ROME

I love the HBO series ROME, even if it is a soap opera version of Dynasty crossed with the Sopranos, and all done in togas, with the old Hollywood device of snooty Brit accents for the upper classes and Cockney for the lower, as if the old Roman Empire were Victorian England.

Although, as often with old Hollywood, the Brits are often Celts—Irish or Scots or Welsh actors putting on the stage English, like Burton and O’Toole and the rest often did. In fact half the cast of Rome seems to have red hair!

But despite all that, I’m addicted. And although the history is sometimes iffy, even fantasy, especially the private conversations and shenanigans, sometimes the writing is exquisite and the acting superb.

In between those stellar moments, it’s just soap opera spectacle fun, but not for the faint of heart.