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If Jeremy Irons weren't playing Alexander VI I am not sure that I would stick with The Borgias. The writing isn't that good, there's a lack of originality in the storytelling and you can smell the tv formula behind the prettiness. It isn't a new Rome but Iron's charisma, sex-appeal and acting are simply too good to miss.
I wonder if Tom Fontana's Borgia will be better. It will air in November on Canal Plus (teaser here). The cast seems good even though there is no big star. The actor playing Rodrigo Borgia was Rawls on The Wire and looks much more like the real Alexander VI. And Fontana (who is apparently a Catholic!) was behind one of the best tv series ever, OZ, so he could bring a creativity that the Showtime's series lacks.
Fontana said he wanted to be faithful to history while Neil Jordan was willing to change stuff and make things up (which he already did in the first three episodes I've seen). Also, Fontana obviously doesn't shy away from incest while I am not sure that Neil Jordan will go that road, at least not explicitly.
That said, I like the idea of those two series reviving the old pope/anitpope and Great Schism issues. Oddly enough Fontana wrote his episodes before The Borgias pilot was even written, but the Showtime series started being shot 6 months before Borgia (both being shot in Eastern Europe of course). So who is the antipope here?
I suppose that we should consider Jeremy Irons to be the Roman Pope because he was elected first on screen, which makes John Doman the antipope in Avignon.
We'll see in November if this Cathodic adept must claim her support to one of them or simply decide a soustraction d'obédience ! :- )
I wonder if Tom Fontana's Borgia will be better. It will air in November on Canal Plus (teaser here). The cast seems good even though there is no big star. The actor playing Rodrigo Borgia was Rawls on The Wire and looks much more like the real Alexander VI. And Fontana (who is apparently a Catholic!) was behind one of the best tv series ever, OZ, so he could bring a creativity that the Showtime's series lacks.
Fontana said he wanted to be faithful to history while Neil Jordan was willing to change stuff and make things up (which he already did in the first three episodes I've seen). Also, Fontana obviously doesn't shy away from incest while I am not sure that Neil Jordan will go that road, at least not explicitly.
That said, I like the idea of those two series reviving the old pope/anitpope and Great Schism issues. Oddly enough Fontana wrote his episodes before The Borgias pilot was even written, but the Showtime series started being shot 6 months before Borgia (both being shot in Eastern Europe of course). So who is the antipope here?
I suppose that we should consider Jeremy Irons to be the Roman Pope because he was elected first on screen, which makes John Doman the antipope in Avignon.
We'll see in November if this Cathodic adept must claim her support to one of them or simply decide a soustraction d'obédience ! :- )