The Tudors - The Complete First Season (2007)

Sex, power, religion, intrigue, fantastic!

I don't watch much television, but The Tudors is wonderful. Hardly any of the characters are good people, but they are complex, well-drawn, and fascinating. The performances are outstanding: especially Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey, Jeremy Northram as Thomas More, Natalie Dormer as the sometimes sly, sometimes passionate Ann Boleyn, and Maria Doyle Kennedy as Catherine of Aragon. The writing is consistently intelligent, and the sets and costumes are sumptuous. It's a very sexy and exciting series.

I find criticisms of historical accuracy rather beside the point. Writers have always played fast and loose with historical details--I think of Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers, not to mention the historical plays of Shakespeare. I am very well-versed in this period of history, and while not everything here is strictly accurate, I do think the series, besides being fabulous entertainment, would give the casual viewer a better understanding of the manners, the mores, the main events, and the conflicts of that era. July 17, 2008

Stunning!

I absolutely LOVE this show. JRM is gorgeous and oh so perfect for this role! I know there are about a million horrible reviews on this series, but most of them are from history buffs, not folks who simply like to be swept away by beatiful people, lush cinemetography, breathtaking clothes, steamy sex and chilling drama. A must-see for those who don't mind so much about the historical inconsistencies. July 14, 2008

A Sexy Show

This is a really sexy show and Johnathan Rhyes-Meyers is absolutely hot and delivers a wonderful performance as Henry the eight. July 13, 2008

Historical or not, it could have been better.

I would have liked historical accuracy, but it would not have been critical for me to enjoy this. What i find more important are things like character development and writing.

I was excited to watch this show which has gotten so much attention that i felt i was missing out on something good. At first i was a bit intrigued, then disappointed, then mildly interested. I guess i was surprised that the writing was not so gripping, complex, or thought-provoking as it could be, given all the drama and complexities that history has provided the writers.

I initially felt the chemistry between Henry and Anne but what they fail to show is what is it based on? Why is he so drawn to her? I wish they got into that a bit more. He could have had anyone so what made her so special? Nothing i could see beyond a good chase.

I don't mind tastefully-filmed sexual encounters, but it was so gratuitous that i was rolling my eyes. Enough, already! The mind needs to be turned on too!

So i have hopes that season 2 will be better. I'm interested enough to keep watching, but season 1 is light years away from series like 'the sopranos' and 'six feet under'. July 12, 2008

Bodice ripping yarns

To be honest, this series strikes me as the ultimate case of packaging over content-- the people are all gorgeous, the houses perfect, the lighting and camera work exceptional, and the character motivations simple. While I enjoy the occasional early 16th century nubile nude youth as much, or more, than anyone, one suspects that the European rulers at the time based their actions on more complex desires than the pursuit of the perfect tryst.

Ok, maybe I expect too much, and being familiar with books may infuse me with an expectation of complexity not to be hoped for in a Showtime costume series. However making Henry 8 an over sexed frat boy who occasionally has fits of intellectual awareness between bouts of sexual obsession simplifies a complex character beyond adult belief. I envy all the young actors ability to look good in tights. Some of them can even ride horses. And poor Sam Neil, as Woolsey--- try as he might, he's given nothing to play other than a power mad prelate who gets an occasional hyperactive massage from his mistress. Sam, no rear end points from the Jurassic Park series?

I guess what I'm driving at is that if someone over at Showtime had shown the same care in the writing of the series, as they did in the productions values, this might have been a truly exceptional production. It may get better--I've only been able to invest three hours of my life that I'll never get back on the first three episodes--but the hope of improvement may not suffice the risk of more hours waiting for something substantive to happen.
July 12, 2008

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