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shadowkat[LJ ate my original post, dang it, so posting here.]
Just finished watching the premiere of the new CW series Reign, which was much better than expected and far more compelling than some other series that received far better ratings.
There was a lot of hoopla over the historical inaccuracies. But seriously people, what television series is accurate historically or otherwise? I can't think of one. Back in the day, fans used to crack wise at Joss Whedon's historical blunders in Buffy and Angel. Don't get me started on The Tudors, The Borgias, The White Queen, Merlin, and oh so many others. To date the only two I can think of that were somewhat accurate were Mad Men and The Hour. And even those tinker in places.
Robert Bianco's comment in USA Today is sort of unintentionally funny:
It may be too much to hope that CW would help educate our children, but we could at least ask the network to avoid making them stupid.
Oh dear, you are discussing the CW right? The network that is famous for Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Smallville, and Vampire Diaries? It's not exactly PBS or HBO or Showtime for that matter. I mean, I can understand expecting historical accuracy from The Tudors (there wasn't any), or The Borgias (not much there either) or even ahem Dowton Abbey (nope, okay maybe a little), but from a tv series that is set up as a historical gothic romantic thriller ? Pleeease. And no kid is going to take anything in this series as historical fact. I forgot halfway in that it was about the Mary Queen of Scots - and sort of watched it as a fantasy series similar to Sleepy Hollow. For the same reasons historical inaccuracies did not bother me in Angel, Buffy, Merlin or Sleepy Hollow - they don't here. These historical liberties did however bother me in "The Tudors" - to such a degree that I had to give up on it entirely, because the Tudors is set up as "historically accurate", it's not fantastical in any way. Is it just me, or is it becoming increasingly difficult to take professional television and film reviewers seriously? I think it is a side-effect of everyone, including myself, being able to review films and television online ourselves.
In case you haven't figured out from the above? Reign is gothic teen drama loosely, and I do mean loosely, based on the period of European History wherein Mary Queen of Scots traveled to wed the future King of France. There are a few things that are accurate in the story, Catherine Medeci was real, the prince of France and Mary were around the same age, they were betrothed, everyone in the French court was a bit, shall we say on the "frisky side?" (the English, who are admittedly somewhat prudish, also thought the French were a wee bit friskier than necessary), and she came with four friends to his court. Weirdly all the accents are either American or English, not a Scottish Twang or a French accent in sight. (Which I suppose is a good thing, because there is nothing worse than a fake Scottish accent (see Agents of Shield) or a fake French accent. I think that's about it. Not that it matters. History really isn't important here. It's just used as the backdrop or setting. Sort of like The Good Wife is supposed to be set in Chicago, but wait isn't that the Freedom Tower and The Manhattan skyline behind Will as he's jogging down the beach? Or for that matter Once Upon a Time is meant to be set in Maine, but wait that's Vancouver. In TV - it's all smoke and mirrors, you learn to suspend disbelief. If you want to learn history and want it to be accurate? Go read a really good book, preferably of the non-fictional variety, with lots of footnotes and primary sources and recommended by leading scholars in the field.
Without going into spoilers, well just yet, the story is about a young girl who journeys to France to wed a prince, much chaos ensues and obstacles. There are gothic touches - such as people want to kill the girl, some people have visions, and there may be a few ghosts lurking about the castle. The prince's half-brother, a bit of a cheeky rogue, catches Mary's eye, while the Prince clearly takes after his father and has slept with half the castle. The historical period permits the writers to tackle gender inequalities in a way that is far harder to do in a more modern setting. For instance, Francis can sleep around, but Mary must be a virgin upon her wedding day. They are clearly playing loose with history here, but hey who isn't these days?
The cast is more compelling than expected - particularly the actress who plays Mary, who is not too pretty (like most CW heroines) nor too stupid. She comes across as vulnerable and rather intelligent, also headstrong and protective of those she loves. Plus, lonely and an outsider. It's also beautifully filmed, sumptuous in both costume, set design, and cinematography - almost cinematic. Was rather impressed with the production.
