DAILY FILM DOSE: A Daily Film Appreciation and Review Blog: Rome

Sunday 22 November 2009

Rome

Rome (2005-2007) created by John Milius, Willam J. Macdonald, Bruno Heller
Starring: Ciaron Hinds, James Purefoy, Kevin McKidd

This posting doesn’t really serve as a review but an admonition of excitement about getting to work on watching the lauded television series ‘Rome’. The series, created by muscular 70's/80's writer/director John Milius 'Apocalypse Now'), William J. MacDonald and Bruno Heller, aired for only two seasons on HBO in the US in 2005 and 2007, not a long run but just enough for it to strike an impact in the broadening world of serial television. At the end of the decade many publications including Entertainment Weekly have declared it one of the best TV series of the decade.

This decade of the 2000’s will likely be seen as a second 'Golden Age of Television', or maybe the 'Renaissance of Television'. Since “The Sopranos” first aired in 1999, each year a new must-see limited run television series was introduced. First it was ‘The Sopranos’, then ‘Six Feet Under’, then ‘Band of Brothers’, ‘The Wire’, ‘Carnivale’, ‘Deadwood’, ‘Generation Kill’, ‘True Blood’, ‘Mad Men’, ‘Breaking Bad’. For someone who doesn’t have HBO, it was impossible to keep up this barrage of must-see content.

Of course, with the discovery of the retail DVD market for television shows, we all have the ability to go back and compress an entire series once spread out over years into a few weeks of concentrated hard core anti-social viewing hibernation.

And so arrives ROME on Blu-Ray this week from Warner Bros/HBO Home Video. The boxset contains all 22 episodes packaged nicely in textured box, the colour of stained or dried blood, in a flipbook style holder resembling an ancient manuscript.

I have no idea what to expect, but I hope to be blown away. Wish me luck.

"Rome: The Complete Series" is available on Blu-Ray from Warner Bros/HBO Home Video

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

Oh you will be. I thought it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. But it might not be to everyone's taste... hope you like it.

Anonymous said...

Alan, it's great. We loved it. It is unfortunate it had to end.

Mike Kealy

Anonymous said...

Please give it a write-up when you're done viewing. It was amazing.