I created this IMDB account ~9 years ago and have barely logged in since. Having just watched the Rome series finale tonight after watching it slowly over the past two months I felt mandated to log in and rate it a confident 10/10. I am utterly astounded by this show. I am desperate for another series like it. Please make suggestions.
shareCongratulations on your excellent taste in tv shows. 😀
As for recommencations - the usual suspects would be Game of Thrones, Sparatcus, Deadwood, Vikings, The Last Kingdom, I Claudius, and The Big Bang Theory (just kidding).
Maybe it's helpful if you tell us what aspects of Rome you liked in particular.
After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done.
Thank you, just a few of the many things I enjoyed about this show were the compelling, tasteful storytelling, the superb character development, the way that ancient Roman politics, philosophy, and their influence on human history were presented. I'm not sure what else to mention, but watching this show made me envious of their culture and lifestyle. I was particularly interested in each leader that was portrayed, and how they handled the various political situations they were involved in. It was very disappointing when they didn't further develop the story of Octavian's creation of the Roman Empire. I would have loved to watch him further transform into Augustus. I want to watch more shows that portray leaders and politics like this, if possible.
Shows I am fond of that I've already watched, in no particular order, with no particular focus on genre (give or take many that I'll inevitably forget):
Game of Thrones
Band of Brothers
Lost
Breaking Bad
Shameless
Rome
House, M.D.
The Office
Mr. Robot
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation
The Knick
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Dexter
Planet Earth
Cosmos
Life
Weeds
Fargo (season 1)
Arrested Development
Californication
Homeland
Entourage
Billions
Eastbound & Down
Louie
King of Queens
Wilfred
True Detective (season 1)
Silicon Valley
The Leftovers
Boardwalk Empire
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Seinfeld
I was thinking of trying Spartacus but I'm not sure anymore as it looks more like 300 (which I no doubt enjoyed but was a bit more focused on action than politics and character development) than, for example, Gladiator and I would prefer something more along the lines of Gladiator (as Rome was, in some ways).
I heard Deadwood is good but after the anticlimactic ending of Rome and how brutally cut short the story was I don't know if I want to invest in another show that is said to have a similar finale. Not at this time, at least. I was thinking of watching Vikings, but again I would assume this is more along the lines of Spartacus. I, Claudius piqued my interest but I feel that it may come off as too dated to enjoy. Maybe I'm wrong?
I know I am quite neurotic and picky but I don't have as much time to spare as I used to. Thus, when I search for a show, it has to be just right for the time I end up investing in it.
In any case, please, keep the suggestions coming!
I am not a big fan of Spartacus myself, for the same reasons you stated, and I Claudius does indeed quite often feel more like a play than a tv show with cheap props. Also it is devilishly hard to keep track of all the characters and the show does rely on shock value quite a bit. The acting is excellent though and the time period fascinating.
My favourite out of the shows mentioned would indeed be Deadwood, but if you think that Rome had a bad ending, Deadwood will have you bang your head against the wall. At least with Rome they managed to tie up pretty much all the lose ends while with Deadwood they simply stopped mid-narrative. Also some people have problems with the language in Deadwood which is a mix of rather stylized (in my opinion beautiful) English and plenty of choice profanities. However that show has wonderful characters, great dialogues, political intrigue (admittedly on a much smaller scale than Rome), a real historical background, and a number of excellent actors.
I liked the first season of Vikings but lost interest after that. The Last Kingdom is set in more or less the same time period, but from the British point of view, i.e. it focusses on Alfred the Great's attempts to dispel the Vikings from Britain and unite the anglo-saxon kingdoms. There is only one season so far, yet more to come.
Maybe you can check out some bits of the various shows on youtube to see how you like their style, looks etc?
After all is said and done, a lot more will have been said than done.
but if you think that Rome had a bad ending, Deadwood will have you bang your head against the wall.
As a big time Deadwood and Rome fan, here's some interesting trivia.
David Milch went to HBO with the idea of a great series. It would be about some vigiles (fire & policemen) during Nero’s reign whose first big arrest would be St. Paul!
Of course, HBO had to tell him they had already greenlit a series set in Rome, so asked him if could transpose his themes to another place and time. And thus, Deadwood.
Now as much as I loved Heller's Rome, I would pee in my pants to see Milch's take on Ancient Rome.
