The Tudors

[GEM]

I don't know if anyone else besides Dread and I have caught onto this series, but I love it. It's on Showtime. I just finished Season 3 and while the drama after Anne Boleyn loses her head isn't nearly as juicy, it's still a great watch. Season 1 was absolutely fantastic, seasons 2 & 3 have been great. The 4th season will be the final season, looking forward to it.

[Kapaibro]

I got my folks watching this. I haven't seen all of it, but I love it!

[Dirk]

We have watched the first 3 seasons. Fantastic series. I'll wait until the 4th season is done and out on DVD before I watch it however. I don't subscribe to any "pay for watching" channels. I pay enough already for my Directv and NFL Package.

[Tned]

I've watched the first three seasons. I think I heard that season four would be the last one, but I can't remember if that was speculation or confirmed.

[Dreadnought]

I don't know if anyone else besides Dread and I have caught onto this series, but I love it. It's on Showtime. I just finished Season 3 and while the drama after Anne Boleyn loses her head isn't nearly as juicy, it's still a great watch. Season 1 was absolutely fantastic, seasons 2 & 3 have been great. The 4th season will be the final season, looking forward to it.

My biggest complaint now is that Henry should be fat and bad smelling by this point in his life (his chronic gangrene and rotten teeth are likely to have been noticible, even in the 16th Century.) The guy playing Henry was dead nuts perfect for the role of young Henry, but absolutely wrong for the old one, because few men have aged less gracefully!

I like that Mary is getting a more sympathetic rendering than is common. I do think Thomas Cromwell and Cranmer have been slighted throughout, but that may just be my own prejudices at work - I am kind of a Cranmer fan. I have been most impressed by the unusually detailed and balanced account they have given of the English Reformation. Both sides have their villains and honest martyrs - sometimes even within the same men. To my mind this is a far more accurate depiction of what makes real flesh and blood men tick than the cartoonish and childish versions of human behaviour we often see in entertainment. They have also done a tolerable job of having the characters think and act in the right Century. Anachronism bugs the crap out of me. The series takes the theological arguments of the day (things like transubstantiation and communion in two parts, etc.) seriously because to the characters in question they are deadly serious. Nothing would have killed the series quicker than if it adopted some kind of smug ironic "modern" view of these matters.

Still watching though. I would be fascinated if they could keep it going through the usually ignored Edward VI and Mary years, but I suspect it wouldn't be steamy enough to interest TV producers.

[Tned]

My biggest complaint now is that Henry should be fat and bad smelling by this point in his life (his chronic gangrene and rotten teeth are likely to have been noticible, even in the 16th Century.) The guy playing Henry was dead nuts perfect for the role of young Henry, but absolutely wrong for the old one, because few men have aged less gracefully!




My wife has been bringing up the same thing. I have the misfortune of her both being very interested in English history, and having just take a world history (or something) course in college.

I'm like, "I don't care if it's accurate, and don't tell me if she is going to get killed!!!!"

[Dreadnought]

My wife has been bringing up the same thing. I have the misfortune of her both being very interested in English history, and having just take a world history (or something) course in college.

I'm like, "I don't care if it's accurate, and don't tell me if she is going to get killed!!!!"

My Dad taught Tudor/Stuart English History, and my Mom was enough of an Elizabeth I fanatic to have named my sister after her. I probably would have been sent to bed without supper if I didn't know who got killed and when, and my Mom probably would have disowned any of us if we ever said anything nice about Mary Queen of Scots :lol: