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Anonymous Critic

The Tudors: More Sex, Fewer Treaties

May 14, 2007

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I admit that I've grown desensitized to sex on television -- I grew up with it. I come from the era of high school boys who discovered the "Red Shoe Diaries" on Cinemax, which also places me squarely in the demographic for the soft-core history lessons that have been cropping up on pay cable. "Rome," "Carnivale," "Deadwood," "The L Word," or the grandpappy of needless nudity and sexual encounters, "Queer as Folk" -- these are the order of the day.

Which is why I'm confused by Showtime's latest offering. More than halfway through "The Tudors" -- the ten-episode original series hailed as fun, sexy, and scandalous, I'm starting to wonder who's doing the hailing and how much they're getting paid to do it. Don't get me wrong: the series isn't exactly bad, it's just so damn squeaky-clean that I often find myself wanting a little more, well, fun, sex, and scandal.

After a half-dozen episodes, viewers can count on one hand all the bare backsides, bosoms, and bits from this all-star cast of hotties. On the other hand, if ratified treaties, princely edicts, and trials for high treason really do it for you, look no further; "The Tudors" is a XXX-throwdown for that kind of thing.

In the third episode, there are, in fact, two international pacts signed and sealed by these fun, sexy, scandalous foreign dignitaries. As sixteenth-century diplomats go (or, um, went), we're sure they are, in fact, pretty darn sexy, but really?

They couldn't show just a hint skin while moving and shaking on the foreign policy scene?

Comments

ImHenryTheEighthIAm wrote:

These lads and ladies-in-waiting better get it on or else I'll be abdicating this monarchastic bombostity! Its starting to wear on me senses, and I dont have much time to waste on a 500-yr- old tale of debachery, lest we go down the ROME path again! More Anne Boleyn, mmmm, yeah baby, as us Brits would say! And DEF more skin from the Shagtastic Princess Margaret, played by Natalie Dorman and Gabrielle Anwar, respectively! We DONT need to see any of this man-on-man bonding, either, so lets not go there sistahs! Oh well, cheerios!

posted at May 15, 2007 12:31 PM

Anna wrote:

I don't understand why seeing T&A is so important to a show on cable? Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid fan of such shows as Nip/Tuck and Deadwood which exploit their fair share of T&A, but is it vital to the show? Could the show survive without it? The Tudors might be more interesting if there was more sex and nudity, but I can't see how that would necessarily improve it. I liked the steamy scenes between Brandon and Princess Margaret despite them being fully clothed. It was somehow more erotic, scandalous, and spontaneous that way. It seemed more real and less gratuitous. Too many shows--and movies for that matter--are falling victim to the gratuitous nude scene. It holds no real significance to the storyline or character development generally. Therefore, more actuall story development and character develop, I say, rather than more T&A. Most of the time the T&A is only there to distract the viewer from how poorly the script is written or how dastardly the acting is.

posted at May 15, 2007 12:50 PM

ceej wrote:

I'm down with more sex... as long as it includes Mr. Henry Cavill. Yow-zah, he is FIONE!

posted at May 16, 2007 11:55 AM

Anna wrote:

Okay, yeah, I could totally handle seeing a bit "more" of Henry Cavill. After his run on the Tudors, I sincerely hope he has something else lined up so I may ogle his hotness a bit more. Ha. Jonnathan Rhyse Meyers is quite hot himself, but he has a boyish hotness whereas Cavill is just ruggedly hot! Got to give The Tudors props for casting some seriously gorgeous people in this show.

posted at May 16, 2007 02:20 PM

Rose wrote:

I am sorry but I am in love with Henry and he can have me in any postion that he wants.....oh to be Ann Berlin..... No wonder Catherine don't want to let go.

posted at May 16, 2007 07:42 PM

Rose wrote:

I am sorry but I am in love with Henry and he can have me in any postion that he wants.....oh to be Ann Berlin..... No wonder Catherine don't want to let go.

posted at May 16, 2007 07:42 PM

David C wrote:

Hey guys, last time I checked there is a way to get all the nudity you want without that annoying plot...it's called porn.

And it's ANNE BOLEYN, not Ann Berlin.

I'm glad Anna is sensible about this. Why not leave porn to porn and plot and scripts to drama?

posted at May 17, 2007 08:08 PM

ThePopeMustDie-T wrote:

Ann Berlin? Sounds like how my Noo Yawk grandfather would have pronounced her name, sort of like an Italian Archie Bunker! Oh well, laddies and lassies, we have ONE ep left for this season on Sun@9,,so lets all watch it, and see if were going to get some shagtastic snoggling and canoodling! It will give us something to look forward to this Sun evening to watch, cause I dont think theres anything else to watch, is there? HMMM?

posted at June 8, 2007 09:10 AM

sharmie8 wrote:

Oh, please; this was the most overblown, badly-written and overacted mess I've ever had to delete off my Tivo. Sorry. More breasts and butts than good dialogue and more glaring looks than historical info. Come on; the Tudors were fascinating. This production has that family and the various other characters acting like "90210" pubecents. If you want to watch some historical brilliance, rent "Rome", which will blow you away. "The Tudors" is a bodice-ripper with pretensions of grandeur. Blech. The woman who played Katherine of Aragon was amazing and only served to illuminate the weakness of the rest of the cast.
But that's just me..... .

posted at June 10, 2007 02:52 PM

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Ive found a site that lists all the free dating sites where you dont need credit card at all.
Just simply your name.. age.. email.. and your good to go!

posted at February 14, 2008 12:02 PM

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June, 2007 1 entry
May, 2007 1 entry
April, 2007 1 entry
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