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After a battle-heavy first two episodes, it was pure, unadulterated romance that left viewers misty-eyed while watching War And Peace last night. An emotionally charged scene which saw dashing Prince Andrei (James Norton) whisk Natasha Rostova (Lily James) on to the dancefloor at the Tsar's New Year's Eve ball left the audience of the hit BBC One period drama reeling. Viewers took to social media to praise the romantic scene, which showed the couple falling in love - calling it 'this generation's Mr Darcy in the pond' - referring to Colin Firth in Pride And Prejudice.

Vanity - Has anyone seen "The Man in The High Castle"? It started yesterday on Amazon. Please post any reviews.

Are there enough shows about bearded European-y people brandishing swords and shields and shouting at each other? Not according to BBC America, which will stake a claim in the medieval drama genre with The Last Kingdom, debuting Saturday, October 10 at 10pm. And to prove it, BBC America released the first full-length trailer for the series. Adapted from Bernard Cornwell's novels The Saxon Stories, The Last Kingdom chronicles the rise of young Saxon warrior Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon) and the birth of England in the 9th century in Northumbria. And if you're a fan of History's Vikings, get ready for some...

The Astronaut Wives Club, the summer series from ABC that depicted the race to the moon as a kind of “Desperate Housewives of NASA” ended its run Thursday with the episode dealing with the Apollo moon landing and the epic adventure of Apollo 13. What began with soap opera triteness ended in a dash of ugliness. The episode sought to remind the viewer that not everyone regarded the moon landings with awe and wonder. Some reacted to the greatest technological feat in the history of humankind with rage.

CBS has renewed 15 of its series for next season — but missing from the list is long-running crime procedural “CSI.” The network has not confirmed the fate of the franchise flagship, and may opt to end the Ted Danson series with a TV movie rather than a 16th season, according to reports.

It's house-cleaning time for the major networks as the cancellation ax falls in order to make for new additions in the fall. Some shows, such as NBC's "State of Affairs" and "Constantine," have been off the air so long that it feels they'd already been cancelled. But the formal notice falls just as hard even when if it is long expected.

Anyone here watching Mark Burnett's AD? (Story about apostles and early church) What are your impressions of the series so far?

A theme that dramas and soap operas have dwelled on is the spats people can have over what their ancestors may leave for them. Life imitates art has been my experience seeing relatives squabble over the dead carcasses, but some have taken the issue to heart in a new television series on the Fox Business Network (FBN) called Strange Inheritance. The episodes I watched did not involve fisticuffs, but they incorporate many of the same decisions that one has to confront upon the death of a loved one. First, there are the wishes of the dear departed. What did the...

The upcoming six-part miniseries, Sons of Liberty, follows a defiant and radical group of young men – Sam Adams (Ben Barnes), John Adams (Henry Thomas), Paul Revere (Michael Raymond-James), John Hancock (Rafe Spall) and Joseph Warren (Ryan Eggold) – as they band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation.Calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, they light the spark that ignited a revolution. Though their names have become American legend, this group of young rebels didn’t start off as noble patriots in powdered wigs. They were a new American generation of young men from...

Hoooo boy. Billy Crystal has angered plenty with some poorly-worded statements he made about the portrayal of gay sex scenes on television. According to The Independent, during a panel on the Television Critics Association this weekend promoting his upcoming FX series The Comedians, Crystal said he can do without all the gratuitous P-in-the-B scenes that TV keeps shoving in his face: Speaking during a panel interview in Pasadena, the actor said: “Sometimes I think: ‘Ah that’s too much for me’. “Sometimes, it’s just pushing it a little too far for my taste and I’m not going to reveal to you...

Following on from the success of its original dramas House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, Netflix is banking on its next series, Marco Polo, being a similar hit. The adventures of famed explorer Marco Polo in 13th Century China are being told in a new series for Netflix. Set in Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan's court and with a rumoured $90m (£57m) budget, its epic nature, battle scenes and sexual content has inevitably drawn comparisons to Game of Thrones - although creator John Fusco points out Polo's books came first. Starring British actor Benedict Wong as Kublai and...

Thoughts on the two programs? I love a good sleuthing show, but Elementary seems to muck up 100+ years of Sir Author Conan Doyle to me.

I've been binge watching an ITV series on Amazon Prime. It ran from 1996-2001. Storyline Peter Clifford, a young Catholic priest from Manchester, is transferred to the village of Ballykissangel, Ireland, and is taken by the dry-humored publican Assumpta Fitzgerald who has almost the exact opposite of his good nature and dislikes the organized church. He has to deal with occasional battles against his hateful superior, Father MacAnally, and the day-to-day problems of the people:

The film-maker's 14-hour marathon has a psychological subtlety and depth unprecedented on television. ... It's Ken Burns's documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, a masterpiece even by his standards. The Civil War (1990) was hailed as the best series of its kind since The World at War. In a way, it was even more impressive since the absence of moving images meant that Burns had to rely entirely on photographs – an inventive necessity that has become one of his trademarks.

Firefly, Twin Peaks, Jericho, Carnivale, My So-Called Life, Undeclared, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip; Pushing Daisies, Veronica Mars, Heroes

I don't watch TV much these days, so I can't say what have been popular miniseries in the past decade or so, but I remember there used to be big budget miniseries on TV all the time (A.D., The Winds of War, Roots. Etc). In your opinion, what were the greatest miniseries of all time?

The TV critic at The New York Times is keeping an eye on the tube, so we don’t have to. Reading this, describing what’s coming into our living rooms this summer, I have to think that’s a very good thing: In case you missed the news that traditional courtship is dead, naked people on VH1 stand ready to enlighten you. And in case you thought that television networks had evolved beyond trying to attract viewers with cheesy titillation — ditto.Yes, it’s time for “Dating Naked,” a reality series beginning Thursday on VH1 in which just-introduced strangers looking for love are...

A few things happen every year at the broadcast upfronts, the annual week in which broadcast network execs unveil their new TV lineups to advertisers: they trot out a bunch of new shows (most of which will be canceled a year later), they try to wow attendees with fancy statistics that mean nothing (We’re number one in, um, engagement!) and they pay lip-service to the notion of extending the traditional September to May television season to a year-round programming cycle. + This year’s upfronts, which wrap up today, May 15, followed a similar path, save for one important change: the...

..."Downton Abby", "Call the Midwife"?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thirty years after failing to convince the Supreme Court of the threat posed by home video recordings, big media companies are back and now trying to rein in another technological innovation they say threatens their financial well-being. The battle has moved out of viewers' living rooms, where Americans once marveled at their ability to pop a cassette into a recorder and capture their favorite programs or the sporting event they wouldn't be home to see. Now the entertainment conglomerates that own U.S. television networks are waging a legal fight, culminating in Tuesday's Supreme Court argument against a...