Seems like you are totally hooked, dear friend:) Watching it carefully 3 years ago ( And I still do from time to time!), made me sink into Roman world totally, in order to let me admit after that time, what a ingorant I was, and I still am. The addictive effect is hidden in the details and dialogues, the more you know, the more you discover, the more you want to know and you discover countless details leading to another story, another person, another golden little nugget about historical characters. Good luck in your endless journey:)
If I may add some little title to all already mentioned, I can suggest mini series Atilla, although this is not ROME range (but after all, what can be compared to this?), there is a nice casting of characters and a plot etc.
Hatfields and Mc Coys, if someone likes true wild west not reduced to a cowboy with a sunset in the background.
True Detective s2 – it takes some time to get involved into but it is as excellent as s 1.
Boardwalk Empire
The Real Borgias (with John Doman)
The Tudors – if you forget about extremely strange cast
Vikings – the huts and shacks are a little bit mundane, but what to expect from barbarians;)
Finally, I liked Salem for the general touch but the was too much unnecessary animal violence (mice, rabbits cruched by witches etc)
At the end, sth light as Da Vinci Demons. This is a fantasy, definitely, reaching to barely accepable point, but nicely done.
Deadwood was brilliant! You should check it out, especially if the word "coxsucker" does not bother you.
shareI like Vikings, but it has NOTHING like the acting, production values and most of all WRITING that Rome has. Vikings is more like a poor man's version of Spartacus. Spartacus, especially in its first season, was clearly stylistically informed by 300, but the dynamic and charismatic Andy Whitfield in the titular role managed to
make the show, somehow, a thing unto itself. You might enjoy it. Be warned that Whitfield lost his battle with cancer between seasons 2 and 3, and was replaced with another actor, whose name escapes me, but whom I found more than adequate, albeit he was not Andy. While Andy battled, the show runners decided to make season 2 a prequel, giving us a backstory on all the other characters in the ludis (gladiator school) before Spartacus arrived. They did not want to replace Andy if they did not have to. Not only did I, in what seems to be the minority, enjoy season 2, I was impressed and moved by the show runners' devotion to Andy Whitfield. Having said all that, let me say this: I have never seen a series that has been better-done than Rome. Never. My favorite character is Vorenus. As Pullo says toward the end, "That's Vorenus: steel!." I am rewatching Rome right now, as I do periodically. What else do I re-watch? Game of Thrones. The first four seasons of Dexter. Westworld. Penny Dreadful, but I enjoy Gothic literature, and PD nails that, cold, with a bravura performance from Eva Green and very-good-to-tolerable performances from her supporting troupers. I'm not ruling out Spartacus as serial re-watch material; I've rewatched the whole shebang once so far. But I re-watch Rome.
Good news, albeit too late: HBO will be airing a Deadwood wrap-up movie this year.
shareCongratulations on your excellent taste in who to compliment on their excellent taste in TV shows, and your excellent list of TV series.
On the question of "what's as good as Rome", the answer is, nothing at all. Rome was the best TV series ever made, and that includes Firefly. ;-)
If what you like was the mildly touched up pre-modern historical setting, then yes Spartacus, Vikings, The Last Kingdom, qualify, matter of taste how to rank those. The closest to Rome in thematic terms (it being a sequel to those events) is "I, Claudius", but that is slow paced and more intellectual and lacks the lower-and-middle-class aspect that makes Rome uniquely great.
Vikings is the closest in acting quality and tone, and is thankfully still being made.
But it all depends what you like. If you like ancient mysticism, Rome and Vikings stand out.
To your list I'd add Black Sails (early 18th century, and a rollicking tale with *GREAT* female characters and fantastic character development particularly Silver and Eleanor) which is thankfullly still running. There are three Spartacus series, watch them all.
If you are pushing your history up to the early 19th century, Sharpe starring Sean Bean, based on the Bernard Cornwell novels. There are also historical detective stories (Rome, medieval) but that isn't quite the tone of Rome so I'll leave those off.
Game of Thrones shares with Rome the pre-modern setting, great (including great villain) female characters who drive the action, some character development (Danaerys, Tyrion, Sansa, Theon, Jamie in particular), the "high and low" aspect (there are sympathetic characters in every social class that get significant screen time), and the "oh my god they didn't really do that" plot-twisting surprises that change everything.