Without Spoilers? Think a shiner, not to mention bloodier, yet better cast Gossip Girl, set in the 16th Century, with gothic touches and a taste of mysterious intrigue.
So..in the mid-16th Century Mary, the Queen of Scotland, has been hiding in a convent, because her life is in danger. Why her life is in danger is not quite clear. But she has poison tasters, who happen to be nuns. And there have been assignation attempts. The latest attempt, which kills a nun rather gruesomely - sends her off to France to reunite with her betrothed, Francis, who appears to be a year older than she is. Ages aren't given. The actors look 19 and 20 respectively (I honestly can't tell).
Meanwhile, in France, Catherine MeDeci, the current Queen of France and Francis' mother, asks Nostradomus (yes, that Nostradomus), what fate befalls her son and Mary. Whether they will be happy, whether she'll be able to "manage" Mary, because it is awfully difficult to manage one's son's fiancee when she is a Queen in her own right. Nostradumos who has visions in the forest...states, that the news is dire. And soaked in blood. Marriage to Mary will result in Francis' death. But he has no clue how. That's the problem with visions ...they tend to be incredibly cryptic and not all that informative. Catherine by the way is portrayed by Megan Follows...who used to be Anne of Green Gables and is ahem, 45 ( a year younger than me, I don't know about anyone else, but this made me feel old. I really need to stop watching the CW.)
Mary is warned by a young girl, who also appears to have cryptic visions, at the convent - to be wary of ghosts at the castle, in particular the ruined girl. Mary says she never saw Ghosts when she last stayed in France. The little girl states that doesn't mean they didn't see you.
Mary finally arrives in France and is introduced to the royal family, which includes Sebastian, Francis' half-brother, Francis, Franci's father - the King, the King's mistress (Portia, who is also Sebastian's mother), Catherine De Medeci (Francis' mother), and reunited with her friends - Lola, Cieri, and some other names I can't remember - but they all sounded a bit fantastical and modern for 16th Century France. The kingdom is preparing for Francis' sister's wedding. Which is a sumptuous affair, complete with dancing and for some reason feathers...no wait that was confetti, they were flashing back to feathers raining down on them during a pillow fight. Francis and Mary spent a lot of time together as young children, when they were first betrothed. At one point they had a pillow fight - scattering feathers everywhere. (The production value of this series is quite good, rather startling in fact.)
At the wedding, Mary meets her friend Lola's beloved, Colin. Except Colin has been hired by Catherine De Medici to take Mary's maidenhead or compromise her while she's unconscious (because Mary certainly wouldn't give it to him otherwise). (Basically they attempt to drug her wine and have Colin steal into her bed in the dead of night and rape her, while she's unconscious.) Except Mary was earlier warned by a mysterious woman not to drink the wine. So she wakes up and screams just before he performs the act. Lola pleads Colin's case to Mary stating he didn't intend any harm, he just was following someone else's orders - they made him do it and would kill him and his family if he did not comply. (I should have seen it coming - since Medeci asks Lola, when she tells them of her engagement to Colin, if he's ever met Mary and if Mary approves. It seemed innocuous enough at the time and I was distracted by the set design.) Mary attempts to plead his case to the court (I was terribly distracted by the weird black combs they'd put in her hair during this bit, so lost track of what was being said). The King says unfortunately they already executed him this morning. (Which for some reason the series' writers felt the need to show us in graphic detail, just in case we didn't believe it actually happened. This is a rather gory series with a high death count. It could give Vampire Diaries or for that matter Sleepy Hollow a run for its money.) He's executed not for attempted rape, mind you, for "treason". (This is the 16th Century after all, although whether that part is accurate or not in regards to the 16th Century, I've no clue.) If Mary had been anyone else, like one of her lady's in waiting, he'd have been fine. But this tarnishes her betrothed as well. Since she can't marry Francis unless she's a virgin (otherwise how will they know her issue is his? They didn't have paternity tests back then...so you had to have some way of being certain.)
Mary's understandably upset by this and goes back to tell her friends. Who decide to blame her for Colin's death. Lola tells her that none of them are safe around her, and they are just disposable, everyone is. (Which is admittedly hard to argue with under the circumstances. But I hardly think it is Mary's fault that Colin was forced by someone else torape compromise her. When I first saw it - I wondered if he'd merely confused Mary with Lola). At any rate, I thought Lola was being a bit harsh. Admittedly her friends hadn't seen her in a while, and are more hangers on then actual friends - which is pointed out at least twice in the episode. First by the blond, who states that their goal is to get Mary married to Francis so they can pick from the left-overs, except for Lola who has a thing for Colin (not any more apparently). Then later, by Lola, who states that they are disposable and at her mercy. Which is not exactly untrue. They are literally, since she is their Queen. But since the episode is entirely in Mary's point of view, except where necessary to further the plot (ie. we jump into Francis, Sebastian, Portia, Nostradomus and Catherine's points of view), our sympathy is obviously going to be with Mary. And the actress playing her - does obtain it. I liked Mary and felt sympathetic. She's Queen, she's responsible for her ladies, she has to worry about Scotland, potential death threats, and somehow wooing a moody prince.
Both Francis and Sebastian flirt with Mary. Francis is quite pretty, and certainly charming, but I'm currently rooting for Sebastian, who is painted as a cheeky rogue, but comes across as a tad more stable. Francis is a wee bit on the moody side. He burns hot and cold. Poor Mary can't make heads or tails of him. One minute he's sweet and telling her how he wants to become a bladesmith, apparently so he can be worthy of something other than being made King, because you know he was born to be King. Or, to have something to fall back on in case there's an uprising. (Dude, you'd be dead.) So Mary gather's stones to decorate his swords...she's attempting to get back to the way they were before, friends. But when she returns his little hideaway, which used to be her quarters in the castle when she was a small child, he tells her to go away and is a bit of an ass about it. (He was with another woman. Francis, we're told, sleeps around a lot. Apparently it's okay if Francis isn't a virgin, in fact expected, but no so okay if Mary isn't. It is the 16th Century, back then they didn't have paternity tests. And it was important the King have an heir of his own bloodline. Actually I think they would have been better off if they hadn't been so picky about bloodlines, considering how inbreed and incestuous these unions were. Now we get upset if two cousins marry, back then it was expected. See this in a nutshell is why they set the story in the 16th Century, you can't do this sort of stuff in the modern age.) Later he tells her that they shouldn't get married, it's bad for France and they don't need Scotland. Then, after Colin is brutally executed, he accuses her of ruining any chance that they could get married and she owes it to them both to be more careful and almost kisses her.
See? Moody.
Sebastian - on the other hand - keeps her from venturing too deeply into the dark creepy forest after her dog. Then when she's distraught, not only returns her dog to her, but also comforts her.
I'm admittedly not much of a dog person, but I was rather charmed by this dog - it's a lovely, tall, blackish gray, greyhound named Starling. Never seen anything like it. It's almost as tall as she is. Sebastian tells her that she's not alone in the castle, besides her friends of course (or so-called friends, they actually feel more like hangers on. Queens and Kings don't really have friends, they have advisors, staff, and well hangers on or peons). Then when he sees his mother watching them, he quickly covers. His mother cautions him to not get attached to Mary, who is betrothed to his brother. Mary, I personally think, would be better off with Sebastian. Less death threats certainly.
At the end of the episode, Mary goes up on the castle roof (because I can't spell perapets) to look over the domain, lonely in the storm tossed sky, and thanks the shadowy figure who told her not to drink the wine. In a flash of light, we see that the shadowy figure is a woman with a veil across her face. (I bet she's the woman with the ruined face that the girl at the convent warned Mary about.)
Overall...a fun episode. Give it a rating of B/B+
Just finished watching the premiere of the new CW series Reign, which was much better than expected and far more compelling than some other series that received far better ratings.
