir. I’ll stick around. It’s head and shoulders above TNT’s crappy Caesar miniseries from a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/24 "2005-06-29T03:44:09Z")
I think my biggest problem is that no matter what the medium, Brian Blessed will always be Augustus to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/25 "2005-06-29T13:59:33Z")
I posted this elsewhere… I am a sucker for things that are Roman. I watched the first installment of this last night and boy, is it ever easy to tell the difference between a big budget movie with great acting and B actors. Some stole their scenes (Cassius & cicero, respectively. And whomever the Young Vestal Virgin Chick is.) some just phoned in their parts. The guy who plays Marc Anthony I like, he actually looks like he could kick ass. The scene where Tyrannus is in bed with his wife it is night…then…suddenly…he’s off walking with Cesaer in a feild of wheat…and it’s daylight…ummmmmm…huh? The opening sword fight seen with Tyrannus and the clumsy attackers was comical in its staged slowness. Yet, the guy who plays him is winning me over as a Russell Crowe Want to Be…without the intensity. Besides the perpetual two day growth of beard on his chin, he is growing on me and I can’t say why. But, is that Trudy Styler as Cesear’s former lover? Gah…she looked awful…Mr. Ujest and I both went “AHHH!” She looked like a Transvestite and not a very good looking one at that. Her looks just threw the entire scene. If she actually acted good in them I cannot tell. It is definately a summer filler mini-series. The commercials…I’d forgotten all about the Free TV commericals…mini series interruptus… When is the HBO series to start? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/26 "2005-06-29T14:09:14Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > When is the HBO series to start? No date yet on the HBO site – Coming this Fall is all they’re giving us. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/27 "2005-06-29T14:22:17Z")
Since I watched only 15 minutes, I shouldn’t even be saying this, because maybe it got better. One of the reasons Deadwood and The Sopranos holds my attention is because the writers don’t explain every damn thing. It’ll take two or three episodes for a plot to unravel, and then you want to go back to the start and watch it again. The dialogue in those shows is more complex too. It isn’t expository (if that’s the right word). We understand the words, but it takes awhile before we get the sense of them. The impression I got from the first 15 minutes of Empire was that the story was going to proceed from Point A to Point B, and there wouldn’t be anything much to think about. Basically, it’s “Here’s what happened”, sort of a Classics Illustrated version. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/28 "2005-06-29T14:40:34Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Since I watched only 15 minutes, I shouldn’t even be saying this, because maybe it got better. > > . The first one or two segments before the commerical break were very choppy and nearly condescending in their way of explaining or introducing the characters. It was just shy of the characters having name tags on them… After Cesaer was killed, it picked up, but was still choppy. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/29 "2005-06-29T15:11:35Z")
They killed him already? Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/30 "2005-06-29T15:13:17Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > They killed him already? Dang. Yeah, the story is primarily after he dies, that’s why it is so hurried in the beginning. Sorry to spoil it for you. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/31 "2005-06-29T16:13:38Z")
Caesar dies??? Thanks for ruining it for me. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/32 "2005-06-29T18:09:08Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Caesar dies??? > > Thanks for ruining it for me. :mad: Wait’ll you find out what happens to the Republic! (Do the name Darth Octavian mean anything to ya?) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/33 "2005-06-29T18:14:32Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > … Darth Octavian mean anything to ya? Yea, and _he_ was smart enough not to have twins named Lucas and … uh … Lei-us. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/34 "2005-06-29T18:25:20Z")
Well I guess since it wouldn’t be a spoiler anymore… I thought they could have done better than having a Roman Jack Bauer who basically is there to “make” Octavius. That was kind of lame. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/35 "2005-06-29T18:34:26Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Yeah, the story is primarily after he dies, that’s why it is so hurried in the beginning. > > Sorry to spoil it for you. It’s not spoiled for me. I know Caesar dies, I just thought that since Colm Feore had top billing, he’d be around awhile longer. No problem-o! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201/36 "2005-06-29T19:27:52Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > It’s not spoiled for me. I know Caesar dies, I just thought that since Colm Feore had top billing, he’d be around awhile longer. No problem-o! 🙂 I thought Caesar would last longer than he did, too. And Trudie Styler is still freaking me out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/empire-on-abc/310201.md?page=1)