My newest obsession is Showtime's The Tudors, a drama focusing on the life and loves of Henry VIII. The show is sleekly stylized and richly historical. It's fun to watch the soap opera melodrama, the well groomed bodies (ie all the medieval guys sport razor cut, ruffled, and slightly gelled hair) in glorious costume and surprise, surprise...actual historical depth! The show delights in those little history in-jokes that one would only get if you had some knowledge of the time period. One of the jokes was King Henry telling Thomas More that he wasn't a saint with the "yet" winkingly implied. And of course the show plays upon the history we do know: all about how Henry divorced, annulled and beheaded his wives. So I watch poor Anne Boleyn do her thing all the while knowing she's going to the axe, but also give birth to one of the most famous and influential women in history (who also has her own television series, The Virgin Queen). I like my melodrama with a smart edge, so I'm enjoying the tudors.
PS Also a good show for both genders. Lots of fighting and political stuff (and boobies) for the boys, and emotional drama and setting for the girls (plus JRM's dreamy blues)
Everything with JRM in it is now colored for me by Velvet Goldmine. I have not watched The Tudors yet in full, but every time I have caught a glimpse of it, someone was taking their clothes off. It was groovy.
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