There was a lot of hoopla over the historical inaccuracies. But seriously people, what television series is accurate historically or otherwise? I can't think of one. Back in the day, fans used to crack wise at Joss Whedon's historical blunders in Buffy and Angel. Don't get me started on The Tudors, The Borgias, The White Queen, Merlin, and oh so many others. To date the only two I can think of that were somewhat accurate were Mad Men and The Hour. And even those tinker in places.
Robert Bianco's comment in USA Today is sort of unintentionally funny:
It may be too much to hope that CW would help educate our children, but we could at least ask the network to avoid making them stupid.
Oh dear, you are discussing the CW right? The network that is famous for Gossip Girl, Supernatural, Smallville, and Vampire Diaries? It's not exactly PBS or HBO or Showtime for that matter. I mean, I can understand expecting historical accuracy from The Tudors (there wasn't any), or The Borgias (not much there either) or even ahem Dowton Abbey (nope, okay maybe a little), but from a tv series that is set up as a historical gothic romantic thriller ? Pleeease. And no kid is going to take anything in this series as historical fact. I forgot halfway in that it was about the Mary Queen of Scots - and sort of watched it as a fantasy series similar to Sleepy Hollow. For the same reasons historical inaccuracies did not bother me in Angel, Buffy, Merlin or Sleepy Hollow - they don't here. These historical liberties did however bother me in "The Tudors" - to such a degree that I had to give up on it entirely, because the Tudors is set up as "historically accurate", it's not fantastical in any way. Is it just me, or is it becoming increasingly difficult to take professional television and film reviewers seriously? I think it is a side-effect of everyone, including myself, being able to review films and television online ourselves.
In case you haven't figured out from the above? Reign is gothic teen drama loosely, and I do mean loosely, based on the period of European History wherein Mary Queen of Scots traveled to wed the future King of France. There are a few things that are accurate in the story, Catherine Medeci was real, the prince of France and Mary were around the same age, they were betrothed, everyone in the French court was a bit, shall we say on the "frisky side?" (the English, who are admittedly somewhat prudish, also thought the French were a wee bit friskier than necessary), and she came with four friends to his court. Weirdly all the accents are either American or English, not a Scottish Twang or a French accent in sight. (Which I suppose is a good thing, because there is nothing worse than a fake Scottish accent (see Agents of Shield) or a fake French accent. I think that's about it. Not that it matters. History really isn't important here. It's just used as the backdrop or setting. Sort of like The Good Wife is supposed to be set in Chicago, but wait isn't that the Freedom Tower and The Manhattan skyline behind Will as he's jogging down the beach? Or for that matter Once Upon a Time is meant to be set in Maine, but wait that's Vancouver. In TV - it's all smoke and mirrors, you learn to suspend disbelief. If you want to learn history and want it to be accurate? Go read a really good book, preferably of the non-fictional variety, with lots of footnotes and primary sources and recommended by leading scholars in the field.
Without going into spoilers, well just yet, the story is about a young girl who journeys to France to wed a prince, much chaos ensues and obstacles. There are gothic touches - such as people want to kill the girl, some people have visions, and there may be a few ghosts lurking about the castle. The prince's half-brother, a bit of a cheeky rogue, catches Mary's eye, while the Prince clearly takes after his father and has slept with half the castle. The historical period permits the writers to tackle gender inequalities in a way that is far harder to do in a more modern setting. For instance, Francis can sleep around, but Mary must be a virgin upon her wedding day. They are clearly playing loose with history here, but hey who isn't these days?
The cast is more compelling than expected - particularly the actress who plays Mary, who is not too pretty (like most CW heroines) nor too stupid. She comes across as vulnerable and rather intelligent, also headstrong and protective of those she loves. Plus, lonely and an outsider. It's also beautifully filmed, sumptuous in both costume, set design, and cinematography - almost cinematic. Was rather impressed with the production.
Without Spoilers? Think a shiner, not to mention bloodier, yet better cast Gossip Girl, set in the 16th Century, with gothic touches and a taste of mysterious intrigue.
