Empire TV series

[Banshee16]

Did anyone see this tonight? Was that the pilot? Seems like Gladiator, but for TV. It actually wasn't bad, though I don't know if there are other episodes coming, or if this was a one-off.

Banshee

 

[Wycen]

If I understood the info at the bottom of my cable screen, it is 5 episodes. I tried watching but flipped channels, I think it was slow moving and not at good as Gladiator.

 

[Arkhandus]

I only caught bits and pieces of the last 20-25 minutes tonight, but it didn't look too shabby for the parts I caught. Hope they show it again later this week so I can catch the rest of the episode and decide if I like it or not. {:^D

 

[Ranger REG]

Did anyone see this tonight? Was that the pilot? Seems like Gladiator, but for TV. It actually wasn't bad, though I don't know if there are other episodes coming, or if this was a one-off.

It's a Roman version of Roar. The story takes place when Caesar was assassinated and a gladiator named Tyrannus helped young Octavius escaped from the wrath of Senator Cassius and a conspiracy of murderers.

It's okay, and will probably be my fix for All Things Roman on TV every Tuesday night. But I'm spoiled by Gladiator, so I don't know how long my interest will last.

 

[MaxKaladin]

I thought it was pretty good. The fight scenes weren't as good as Gladiator but I wasn't watching it for the fight scenes. The rest seemed just about right as far as pacing goes -- this isn't a slow, plodding epic or one of those shows that tries to cram so much in that everything goes by in a blur. The costuming, sets and so forth all looked pretty good. All in all, it seemed to be a pretty good show.

My only real problem I have with it is that it's a miniseries. They aired 2 hours last night and they're airing the other 4 hours one hour a week through July. I really wish this would be a full series. Hopefully the HBO Rome series will be good and will have a long run.

 

[KaosDevice]

I liked it. I espescially thought the actor that played Tyrannus (ironically) was great as Nero in the abortive 'Riverworld' pilot. Too bad it is a miniseries, it looked almost like they were going to try and do a 4400 on it and just make it a maxi-sized pilot though so..who knows.

 

[Desdichado]

I wasn't sure if it was a mini-series or the pilot of a real series.

Either, way, I almost turned it off twice, but ended up seeing the whole thing. The first hour, the historical inaccuracies were really bugging me. Octavius a spoiled brat who didn't know how to do anything, was publicly hated by his uncle Julius Caesar, and yet was picked to be heir anyway? Not only does that not make any sense, the exact opposite was true in all of those points -- Octavius was an accomplished general, who had saved Julius's butt in Hispania, was publicly adopted and clearly loved by Caesar, who was not his uncle but his grand-uncle, the Senate supported Octavius as a foil for Marc Anthony (which, granted, may still happen.)

After that, I decided to ignore history and focus on the story as told, to see if it was good at least in that way. And it was alright, but nothing really amazing. The characters and plots both seemed cliched and relatively uninteresting.

I'll tune in again next Tuesday, but if it doesn't improve, I won't watch it all the way through.

 

[Banshee16]

I thought it was pretty good. The fight scenes weren't as good as Gladiator but I wasn't watching it for the fight scenes. The rest seemed just about right as far as pacing goes -- this isn't a slow, plodding epic or one of those shows that tries to cram so much in that everything goes by in a blur. The costuming, sets and so forth all looked pretty good. All in all, it seemed to be a pretty good show.

My only real problem I have with it is that it's a miniseries. They aired 2 hours last night and they're airing the other 4 hours one hour a week through July. I really wish this would be a full series. Hopefully the HBO Rome series will be good and will have a long run.

Well, I was reading an article about it on MSNBC (Sp??) and they mentioned it's a 6-part series. They said they're showing the first two episodes last night, then the final four eps once a week.

It's an attempt to put "blockbuster" summer programming on TV in the summer, when traditionally all there is, is reruns. Apparently it's really an attempt at a full series. The first 6 episodes are like a "campaign". They form a complete story arc, but if people like it and it gets decent ratings, they've already got plans to continue a full season afterwards. This is just the initial test. I kind of prefer it this way than simply having a pilot episode and then nothing afterwards if it doesn't take off. Hopefully it'll get good reviews. Unfortunately, I completely forgot it was on last night, and only caught it by chance. I missed the first 40 mins, and picked up with Octavius in the forest with Tyrannus etc. etc.

It definitely wasn't Gladiator, but I was fairly impressed. It wasn't clownish like Xena or Hercules.....seemed more like an actual drama. And it was pretty interesting, seeing the number of actors I've seen elsewhere lately. The guy who played the older Russian spy in Sum of All Fears as a Roman senator, the guy who played Paul in this season of 24 as a senator, stuff like that.

I guess time will tell, but I'm always game for Roman epics, so I guess I know what I'm doing with Tuesday nights now

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

I wasn't sure if it was a mini-series or the pilot of a real series.

Either, way, I almost turned it off twice, but ended up seeing the whole thing. The first hour, the historical inaccuracies were really bugging me. Octavius a spoiled brat who didn't know how to do anything, was publicly hated by his uncle Julius Caesar, and yet was picked to be heir anyway? Not only does that not make any sense, the exact opposite was true in all of those points -- Octavius was an accomplished general, who had saved Julius's butt in Hispania, was publicly adopted and clearly loved by Caesar, who was not his uncle but his grand-uncle, the Senate supported Octavius as a foil for Marc Anthony (which, granted, may still happen.)

After that, I decided to ignore history and focus on the story as told, to see if it was good at least in that way. And it was alright, but nothing really amazing. The characters and plots both seemed cliched and relatively uninteresting.

I'll tune in again next Tuesday, but if it doesn't improve, I won't watch it all the way through.

Was Marc Anthony the guy who was giving the speech towards the end of the episode in the street?

Banshee

 

[MaxKaladin]

Yeah, Mark Anthony was giving the speech and then Octavius' mother was put up to making a speech.

One thing I did notice on my TiVo was that this episode was titled "Pilot/Will" and, when you watched, there was a spot halfway through that was clearly intended to be where the first episode ended so it's like they stuck two one hour episodes together to make this airing. I really hope this makes it as a regular series.

I noticed they had problems with historical accuracy, but other than the course of events this production was much better in that regard that most productions of this type. I liked a lot of the little details like actually showing the sacred fire in the house of the Vestials and mentioning the selection procedure for the vestials and these weren't done in as much of a heavy handed manner as many productions. They were just slipped into the dialogue in a manner that didn't feel like a lecture to the audience.

This really got me jazzed for all things Roman again. Of course, I think the fact that I'm currently reading John Maddox Robert's latest SPQR mystery has helped -- those are probably my favorite Roman mysteries (or are tied with the Falco books). I think I'm going to have to run a Roman-style game again. Wasn't someone coming out with a Rome sourcebook...