HBO pulled the plug on its “Rome” series in 2007 after only two seasons, but I didn’t catch up with the addictive show until HBO Video sent me the recently released “complete series” package.
Now that winter is upon us, it’s nice to have some good DVD sets to curl up with over the long and snowy weekends we have ahead of us. “Rome” has more heft than most HBO series — it has the period detail and epic scope we expect from good historical drama — but it is also packed with the juicy sexual elements that have become standard in the cable network’s original programming.
The show was a co-production of HBO and the BBC budgeted at well over $100 million — reportedly the most expensive series in television history. The reviews and viewership were strong, but the financial model simply didn’t work for non-commercial television.
The mix of the personal and the historical elements in “Rome” reminded me of one of the great TV achievements of the 1970s — the British production of “I, Claudius” that caused a sensation when it was shown on the PBS “Masterpiece Theater” series in 1977.
There is something wonderful about the TV serial format when the material is as strong as “Rome.”
The show follows two soldiers (above) Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus 
Pullo (Ray Stevenson) whose paths cross with the high and mighty — including Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds) and Mark Antony (James Purefoy, left) — as well such lesser known figures as Caesar’s mistress Servilla (Lindsay Duncan) and Caesar’s cunning, sexual predator niece Atia (Polly Walker).
“Rome” is big and complex but it’s not heavy. The personal stories dominate — some verge on soap opera but keep us watching — and there are surprising infusions of black comedy (in episode six, Atia gives Servilla a shocking sex toy).
It’s too bad that HBO hasn’t found a way to justify the higher cost of series set in the past. “Rome” joined “Deadwood” and “Carnivale” on the list of the network’s noble, time-traveling failures.
