I love it when TV can be both very, very good as well as good for you. Such is the case with a logjam of terrific historical dramas competing for attention this Sunday. Two of them had me fighting back tears (and occasionally losing the fight), and then there’s Showtime’s The Tudors, that stimulating royal tonic of sex, religion and other courtly intrigues. Not a lot of boo-hooing while watching this Henry VIII romp, but rarely a dull moment, either.The quality honors this weekend go to HBO and PBS. HBO for concluding its remarkable John Adams miniseries with an episode of quiet, pained humanity as the nation’s second president (Paul Giamatti) goes into retirement with about as much grace—which is to say, very little—as he conducted himself in the political arena. Grumpy, discontent, impatient to the end and convinced he’ll be forgotten by time, John never lets up. There’s a terrific scene in which he’s invited, in his 90s, to view the portrai...
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On a sunny September day near Killruddery House, an Elizabethan mansion outside of Dublin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers strides imperiously across an immaculately seeded lawn. Clad in a purple velvet cloak and an elaborately embroidered rose-colored doublet, he looks every inch the king he is portraying.
Relaxing in his trailer later, the 29-year-old actor admits that the spirit of King Henry VIII, his role in Showtime's new 10-part series, The Tudors (Sundays at 10 pm/ET), has inhabited him so thoroughly that his demands — mainly along the lines of "Get us a cup of tea, love," he says — have become more regal, too. "There is a certain level of arrogance that has to seep into your system if you are playing the king," Rhys Meyers says with a smile. "Although I'm sure it was there before."
For those whose memories need
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