An absolute waste of money

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I absolutely love this TV series. What rip-roaring entertainment! No, it's not following the books exactly, which bothers a lot of people, but it's not bothering me (I've read all ten books) because they are two entirely different forms of entertainment. The TV series is well written, acted, produced and filmed. Both Uhtred and Alfred are very interesting characters and the TV series does an excellent job of depicting their personalities and how/why their relationship develops, as well as depicting the personalities and relationships among the other main characters. For the action-lover, the fights and battle scenes are terrific and it is fascinating to watch Uhtred develop his strategies. If I have any complaint to make about the TV show it is that they are cramming too much into each season. Another episode or two per season would have been great. I'm also not keen on some of the casting, the most disappointing being the character Gisela. Peri and Alexander have zero on-screen chemistry and I don't like the way her character has been written, but it's not something that ruins the series. The books are a good read, the TV show, while making a few missteps (nothing serious), is great fun to watch and I enjoy each for what they are.

I'll keep it quick and simple. Having read the book(s), I was already hesitant to watch this, especially when I saw that a dark haired, goatee bearing gentleman, wearing a leather and fur outfit was portraying Uhtred of Bebbanburg. The Uhtred in the book and the Uhtred in this TV series reside in two different universes. The Uhtred described by Cornwell in his books compares very little to that of this Uhtred in the TV series. From his personality to actual physical description, there is no resemblance. Uhtred is not the only character they "polished" up for TV. Many of the characters they bring into the TV series resemble very little, if not at all, the books detailed, dark, and interesting characters. Lastly, the pace of the show leaves out so much detail, its insulting. Some Harry Potter fans would love the movies to have been a TV series, so that you'd be able to fit so much more from the books to the screen with each season and multiple episodes. This show does the opposite, by having the entire first book as the first episode of the the TV series. You have the opportunity to add so much more, yet you take so much away. In conclusion, I'm not saying this is a bad show, my review is mostly a warning to those who have read the book(s). The vast differences in characters, plot design, and pace of the story might leave you disappointed.

I love stories set in this period, especially covering political and battle episodes of the age. I found overall the series mediocre, compared especially to Vikings, not because of the adherence to history or costumes or acting, but simply because the whole storytelling is mediocre, similar to a B-rated TV show like Hercules or Xena could be. The protagonist, Uthred, is probably the most unlikable protagonist of a TV show. And not because we can characterize him as good or evil (we don't care, we enjoy watching protagonists with gray areas, or even villains) but simply because he seems like a spoiled brat. Each episode we don't know what he is going to do but most disturbingly we don't understand why he is doing something. "now I want to be an earlderman, now I am a Dane, now I kill people, now I am a loving father, now I hate my 2 months old son, now I love God, now I hate him, now I plunder, now I enforce the law. And the same goes for other characters, but obviously Uthred is the most annoying. We need consistent storytelling, we don't care if he is good or bad!

Two years between seasons? I give you a two star rate.No excuse for this! A high production show like GOT can make it annual, why can't you?For the record, I really liked this show, but it lost my interest with these huge gaps.If it got cancelled, I wouldn't even notice.