BetterMost Community Blogs > Jack's Ramblings
Thoughts on Current TV Shows
Kelda:
I do yeah, kinda wierd sense of humour in that but I can see what you mean about the likeness
jstephens9:
You're right that is a weird sense of humor, but some of the things they say remind of 3rd Rock. Except they haven't served cat food yet ;D
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: susiebk on February 24, 2008, 06:00:43 pm ---MoonLight (watch it - it is sooo good),
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I've read that Moonlight is supposed to return April 11. :D
--- Quote ---Dexter. Dexter was a Showtime show but is currently being aired on one of the networks (with some editing).
--- End quote ---
I watched the first network broadcast--and I love Michael C. Hall! :D --but last Sunday I was too tired to stay up and watch it. :(
--- Quote ---I plan to start watching The Tudors.
--- End quote ---
I have read and continue to read lots of Tudor history. I've heard from people I trust about how innaccurate and unhistorical the series is so that I won't be caught dead watching it, even though it has some good "names" in it.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: susiebk on March 06, 2008, 08:20:07 pm ---Oh, I didn't know that. I was stuck waiting at my daughter's school today for 2 hours and thought I'd watch a little Tudors on my iPhone, and wouldn't you know there was a naked scene within 5 minutes of the start of the episode, with all kinds of little tykes running around behind me. I turned that off real fast!
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Well, what I can remember that galled me the most was the way they screwed up the siblings of Henry VIII.
In historical reality, Henry had two sisters who survived to adulthood, an older sister named Margaret, and a younger sister named Mary. For diplomatic reasons, Margaret was sent off by her father, Henry VII, to marry the king of Scotland. Margaret's granddaughter was the hapless monarch known to history as Mary, Queen of Scots, whose son succeeded Elizabeth I on the English throne, so that it was from Margaret's marriage to James IV of Scotland that the house of Stuart ultimately derived its claim to the throne of England.
Meanwhile, for the usual diplomatic reasons Henry VIII essentially forced his younger sister, Mary, to marry the elderly king of France. Mary, meanwhile, fell in love with Henry's buddy Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. When Mary's French royal husband promptly died, she and Brandon married, initially without Henry's permission, though eventually he accepted their marriage. Mary and Charles had a daughter, Frances, who married a certain Henry Grey, who became duke of Suffolk by marrying Frances. Henry and Frances had a daughter, Jane, known to history as the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, "the nine-day's queen of England."
I love Tudor period English history. Genealogy was politics, and vice versa! ;D
I think I remember being told that in The Tudors, Henry's sisters got conflated into one, called Margaret, who was sent of to marry the king of Portugal? :-\
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: susiebk on March 07, 2008, 11:38:41 am ---Thank you for the historical info. Very interesting! Combining characters is a trick often used on TV, but I'm sure it is annoying if you know the real history.
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That's the thing for me. I find the reality of Tudor history so exciting and dramatic enough as it is.
Anybody interested in more historically accurate dramatizations of the period should check out the old series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, which ran on Masterpiece Theatre in the 1970s, and Elizabeth R, with Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I, which also ran on Masterpiece Theatre. Both are available on DVD.
The actor who played Henry VIII gave, for me, the definitive screen portrayal of the king. I'm sure makeup helped, but in those days the British had a knack for casting actors who actually resembled--or could be made to resemble--the historical figures they were portraying, based on surviving portraits. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is a hottie, but I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea of him as Henry VIII. He's just not physically imposing enough.
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