The Tudors - The Complete First Season

This was the first time I'd ordered from Amazon.com. I received the order very quickly. It's exactly as described. Good quality picture/sound. Priced right. Good experience, so I ordered some more DVDs from Amazon.com.

Although I have enjoyed reading the reviews on here for the Tudors I am surprised at the passion that is present in many of the comments. After all this is not a historical mini series nor does it make claim to be "accurate". It is after all SHOWTIME and it is a television mini-series.

If you are looking to gain knowledge and an accurate historical portrayal perhaps you should not look to SHOWTIME.

But if you are looking for well acted performances and stunning visual imagery then you will enjoy this show. It is entertainment and this show is ENTERTAINING.

Here's an idea...switch the channel on your remote control to the History channel an kick back with some popcorn and a refreshing drink and let the rest of us enjoy the ART that has been created by so many talented professionals.

It is all ART. And it is subjective but consider the source before you judge so harshly.

Cheers.

The Tudors is a highly stylized portrayal of King Henry VIII's reign. Meaning while it is beautifully portrayed and a lot of fun, it isn't really historically accurate. That being said, the costumes are beautiful, the casting job really is excellent, and it's a great series to watch if you have some free time! Pity there are only 10 episodes per season!

The reign of King Henry VIII was a glamorous historical period of drama, intrigue, sensuality, and cultural import. We therefore have a right to high expectations of any televised drama set in this fascinating era. Instead, The Tudors delivers an unpleasant, sleazy hack job featuring a venal, violent megalomaniac and the women stupid enough to get involved with him. I have seen the first disc; it hasn't given me any good reason to want to see the rest.

The problem isn't the show's lack of historical accuracy. I can forgive a work that is willing to sacrifice historical accuracy for the sake of pacing and drama, particularly a TV series. What I can't forgive is a show that does this and manages to be less interesting than real life. Yes, the real Henry VIII had both an interesting love life and a violent streak. But he was also pious, scholarly, independent-minded, (for all his bluster, the king portrayed in this show seems incapable of independent judgment, and is always being prompted by advisors and courtiers), and, paradoxically, prudish. He was a complex individual replete with contradictions. In short, the real Henry VIII was much more interesting than the one-dimensional, tantrum-prone sex-fiend The Tudors portrays.

The Henry VIII of this series is not the sort of person a well-adjusted individual could like. Not when he's throwing chairs and destroying furniture. Not when he treats his wife like gum to be scraped off a shoe. Not when his most common emotional states are sinister glee or rage. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem had they made him witty, charming, or interesting. The real Henry VIII was probably at least one of these things. But the Henry VIII of The Tudors isn't just creepy and cruel; he says precious little that is interesting or memorable that isn't yelled (a few scenes with Thomas More being exceptions). He's not a bad boy, but a horrible man, and this show wants you to spend many tedious hours with him.

There are some worthwhile performances from Sam Neill and Jeremy Notham. The series is also visually serviceable. Yet stripped down to its bear essentials, it's a mediocre melodrama given undeserved respectability by its connection to history and royalty. It may be too much to ask for a show to be good drama and edifying history, but it's quite reasonable to expect it to be at least one of these. For The Tudors to succeed at neither given the richness of the subject matter is inexcusable.

If you want the kind of historical drama that The Tudors purports to deliver, the HBO series Rome is much better. It has more sex and violence, but it also has witty dialog, an ample supply of sympathetic characters, and appears to have made a greater effort to achieve historical authenticity. Or better yet read a popular history of the period by the likes of Allison Weir or Richard Starkey. You will be both more enlightened and more entertained than if you waste time with this lemon of a TV show.

I truly love this period in time. I am a devoted Tudors fan. The costumes are fantastic and the actors are brilliant. I am on wait list for the 2nd season.