To mirror the thread on Treme, I guess. It wasn’t the best series I’ve ever watched, but certainly not the worst ever produced. The characters often reached the level of a parody and the emoting got tiresome at times, but it generally followed historical events. I wish it had continued one more season to take the story up to the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, but perhaps there is only so much you can do with heretic burning and heaving bosums. They aged Henry fairly well, but the actor must have balked at a fat suit. Lots of good soft porn scenes!
My wife adored it and always looked forward to it. i thought it was only so-so. the story archs seem pretty much the same: adviser is golden boy, overreaches, is killed. henry falls in love, gets angry, wife gets killed. charles sulks. mary acts superior.
all the “love” scenes made sunday nights nice at my house, though. i must say.
“Rome” was so much better, historical series-wise.
Yea, Rome was smart to a) mix ahistorical characters with historical ones so that the plot wasn’t as tightly constrained by history and b) mix high and low classes so we see different parts of society instead of dooming the series to basically be stuck in the inside of a palace for the entire series. Tudors (at least the first two seasons, I gave up at half way through the third) demonstrated why these were good ideas.
That said, I love me some historical fiction TV, and The Tudors was apparently pretty successful ratings wise, so hopefully they’ll come up with a new gritty historical drama in the near future to take its place.
ETA: and glancing at wikipedia, we’re apparently getting “The Borgias” from Showtime later this year. That could be cool
Not much to add to that. I actually only saw 3 or 4 episodes. I really gave it a try, but just couldn’t get into it.
What I’d like to see is one set in Persian Empire during the reign of the first Darius.
Man alive, the stuff going on there: Harems, an upsurper (many believe), those savage pesky Greeks, a vibrant culture, caravans.
it’d have everything
It was a bit tough to get through Anne Boleyn, but it was sheer hell getting through Catherine Howard. Peter O’Toole’s brief bit as the pope was excellent, and Suffolk was a good actor, as were Jeremy Northam, James Frain and Sam Neil.
I didn’t watch *The Tudors *while the series was current. However, it has been in my Netflix queue for a while. I noticed last week that the first two seasons are available through 1-July for instant streaming, so I finally saw them. Now I’m watching seasons three and four on Hulu.
Thought it made for terrific entertainment! I was confused by some aspects that didn’t jive with my recollections from history classes past, so I looked those up as a refresher. It’s great when television inspires people to learn more.
It looked like an expensive production and the budget showed on screen. The series was beautifully done with gorgeous sets, costumes and cinematography. The acting seemed above average, and the cast was very attractive.
It’s disappointing that the series doesn’t carry on through the reign of Elizabeth I. I suppose they would have needed at least another 10 years to cover all of that.
P.S. Who knew the Tudors were so hot?!
I liked it. Yeah it was an over dramatic soap opera set during the reign of Henry VIII about Henry VIII but it really had its moments. The look of the thing was outstanding (Costumes, sets and even the odd CGI view of merry old, ole England) and I liked many of the characterizations. Even the over the top Henry had his moments (I loved the episode with his fool after the Death of Lady Jane)
The aging makeup was done in such a way that, at first you think they stuck a grey wig on Henry and some age lines under his eyes, then you see the flash backs of young Henry in the end and realize how well the make up was done… he really did look aged by decades.
I liked it. Wanted to see the next two rulers as they could have some interesting drama for two more seasons (The back biting and in fighting of the court over control over the young Edward, and the rise and fall of Bloody Mary) No need to do a season on Elizabeth I… been done enough times.