Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Tudors

The Tudors This Showtime series ended after its fourth season and it’s too bad because it had gotten better with time.  I know it had good ratings for a cable channel, but maybe it was too expensive to produce and so it kind of got nudged towards the exit door.  I say that simply because while the first two wives got a  full season each in terms of character development, the final 4 got squeezed in between all the political machinations and court intrigue, which themselves require a lot of air time.

The Tudors tells the story of King Henry VIII, one of the most famous English monarchs of all time and the one responsible for the fission between his country and the Vatican.  He’s also very famous because of his many wives (6 in all – unheard of at the time), some of whom he divorced, some who died, others who were sentenced to death by the King himself.

Furthermore, King Henry VIII also fathered 2 other famous English monarchs.  His first born, Mary, came to be known as Bloody Mary for her violent and deadly efforts to revert the country back to Catholicism, and her sister Elizabeth, who succeeded her upon Mary’s death to become Queen Elizabeth I, is arguably the most famous King or Queen ever, and reigned over what is now called The Golden Age.

I had actually thought that, given that the series’ title was generic enough, they could have ended Henry’s cycle, moved on to Mary for a season, and then on to Elizabeth for a few more.  After all, I’d venture to say that there aren’t very many families more interesting than the Tudors.

Anyways, the acting was quite excellent, and the scripts were always very good, full of twists and surprises that kept the show interesting season after season.

Catch it on DVD.

Grade for the entire show: 8

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