# Why aren't you watching 'Rome'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180 "2005-10-21T01:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/41 "2005-10-22T01:47:14Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Don’t have HBO. Don’t want HBO. I’ll be able to rent it for two bucks when it comes out on DVD. Being a total sucker bothers me. I don’t feel like a sucker. It’s how I choose to spend some of my (limited) entertainment dollars. I could save $$ by waiting for the DVDs, but I choose not to. If Rome was the only HBO show I liked, I might rethink it, but I’m getting plenty of bang for my bucks. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/42 "2005-10-22T15:12:48Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Saw some bits of it, failed to care. > > And was again annoyed at even in this day and age, on an allegedly sophisticated channel like HBO, they still have ancient Romans speaking with British accents. Maybe not everybody, but it seemed like a lot of them did. > > Or was it simply a matter of the actors being British? Another point is that the show uses the type of British accent to reinforce the class level of the character. Upper class Romans have BBC announcer-style accents, lower class Romans have Cockney or other “lower” accents. Obviously this was done because the actors are (for the most part) British, and this kind of distinction is a nearly subconscious class marker for most people in British society. However, it’s probably lost on most of the American audience. I’ve observed that most Americans can’t distinguish between upper and lower class British accents: they’ll go up to someone with the broadest Cockney accent and say how classy he sounds! It would be harder to accomplish this kind of class gradation with American accents because class distinctions are not as long entrenched as they are in the U.K., nor are there the same clear connections between class and accents in America. In America, the level of your class is directly proportional to the size of your bank account. > [@levdrakon](#): > > One problem I see with Rome is the plot’s a bit complicated, and you have to really pay attention. > > It’s got some great sex. Not a lot of action though. That is, a lot of the action takes place between your ears, rather than say, chariot races taking place on-screen. Might be a bit too cerebral for your typical viewer with a Nielsen box. > > That was probably Carnivale’s downfall, too. I disagree. IMO, and I think others here have said the same thing, _Rome_ is _less_ complex than the other series that have occupied the 9 PM Sunday slot. I don’t know if that’s the only reason a lot of us are finding it less interesting, or if there’s more to it. I think Vorenus and Pullo are a rather unsubtle and unlikely “Odd Couple” pairing, and their incredible good fortune and miraculous escapes are becoming increasingly contrived and annoying. Making them nearly the only ones to survive the storm that killed 5,000 men could when be _Rome_ jumped the shark. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/43 "2005-10-22T17:21:08Z")
The gods favor them. Thus, they are favored by Caesar to undertake his most important tasks. Thus, like Zelig, they get to take part in all the great events of Caesar’s time and give us another viewpoint on the events. Pretty good dramatic device. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/44 "2005-10-22T20:12:53Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > The gods favor them. Thus, they are favored by Caesar to undertake his most important tasks. Thus, like Zelig, they get to take part in all the great events of Caesar’s time and give us another viewpoint on the events. Pretty good dramatic device. Meh. _Obvious_ dramatic device. It worked in _Zelig_ because it was a comedy, and the improbability was funny. Here it’s distracting and reduces the show’s historical verisimilitude. IMHO. And while I’m complaining, I don’t like the opening title sequence. I imagine the animated grafitti is probably based on real grafitti found in Roman ruins. I just don’t like it. It seems silly and childish. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still watching. _Rome_ is better than 99% of network drama shows. It’s just not quite up to the level of its predecessors in the time slot. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/45 "2005-10-22T21:54:08Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > The gods favor them. Thus, they are favored by Caesar to undertake his most important tasks. Thus, like Zelig, they get to take part in all the great events of Caesar’s time and give us another viewpoint on the events. Pretty good dramatic device. I agree. I like it as well. It also shows how important the Gods actually were in that era for Caesar to favor them simply because of all these coincidences. Or, maybe it is to make us think that the Gods in this universe actually do favor them ;). ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/46 "2005-10-22T22:29:26Z")
I think the reason people don’t grasp onto Rome is that most people cannot understand the subtleties of the court intrigue. We watched the first episode with a friend who didn’t really like it, I explained to her what was going on, and she warmed a little, but wasn’t that into it still. If you removed Pullo and Verinus, you’d see the show cancelled instantly. They are there so the Plebes will continue to watch it as they can root for the Plebe characters. Without the Plebes watching it, it doesn’t even air, because the crowd who is snooty enough to not like it because the characters are ‘too lucky’, does not constitute a large enough Television demographic to get the ratings needed for it to stay on the air. As you saw, the SDMB demographic largely sees HBO as a waste of money. I personally love HBO, I get in On Demand and can watch it any time i want. I get my Cable, Telephone and Internet all through Cablevision for around $ 135, and I find that it’s totally worth it, between that and our netflix account we never have to go to the video store anymore, overall it saves us time and money. I find that Time is generally a more precious commodity than money. I also believe that one of the reasons it’s hard to follow is because they cover so much ground so quickly. Already this season 4-5 years has passed, I’d be willing to bet Caesar is dead by the end of the season. I am personally disappointed these days because Curb Your Enthusiasm and Extras both blow. We watched one episode of Extras that had Kate Winslet guest star, and it was phenomenally hilarious when she was on screen, when she was off-screen it was painful like an episode of East Enders trying to be Seinfeld. But I’m not big into the neurotic-loser comedy style. I think in a country where presidents are elected based upon their views on gay marriage and abortion with little thought paid to more immediate concerns like the drug war and poverty, a show that is largely about political intrigue is going to pass by the heads of the average populace, while the intellectual set will find something nitpicky to hate about it like whether or not the accents are English, or view pay Television as simply a waste of their time and money. And as an American who can pick out the differences in class distinctions based upon accent in Rome, I have to respectfully disagree with the statement about America. American accents definitely show a class seperation in the way people talk. With all cultures you can distinguish class based upon diction and word choice. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Petey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@Petey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petey)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/47 "2005-10-23T01:05:09Z")
We’re not watching Rome because of Video On Demand. Actually that’s what a TV Critic said. [Link (Reg required)](http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/12948487.htm) A pretty stupid argument if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/48 "2005-10-23T07:05:48Z")
I think that the reason a lot of people don’t watch it is that in America, classical history is rarely taught in schools. My teacher skipped over it even in our AP European History class in high school. And Latin is offered in very few places anymore, which is where a lot of people learn classical history by reading Caesar’s _Gallic Wars_ and the like. It’s just too hard for the viewers who barely know who Caesar is, let alone Mark Antony and Cicero and Pompey, to get into. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/49 "2005-10-23T07:40:38Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I’m watching Rome. I like it but I’d rather have Carnivale back. > > HBO Bastards. Ditto. I like Rome, I just don’t love it if that makes any sense. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180/50 "2005-10-24T04:05:09Z")
I don’t have HBO. Though when I went back to my parents’ house a couple weeks ago, I watched the first 4 episodes On Demand. I imagine I’ll catch up on the rest when I go back for Thanksgiving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-you-watching-rome/327180.md?page=2)