Friday, March 30, 2007

SHOWTIME Premieres 'Sixteenth-Century Soap Opera' with Film Star Rhys-Meyers

Period-soap fans mourning the series close of HBO's sumptuous ROME, need cry no longer. This Sunday, Showtime premeires THE TUDORS, what network president Robert Greenblatt has already declared to be one of the net's "great soap opera[s]."


While Showtime has been a pioneer in the nighttime serial field with the groundbreaking QUEER AS FOLK and THE L WORD, Tudors follows a more traditional, bodice-ripping, path, and stars Irish film star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as a younger, fitter version of the ambitious and oft ill-tempered Henry VIII, with Sam Neil, Jeremy Northam, and Gabrielle Anwar in key supporting roles.

Here is the full text of a recent show profile by Bill Higgins:

"Showtime touts Tudors"
Show acts as sixteenth century soap opera

HOLLYWOOD -- Sixteenth century love, war and really well-embroidered costumes drew an overflow turnout to the Egyptian for Monday's screening of Showtime's The Tudors.

It's not often that a TV miniseries screening requires a second theater, or a Les Deux Cafe after-party needs overflow rooms, but such was the draw of [Rhys-Meyers] as a bare-chested, oversexed Henry VIII.

Key to the show's success, said Showtime [president] Robert Greenblatt, is that it's "a great soap opera."

"It's got sex, intrigue and dysfunctional families," said Greenblatt. "In fact, it's the original dysfunctional family -- nothing changes in 500 years. And who doesn't want to dress up like that?"

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