I'd also add Outlander (still being made) a fantastic series about time travel to 18th century Scotland, and (if we're putting fantasy in the list) Battlestar Galactica (the 2000s reboot) and Stargate : Universe. Dark atmospheric dramas with great music and actually some production people in common... some actors too. Lucy Lawless is in both Spartacus and BG. Tobias Menzies is in Outlander, Rome and Game of Thrones.
There are elements of Reign (Mary Queen of Scots) that some Rome fans will really enjoy, in particular Meagan Follows' Queen Catherine di Medici, who gives Atia a run for her money as the bitch queen of all TV of all time. You know you've started to love her when you start yelling "just poison him! POISON HIM!!!" at the TV. And she's actually the best of her family, too, which is a fun comment on Renaissance Italian bankers. A bit less well acted, a bit more of a fashion show, more use of contemporary music that some find jarring, but... it's still only a few seasons in and getting better.
There are also documentaries you must watch, particularly BBC ones, if you really like dirty historical politics and ancient world grit. Stephen Staples "how to get ahead" at historical courts, Bettany Hughes' ancient world documentaries (any of them), "What did the Romans do for us?", and from there just look for "people who like this also like" ;)
My friend,
Good list of shows that you have seen. Out of the ones you listed, I have seen:
Game of Thrones
Band of Brothers
Breaking Bad
Rome
House, M.D. (season 1)
The Office
Mr. Robot [only saw first episode and am not opposed to watching more]
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Dexter
Planet Earth
Cosmos
Life
Weeds (seasons 1 and 2)
Fargo (season 1)
Arrested Development
Entourage
True Detective (season 1)
Silicon Valley
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Seinfeld
It was basically Breaking Bad that got me into drama series in general and from there I went to Game of Thrones, which is my all time favorite. I've seen each of those series twice...I'm surprised you don't have The Wire listed on there, that is a big one.
I will also highly recommend Deadwood, as I saw you mentioned being unsure of starting. I just started Deadwood for the first time less than a month ago and literally finished the series a couple of hours ago. I loved it. It has that same super-high quality of all these other top-tier shows but one thing that it excels in unlike any other is the dialogue. The dialogue is on another level. I already knew that both shows were cancelled prematurely and didn't necessarily have proper endings before seeing either of them, but from what I recall watching Rome a year ago, I actually thought it wrapped up reasonably well. And as for Deadwood, although there was definite potential for more show and story, I really wasn't disappointed by how it ended. It's kind of like, what end can you really give a show like Deadwood anyway...it's just a piece of time in the world that could essentially keep going and going...it has to sort of randomly end somehow at some point...no matter where you end it, not every character's stories are going to be resolved as many of them are based on real people and therefore, the series is going to end randomly in the middle of some of their lives no matter what.
I also highly recommend The Man in the High Castle...a lot of casual viewers don't seem to like it but critics seem to love it. I loved pretty much every minute of it and thought it was genius personally and I swear I don't get the hate.
Also you listed The Office. I like both versions but if you haven't seen the bbc version, I would absolutely recommend that.
Out of curiosity, out of Boardwalk Empire, Lost, Homeland, Mr. Robot, Parks and Recreation, and Wilfred, what order would you recommend those?
-Are these the Nazis, Walter?
-No, Donny, these men are nihilists, theres nothing to be afraid of.
Thank you for your reply! I want to respond but unfortunately don't have time to be though. To answer your question:
"Out of curiosity, out of Boardwalk Empire, Lost, Homeland, Mr. Robot, Parks and Recreation, and Wilfred, what order would you recommend those? "
Lost
Homeland
Parks and Recreation
Boardwalk Empire
Mr. Robot
Wilfred
:)
Not one of them. None whatsoever. Might as well watch Partidge Family reruns as this kack. Missed opportunity meets proletariat kitsch.
shareI suggest Outlander (one of the best stories ever told. It's on season 2 right now but was green lighted for at least 2 more seasons) it's on STARZ. Another STARZ favorite of mine is The White Queen (and they're filming The White Princess right now, yay!!) I also loved The Last Kingdom, (which is also filming season 2) it's a great show. Vikings is excellent. Poldark is also a great tale (also filming season 2). I'm assuming you like period dramas since you enjoyed Rome. I really liked it too. I hope the networks make more period dramas. I really enjoy them. My very favorite of this list us Outlander. I hope you enjoy!
shareAlso, Ray Donovan is awesome. It's not a historical show, but it's really really good.
shareYes, it is truly a shame HBO did what they did, with axing most of the budget and the ideas that were going to go into season 2 and onward.
