This has been a tumultuous week in my tv-viewing!
First and foremost, of course, HBO’s Rome ended. This two-season long drama was one of the most expensive shows in history and one of the finest period dramas ever put on TV. It was an astounding effort that leaves me grieving over its departure.
Second, the season finale of Battlestar was…awesome. Just awesome. Battlestar almost lost me during three poorly-executed and pointless episodes late in the season. It started to come back 2 episodes ago, continued to regain its glory last episode and tonight (which was last week’s episode that we hadn’t watched until tonight…bless you Tivo) achieved full-on Galactica Glory! I won’t give any spoilers for the three of you that haven’t seen it already but it was everything you expect from a season finale.
Finally, Showtime, who clearly has people who watched a lot of Rome, debuted The Tudors tonight. It’s another dramatic period piece, this time taking place during Henry VIII’s lifetime, with the soccer coach from Bend it Like Beckham as an exceptionally horny Henry. The dude has game, even for a King. The opening episode was surprisingly good for a pilot and I’m cautiously excited about the possibilities going forward. The conflict with the Roman Catholic Church is already nicely foreshadowed in the opening episode.
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April 2nd, 2007 at 5:47 am
Rich Bryant
First Mr Shwayder and now you!
“HBO’s Rome”? “Discovery’s Planet Earth”?
HBO and Discovery kicked in a few quid, certainly. But please, give the BBC some credit. They did all the work, after all.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:06 am
Kyle
Oh I loved the season finale of BSG. Plot twists and answers, new questions and a whole lot of jaw on the floor edge of my seat time. And the song, tieing it in like that and having them act as raidos was the awsome funny.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 am
Brent Michael Krupp
Too bad we have to wait until 2008 for more BSG. That part sucks!!
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
PlayNoEvil
Matt, I was a huge Rome fan, but I did think they dropped the ball a bit in the second season. The second Octavian was notably inferior to the first - and the writing for him seemed to really fade as well.
It was really a pity that we didn’t get to see more of Livia, and Mark Antony was superb throughout.
Sigh, time to read I Claudius and Claudius the God again, I guess.
As to Battlestar - I had mixed feelings about the last episode (and I agree they seem to have lost their way a bit during this season) - after all, where do they go from here? It took Buffy: The Vampire Slayer a whole season to “recover” from the death of Buffy. They seem to have painted themselves into a bit of a corner.
Yes, God Bless Tivo! I’m on my third.
April 5th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Shawn Farrell
I am so pissed that Rome is done. Countless mediocre to utter crap shows continue on and on and that genius series is stuck to two seasons. The greatest weakness of the second season (I thought the new Octavian was a very good mimic of the first) was having to cram everything up to the rise of Augustus into that single season.