So..in the mid-16th Century Mary, the Queen of Scotland, has been hiding in a convent, because her life is in danger. Why her life is in danger is not quite clear. But she has poison tasters, who happen to be nuns. And there have been assignation attempts. The latest attempt, which kills a nun rather gruesomely - sends her off to France to reunite with her betrothed, Francis, who appears to be a year older than she is. Ages aren't given. The actors look 19 and 20 respectively (I honestly can't tell).
Meanwhile, in France, Catherine MeDeci, the current Queen of France and Francis' mother, asks Nostradomus (yes, that Nostradomus), what fate befalls her son and Mary. Whether they will be happy, whether she'll be able to "manage" Mary, because it is awfully difficult to manage one's son's fiancee when she is a Queen in her own right. Nostradumos who has visions in the forest...states, that the news is dire. And soaked in blood. Marriage to Mary will result in Francis' death. But he has no clue how. That's the problem with visions ...they tend to be incredibly cryptic and not all that informative. Catherine by the way is portrayed by Megan Follows...who used to be Anne of Green Gables and is ahem, 45 ( a year younger than me, I don't know about anyone else, but this made me feel old. I really need to stop watching the CW.)
Mary is warned by a young girl, who also appears to have cryptic visions, at the convent - to be wary of ghosts at the castle, in particular the ruined girl. Mary says she never saw Ghosts when she last stayed in France. The little girl states that doesn't mean they didn't see you.
Mary finally arrives in France and is introduced to the royal family, which includes Sebastian, Francis' half-brother, Francis, Franci's father - the King, the King's mistress (Portia, who is also Sebastian's mother), Catherine De Medeci (Francis' mother), and reunited with her friends - Lola, Cieri, and some other names I can't remember - but they all sounded a bit fantastical and modern for 16th Century France. The kingdom is preparing for Francis' sister's wedding. Which is a sumptuous affair, complete with dancing and for some reason feathers...no wait that was confetti, they were flashing back to feathers raining down on them during a pillow fight. Francis and Mary spent a lot of time together as young children, when they were first betrothed. At one point they had a pillow fight - scattering feathers everywhere. (The production value of this series is quite good, rather startling in fact.)
At the wedding, Mary meets her friend Lola's beloved, Colin. Except Colin has been hired by Catherine De Medici to take Mary's maidenhead or compromise her while she's unconscious (because Mary certainly wouldn't give it to him otherwise). (Basically they attempt to drug her wine and have Colin steal into her bed in the dead of night and rape her, while she's unconscious.) Except Mary was earlier warned by a mysterious woman not to drink the wine. So she wakes up and screams just before he performs the act. Lola pleads Colin's case to Mary stating he didn't intend any harm, he just was following someone else's orders - they made him do it and would kill him and his family if he did not comply. (I should have seen it coming - since Medeci asks Lola, when she tells them of her engagement to Colin, if he's ever met Mary and if Mary approves. It seemed innocuous enough at the time and I was distracted by the set design.) Mary attempts to plead his case to the court (I was terribly distracted by the weird black combs they'd put in her hair during this bit, so lost track of what was being said). The King says unfortunately they already executed him this morning. (Which for some reason the series' writers felt the need to show us in graphic detail, just in case we didn't believe it actually happened. This is a rather gory series with a high death count. It could give Vampire Diaries or for that matter Sleepy Hollow a run for its money.) He's executed not for attempted rape, mind you, for "treason". (This is the 16th Century after all, although whether that part is accurate or not in regards to the 16th Century, I've no clue.) If Mary had been anyone else, like one of her lady's in waiting, he'd have been fine. But this tarnishes her betrothed as well. Since she can't marry Francis unless she's a virgin (otherwise how will they know her issue is his? They didn't have paternity tests back then...so you had to have some way of being certain.)
