The Borgias: Television Addiction

This is part of my "Television Addiction Series" which I explained about HERE.  The Television Addiction series is part of my so-called "Scripted Review Series", which I explained about HERE.  For the original 2013 post on which this is based, see: Television Addiction Part 2: Oh the TV Shows I’ve Seen!

The avclub article in which they call these dramas “Wikipedia historical fiction.” https://tv.avclub.com/the-borgias-1798167800

The avclub article in which they compare The Borgias to Game of Thrones: https://tv.avclub.com/the-borgias-season-one-1798168422

The original 2013 post reads:

The Borgias (1 and 1/2 seasons only)

          I understand this was put together as Showtime’s follow-up to The Tudors. 

            I have yet to see The Tudors from start to finish.  (My brother-in-law and me worked through several episodes when I was last back in America, but its tough to watch a series straight through when the DVD rental place only has one copy, and other customers are renting the same discs you want.)  However I enjoyed what I did see of The Tudors. I know it’s not perfectly historically accurate, but it seemed to me to be largely historically accurate.  (Granted I’m no expert.  Almost everything I know about Henry VIII just comes from Monarchy and This Sceptred Isle. But The Tudors lined up nicely with what little I knew about King Henry VIII).

            The Borgias, by contrast, seems much less historically accurate.  Eventually I just had to stop watching halfway through the second season.  What was the point of watching a historically drama that wasn’t even historically accurate?

            It’s a pity, because the idea for a historical drama around the Borgia family is a great idea.  What a great subversive way to remind people of all the terrible history behind the papacy.  And for historical geeks, what a wonderful opportunity to get into some of the fascinating Papal power struggles, and 16th century politics on the Italian peninsula.

            However, as each episode just got more and more ridiculous, and further removed from the actual history, I eventually had to ask myself, “Why am I watching this?”

            I know it’s an article of faith in Hollywood that you should never make anything truly historically accurate, because then no one will watch it, but I disagree.  I think there’s a huge audience for accurate historical dramas.  Just think how many people love watching documentaries.

            The pity of The Borgias is that the actual history would have been interesting enough.  It would have been interesting simply because it had been real.  Because they made up their own story instead, it made things less interesting.