Rome thru 7 episodes

Quite like Game of Thrones, but in place of medieval/fantasy Westeros you have ancient Italy, and in place of not knowing how it will end (that Dany will ascend the throne only to be quickly assassinated by a former friend) you know how it will end (that Caesar... you know).

Similarities:

• HBO show, with all that that entails, including the next bullet
• liberal violence and sexuality, though Rome is slightly tamer than GoT
• grand political arc sprinkled with many subplots
• general tone
• kinda trashy, kinda sophisticated
• Ciaran Hinds, Indira Varma, Tobias Menzies (what a power trio of names). I even think The Hound made a cameo

Differences:

• GoT is somehow much more interesting, partly because you don't know the ending ahead of time, partly because it's probably a better production team. Maybe Martin is a better foundation than history. But lots of Rome is fictionalized, so you'd think with a great writing team the Caesar era would show great potential
• one is pure fiction, the other stays pretty close to history's general outline
• I had almost zero practical reason for watching GoT, at a time when I was super strict with TV, yet I watched it anyway; I have practical reason for Rome, and I'm not as strict anymore, yet I don't feel riveted to its continuation
• I've never heard a single person talk about Rome; I couldn't avoid GoT
• I kind of love GoT; I shall NEVER love Rome!