Game of Thrones seems to be starting to suffer the same fate with the reduction of next season down to 7 episodes instead of the standard 10. I guess these shows require such an extensive amount of set building and scenery that there is just no way around high production costs.
This show could have been considered one of the best ever by a lot more people had they stuck out the production costs and made 3-4 solid seasons instead of 2 seasons, with 1 being amazing and 2 being only a decent attempt due to packing 2-3 seasons worth of content into 1.
Oh well.
I find it so cool that people are finding it and watching it and loving it like the rest of us who watched it when it aired. Where were you guys when it was on?! lol! We needed viewers to keep it going, but alas, that didn't happen.
There really isn't another show like it. Now if you like the acting and story, but aren't as concerned about it being historic, then I fully recommend The Americans (2013). It's available on Amazon Prime, just as Rome is.
If it's history you're more concerned with, then I would suggest the less stellar Vikings (2013) (also on Prime) or also less stellar The Last Kingdom (2015) (on Netflix). Don't get me wrong, they're great in their own ways, but Rome is a series that simply cannot be equaled. Honestly, the best I've come across where I think the story and acting is superb, since Rome, is The Americans, which I mentioned above.
If you watch any, let me know what you think.
Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O
Well, first, the channels/tv are to blame, that aired the series in time when the majority of normal people were sleeping deeply, because the next day they were about to go to work. I noticed that in certain countries, due to the content (sex'n' violence) the series was broadcast on insane hours. This way only jobless and retired could fully enjoy watching Rome late at night. HBO wasn't accessible everywhere. The historical dramas were not so popular - Rome was the FIRST!
Secondly, the general lack of knowledge. ROME was so excellent that only people possessing some background or open to learn accepted it entirely. Many people could be surprised by the level of accuracy - anybody haven't seen this before - and - on the contrary many could think that some scenes are unbelievable. People are not aware and do not realize that the life in Rome resembled so much our modern society and to what extent the Roman society was organized.
I only missed Acta Diurna - the first "daily" gazette that was edited in Caesar's times;)
There are many great scenes, that surprise an average viewer, because people do not know history and think, they are watching some kind of a fiction.
An average viewer is brought up on medieval stories and anything is watching, he refers a Christian morality to. People think, that Romans were filthy and illiterate but still pious and sexually constraint.
They still do not believe that a simple soldier like Vorenus could become a senator - while it was Ceasar's exact law, and a certain simple legionary Fuficius Fango, climbing under Caesar's eye, became even governor in Africa.
Many are persuaded, that the surgical operation, as performed on Pullo's head wasn't possible- because they do not imagine that certain people HAD TO SURVIVE anything, any wound or any illness. How many people saw the ancient medical instruments in museums?
Some people didn't like Cleopatra because they still have in mind Liz Taylor in Hollywood gala met Carnival in Rio dresses.
Average viewers found probably strange the character of Atia, because they believe a Roman woman was a quiet matron despite the characters of Livia or Messalina portrayed by Graves.
It seems to me, that reality and accuracy were so surprising, that 10y ago it was difficult to accept. I cannot imagine that sth like "Vikings" or "Last Kingdom" would beaccepted back then. I personally find both very good.
Now young people brought up on GoT and Spartacus try to find sth more reliable and they find Rome. And this is fantastic.
Why not to try with the earlier stories? I would love to see Catiline vs Cicero (strangely, in the role of a blood drinking psychopath deflowering Vestals I cannot imagine anyone else, than Rome’s, Mark Antony;), Krassus, and the first Triumvirate, or even Sulla. Digging deeper, one may find it surprising that all of them, Cicero, Caesar, his uncle Gaius Marius, Catiline, were to some extent a tied by family bonds. Only the whole history of Antony himself (all his wives, children, cousins, brothers and mom who negotiated Tarentum pact) is good enough to compete with fictional characters.
yeah one of the best ever
shareYes. I am watching it again now and it is still the best thing I've ever seen on t.v. That includes Game of Thrones. The camera work and set design is not just superb, but also 'adult'. Meaning it doesn't talk down to the viewer but makes them an accomplice in the action. The close ups of Atia's face and the colouring of those scenes is a case in point.
There are so many other instances of mature film making throughout the series.
The entire series really is the best.
If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
[makes them an accomplice in the action]