The Past’s Always Yesterday
Posted on | March 31, 2008 at 8:01 am | Comments Off
Why is Sunday night Historical Epic Night on the pay movie channels? Is Sunday a kind of high brow TV-watching night in the minds of the network programmers? Probably not. Last night saw the second season premiere of The Tudors on Showtime, and the 4th part (of 7) of HBO’s John Adams series. I’ve already discussed the HBO series and still find it entertaining and informative. I like watching The Tudors mainly because all the opulence of the king’s court looks great in HD. It’s all hysterical historical melodrama, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers makes a suitably histrionic Henry VIII – flying off into petulant rages at a moment’s notice. Natalie Dormer’s Anne Boleyn is appropriately seductive and manipulative. The court intrigue is strong and sometimes it’s a little hard to keep track of the issues and the players.
I’m not sure there’s much historical accuracy though. I really began to question it all during the first season when I learned that they had taken Henry’s two sisters and merged them into one character. What’s up with that?
This season we get the added bonus of Peter O’Toole as Pope Paul III, playing him with both humor and gravity. You go, Pete.
So, even though I know how this story ends up (unless they change it), I’ll keep watching for now. Love those red robes in HD.
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “dress up godzilla”.