Posted on 07/12/2006 2:01:51 PM PDT by Snickering Hound
LOS ANGELES -- The fall of "Rome" will happen sometime in early 2007.
HBO announced Wednesday that the second season of its epic series set in the time of Caesar will debut Jan. 7. At the same time, the network says next season will be the last for the show.
Filming on season two is currently taking place at the Cinecitta Studios in Rome and will wrap in October. Once that's done, though, the show -- a co-production with the BBC -- will call it quits.
"Rome" was one of the most expensive projects in TV history -- reports pegged the cost of the first season at somewhere around $100 million. Its ratings on HBO were decent (most episodes drew between 2 million and 3 million viewers) but not at the level of "The Sopranos" or, say, "Six Feet Under" in its prime. Last week it was nominated for eight Emmys.
The second season will pick up following the death of Julius Caesar. Most of the principal cast is scheduled to return, including Kevin McKidd, Polly Walker, Ray Stevenson, James Purefoy, Lindsay Duncan and Kerry Condon.
The January premiere date will likely pair the show with the final episodes of "The Sopranos," which are also slated to begin shortly after the new year.
Rome wasn't built in a day, but it will be over in a single evening!
You mean the loathsome "Entourage" will be all that's left? Charming.
Shame Caesar won't be back, unless they develop a zombie or vampire storyline.
Rome sucked, IMHO, and was full of gratuitous sex scenes.
Never seen it-- but heard it was worth watching. This quote caught my eye:
"reports pegged the cost of the first season at somewhere around $100 million. Its ratings on HBO were decent (most episodes drew between 2 million and 3 million viewers)"
The cheeezy show I work on costs about one or two percent of Rome's budget to shoot and has an audience of between 800,000 and 1.2 million. How does it make any possible economic sense to spend 100 mil on a show with only slightly better numbers?
Sounds like a pure vanity project.
HBO's Deadwood is a show I'll miss when it goes up to Boot Hill after this season.
Bummer. I LOVE Rome. Also Entourage. And of course Sopranos.
The HBO series, the ancient city, or both?
"The Wire" will be back!
I read somewhere that HBO and David Milch are still in talks about Deadwood.
Deadwood lost it's mojo after Wild Bill died. I watched the 2 episode second season or whatever it was and it just seemed tired.
After watching, I thought the Sopranos were over this year. What they run instead was "Oprah meets Tony".
BORING
DEADWOOD is great. Did you see the fight last week? Dan is a really tough guy.
Outstanding series. Definitely adults only. This was the world before Christianity.
Props For "BIG LOVE", fill that 6 Feet Under Niche for me
What I heard is that Milch wanted to continue the series, but HBO offered him a better deal to produce a new show-- something about surfing, I think-- and he took that instead.
I don't get why they don't play out Deadwood a bit more while developing the new show on the side and get that all set to go after Deadwood plays out???
Whatever.
Hopefully, they will carry the story through the rise of Octavius and the formation of the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC.
that was a great fight with Dan. I'm still on the fence with this show. One minute I'll think it's one of the best shows ever, and then the next minute, I'll go crazy trying to follow the unnatural and unrhythmic dialog. Man, nobody in the history of the world has ever talked like that. It sounds like a bunch of posers trying to imitate The Bard.
I am proud to say the I have never seen an episode of the Sopranos.
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