Mary's understandably upset by this and goes back to tell her friends. Who decide to blame her for Colin's death. Lola tells her that none of them are safe around her, and they are just disposable, everyone is. (Which is admittedly hard to argue with under the circumstances. But I hardly think it is Mary's fault that Colin was forced by someone else to
Both Francis and Sebastian flirt with Mary. Francis is quite pretty, and certainly charming, but I'm currently rooting for Sebastian, who is painted as a cheeky rogue, but comes across as a tad more stable. Francis is a wee bit on the moody side. He burns hot and cold. Poor Mary can't make heads or tails of him. One minute he's sweet and telling her how he wants to become a bladesmith, apparently so he can be worthy of something other than being made King, because you know he was born to be King. Or, to have something to fall back on in case there's an uprising. (Dude, you'd be dead.) So Mary gather's stones to decorate his swords...she's attempting to get back to the way they were before, friends. But when she returns his little hideaway, which used to be her quarters in the castle when she was a small child, he tells her to go away and is a bit of an ass about it. (He was with another woman. Francis, we're told, sleeps around a lot. Apparently it's okay if Francis isn't a virgin, in fact expected, but no so okay if Mary isn't. It is the 16th Century, back then they didn't have paternity tests. And it was important the King have an heir of his own bloodline. Actually I think they would have been better off if they hadn't been so picky about bloodlines, considering how inbreed and incestuous these unions were. Now we get upset if two cousins marry, back then it was expected. See this in a nutshell is why they set the story in the 16th Century, you can't do this sort of stuff in the modern age.) Later he tells her that they shouldn't get married, it's bad for France and they don't need Scotland. Then, after Colin is brutally executed, he accuses her of ruining any chance that they could get married and she owes it to them both to be more careful and almost kisses her.
See? Moody.
Sebastian - on the other hand - keeps her from venturing too deeply into the dark creepy forest after her dog. Then when she's distraught, not only returns her dog to her, but also comforts her.
I'm admittedly not much of a dog person, but I was rather charmed by this dog - it's a lovely, tall, blackish gray, greyhound named Starling. Never seen anything like it. It's almost as tall as she is. Sebastian tells her that she's not alone in the castle, besides her friends of course (or so-called friends, they actually feel more like hangers on. Queens and Kings don't really have friends, they have advisors, staff, and well hangers on or peons). Then when he sees his mother watching them, he quickly covers. His mother cautions him to not get attached to Mary, who is betrothed to his brother. Mary, I personally think, would be better off with Sebastian. Less death threats certainly.
At the end of the episode, Mary goes up on the castle roof (because I can't spell perapets) to look over the domain, lonely in the storm tossed sky, and thanks the shadowy figure who told her not to drink the wine. In a flash of light, we see that the shadowy figure is a woman with a veil across her face. (I bet she's the woman with the ruined face that the girl at the convent warned Mary about.)
Overall...a fun episode. Give it a rating of B/B+
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Date: 2013-10-19 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 10:19 pm (UTC)And from that article - it sounds like the networks wait for the info from the DVR feeds before calculating how well a series is doing. There's also on-demand, google play, amazon, netflix streaming and itunes. (Hostages wasn't doing well live, but was amongst the most "downloaded" series on itunes and google play). Also Optima is offering DVR's that can tape up to 10 tv shows at the same time! (Oh dear.)
Sunday night is Football night. So a lot of people may be watching Football live and DVRing OUAT. I don't watch Football, but I admittedly do DVR five series that night.
Also, there are series like Big Bang, (again -Football), and The Voice - which you can't really compete against. Although, my attitude towards Big Bang is I can skip it - and watch in reruns. It's not a show you have to see each week. So I DVR Vamp Diaries and OUAT:Wonderland, with Big Bang being the series I watch either on demand or in reruns.
NBC...this season, unlike last, can afford to ax as many series as it wants. CW really can't. CBS is going to be a bit more conservative. ABC also can afford to ax tv series...although since it has a lot of solid hits, including Marvel's Agents of Shield (the Marvel bit is important because ABC's parent company owns Marvel).
You really have to be savvy about the industry to predict cancellations. (Although even I knew Lucky 7 was a goner.)