The Borgias

[Temis the Vorta]

Anyone see this? I'm kind of lukewarm about it...I like Jeremy Irons and the guy who plays Cesare Borgia (the eldest son), but I'm not sure how long all the fancy costumes and palaces will keep me interested in the story of a bunch of self-serving connivers. They keep comparing this story to The Godfather in the ads, but it just doesn't have that kind of compelling quality.

 

[Skywalker]

I rather enjoyed it. I've always found Vatican history fascinating, and Alexander VI's papacy was definitely one of the most...interesting.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Is it as raunchy as the 1981 version, which depicted pope Alexander VI riding naked prostitutes?

 

[Skywalker]

It actually wasn't that bad. There were a couple sex scenes, sure, but they weren't as gratuitous as those we saw in The Tudors, for example.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I was more annoyed with the elision of one of Henry's sisters from history in The Tudors, which would have meant that James VI/I would never have existed.

ETA: I don't mind sex scenes as long as they contribute something to the story, and don't merely serve to titillate, and you end up feeling sorry for the actors and actresses who have to wave their bits around to earn a crust. If I wanted to watch soft porn to have a wank, I'd tune into that instead.

 

[species5618]

The first episode didn't grab me all that much--it took me two viewings to get through the entire 97 minutes of it. Jeremy Irons and Colm Feore were fantastic (as expected) but some of the supporting actors weren't so great.

I will concede that it got much better in the last half hour or so, and this could be one of those slow-burn series that takes a few episodes to become really compelling viewing.

I'm guardedly optimistic.

 

[Agent Richard07]

The second episode was less interesting than the first, but I'm enjoying the series, more or less.

As for the sex scenes, bring 'em on. It's fun to see men of the church go at it with these young maidens.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Haven't seen it, but it's a fascinating time period. I might have to check it out.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I'm hoping Colm Feore's character becomes a great antagonist for the Pope - they seem to be shaping him up to be a genuinely non-corrupt cardinal (did they exist?!?) who will stop at nothing to bring ole Alex down.

Was this Pope the same one who was around for Martin Luther's big show in 1500? The story starts in 1492, so conceivably they could keep going till 1500 and beyond.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I like it. I'm not very impressed, but that's only because my expectations were very high too. I think this has the potential to be better than Tudors.

Was this Pope the same one who was around for Martin Luther's big show in 1500? The story starts in 1492, so conceivably they could keep going till 1500 and beyond.

No, that was a bit later. But the Borgia story goes on beyond this pope too, so maybe, I don't know. I hope they don't just focus on this one guy like they did with Henry VIII.
eta: actually strike that, I misremembered, apparently it does pretty much end with Rodrigo's death in 1503. I was right about Luther though.

 

[timothy]

what channel is this on ?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I want to say Showtime.

Alexander VI was pretty bad, but Cesare Borgia is the worst. I'm not sure if it's a spoiler alert, since it's history, but:

Spoiler: history

Cesare was a Bishop and then killed his brother, threw him in the Tiber, and resigned from his Bishopric. Then he proceeded to raise an army and go on a conquering spree across Italy. He had a reign of terror that Machiavelli cites as an example of effective governing through violence. He damn near conquered all of northern Italy.

ETA: Martin Luther's Theses were posted during the rule of Leo X, who belonged to the Medici family of Florence. They're another important family that did a lot of crazy shit, fwiw.

 

[timothy]

Okay I found it , it is on showtime and they are playing two episodes tonight I set them on my dvr . Now is this the first season of this show ? and is this sopposed to be before the tudors ?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Pope Alexander VI reigned from 1492 to 1503. Cesare Borgia died in 1507.
King Henry VIII reigned from 1509 to 1547.

So, yeah, at whichever end date they use, The Tudors would be slightly later in time (or maybe a slight overlap). Keep in mind that one is England, one is Italy.

 

[timothy]

very cool thanks for that . also is this the first season of this show ?


never mind it is on it's first season . now, what is it's normal night?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I honestly don't know what night anything is on anymore. I just set the DVR and then end up watching stuff from two weeks ago all the time.

 

[Geck]

I knew nothing about the Borgias until playing through the Assassin's Creed games a few months ago - now I'm really excited for this. I've always loved this era of history. Doubt I'll get time to start watching for a couple of weeks though.

 

[timothy]

well like I said I have mine set tonight to record the first two episodes and I'll watch them saturday unless I have a new job.

 

[Brikar99]

I saw a trailer for this recently and it looked pretty good. I don't have Showtime anymore, but I'd much like to check it out.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I knew nothing about the Borgias until playing through the Assassin's Creed games a few months ago - now I'm really excited for this. I've always loved this era of history. Doubt I'll get time to start watching for a couple of weeks though.

Yeah, I haven't played Assassin's Creed, but I know they're involved in it.