The Tudors—1-2

In episode two, Henry continues to defy all natural law by looking hot while wearing clothes that look like they were made out of couch upholstery.

The actual plot begins with a summit in France, where Henry and the French king are planning to sign a peace treaty. But the French king brags too much, and Henry challenges him to a wrestling match. Henry gets his ass kicked.

He's not too happy about this, but his mood is improved somewhat when he's introduced to Mary Boleyn, who drops by his bedchamber to show him some fun things she learned to do while in France.

In other political machinations, Buckingham continues to press his claim to the throne and plans to off King Henry, but Dad Boleyn rats him out to Wolsey. Buckingham is tried for treason and sentenced to death. So there's a rival to the throne out of the way.

Back in London, Mary has joined Henry as his latest mistress, since Lady Blunt is out of commission, but Henry tires of her and her French talents, so Dad Boleyn suggests to his other daughter Anne that she might want to take Mary's place in Henry's affections. Lady Blunt gives birth to a son, whom Henry recognizes as his offspring. The kid's name is Henry Fitzroy--does that mean he's the one who grows up to be a vampire?

Henry plays Funny Tennis in Pantaloons again. Apparently this is an important political activity, like golf is today.

And to round off the hour, being passed over for Pope makes Wolsey cry, Catherine prays to Mary for a son, and Henry allies with the Holy Roman Emperor to overthrow the king of France.

The Tudors—1-1

The show opens with the assassination of a political figure in Italy, stabbed to death by several French people in a scene reminiscent of Julius Caesar's murder at the end of the first season of Rome. Except, you know, for the French people. This person turns out to be King Henry's ambassador and uncle. King Henry is Jonathan Rhys Myers, and the fact that this role requires him to wear tights strikes me as a very good thing. I wonder if he knows one of his kids is going to be a vampire. Oh, sorry. Wrong show.

Catherine of Aragon (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Henry's wife, pines rather for her husband while he tumbles other women, most of them blonde, and plays some kind of tennis whilst wearing funny pantaloons. In the meantime, the Duke of Buckingham plots to gain Henry's throne for himself. Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Niall) spends a good deal of time cleaning up Henry's messes, like the fact the king has knocked up Catherine's lady in waiting. He also tries to convince Henry not to go to war with France, and to secure his place in history by forging peace, instead. Although when it comes down to it, Wolsey's kind of a badass. And also could become Pope Badass. Elsewhere, other plots begin to unfold as Anne Boleyn's father works up his own political intrigue.

Overall assessment: Guys in tights and big boots! And? Jousting! What's not to love?

Summertime

It must be something about the weather turning warm (finally), but I have all these new TV shows to catch up on and all I want to do it rewatch old things I've seen over and over and, as for instance, over. Maybe it's hardwired into me to watch reruns over the summer, I don't know... In any case, I'll get it out of my system and get back to reviewing things. I hope to finish Season Two of Weeds, and catch up on The Tudors and Rome, at the very least.

Wish me luck!

Spotted at Best Buy

Best Buy has Season One of The L Word marked down to $28.99. And on the shelf next to it was a free DVD featuring "teaser" episodes of Dexter, Weeds and The Tudors, with a $5 coupon on the back for box sets of Brotherhood, The L Word, BS, Queer as Folk, or Sleeper Cell. I didn't check out the other box sets, but because of the markdown I got The L Word for $23.99 (well, actually I got it for $3.49, but that was because of my frequent shopper coupon...).

Anyway, worth checking out, both for the coupon and the free "teaser" episodes on the DVD.

The Summer Hiatus Begins

Well, it's that time of year again, when the fall season ends and the networks go into reruns. Well, they used to--now they do summer programming. Not much of it looks really interesting to me at the moment, though, so I'll likely be drifting off network TV for the summer.

What do we have to look forward to in the next few months?

Torchwood arrives on BBC America this summer, as does the third season of Dr. Who. I'm totally there for both of these. Eureka should be back around August-ish, I believe. Plus I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on, namely Rome, The Tudors, and whatever else I can think of.

Right now I'm watching Season One of Gilmore Girls and being terribly amused at Jared Padalecki's baby-face and how he's still taller than, well, everybody. This is quite a fun show. I'd watched some of it back when Gilmore Girls: Beginnings was on on Sunday nights, but I hadn't come back to it. I'm really enjoying it so far. Although I still think Stars Hollow should have an apostrophe in it somewhere...

The Tudors

I dropped by the Showtime website tonight to check out the first two episodes of The Tudors and was met with an unpleasant surprise. The episodes Showtime is presenting on their website have been edited. Dude, that's just wrong. If you're going to give me a preview of the show at least do me the courtesy of previewing the entire show as it's going to be aired on your station. Otherwise it's just a commercial.

Annoyed now.

The Tudors

The Tudors premieres on April 1st, but the first two episodes are available online at Showtime's official site. Drop by and check them out.

The Tudors—Showtime Original Series

Here's something I'll definitely be following in the future.

The Tudors is a new series starting April 1 on Showtime. It chronicles the early reign of Henry VIII, who back then was not pasty and corpulent, but apparently was Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Velvet Goldmine, Bend it Like Beckham). I highly approve.

Click here for a preview from Showtime. Warning--some adult content, as young Henry seems to have been a bit...oversexed. There are also a few more previews over at Showtime's official site, along with additional information about the series.

This looks like a good one.