A Seat at the Table

If you adore The Godfather, you'll adore this series. I was hooked after the first 5 minutes. I'm also now officially in love with Matthew Goode. Oh, those wily Brits and their amazing ability to do spot-on American accents! Burn Gorman is also great, and it's wonderful to see Juno Temple in a role that's worthy of her talents. Absolutely everyone is great in this series. The sets, costumes, makeup, cars, scenery, etc., impeccably evoke the period. Do yourself a favor and don't miss this series!

A mixed bag. Matthew Goode is great as Evans but I wish it focused more on the creative side over contracts and deals. I suppose it's because it's based on the memoirs of producer Al Ruddy which is too bad because the energy flags every time the story focuses on him (Coppola, Puzo and above all Evans are such big characters that Ruddy is dull in comparison).

Al Ruddy is working as a programmer at the Rand Corporation but sees an opportunity to produce TV shows and movies. Mario Puzo is a struggling author whose wife gives him an idea to write a book on the Mafia. Joe Colombo is a rising crime boss. Their three worlds are about to collide.

An excellent start to the series. I watched this because it tells of the making of one of the greatest films of all time, The Godfather, and I am a keen follower of cinema and the film-making process. However, I was half-expecting a dry documentary-like telling of the making of The Godfather so didn't set my expectations very high.

How wrong I was. The plot, whose writing involves input from Al Ruddy himself, is very interesting and engaging. The writers and director Dexter Fletcher, aided by some great performances, give the whole thing a great vibe and energy. The three-character focus (Ruddy, Puzo, Joe Colombo) makes for an intriguing, fateful meeting of careers and worlds. There's a smoothness that is immediately riveting.

On the downside it is maybe too smooth. Ruddy never puts a foot wrong. When questioned he immediately has a great story and sell, even if he hadn't thought of the question before. One or two moments of analysis on his part would have gone a long way.

It's a minor negative though and the only thing from making the opening episode perfect.

Greetings from Lithuania.

First episode of mini series of The Offer titled A Seat at the Table was an entertaining and well paced episode. It sets the tone for the whole series. And what can I tell from it, it's going to be a fun and entertaining series. About the accuracy of events, well, probably not so much. More like pulp about creation of arguibly the best film ever - The Godfather.

Series uses a lot of real names from 70's Hollywood era, and it's a fun to watch for me because I'm a movie fan. I heard most of the names seen in first episode before.

Overall, entertaining if not the most accurate story but fun to watch so far.

This is an incredible miniseries. Every episode is at least a 9 if not a 10. Great casting across the board, especially for Evans, Puzo, Coppola, Bludhorn and Colombo.

When I first looked at this series, I wondered how can they get 10 full length episodes out of the process of just making one movie, however renowned. Wow I had no idea. Everything went wrong with The Godfather, from mafia death threats to corporate egos to boardroom maneuverings. Was there even one day when something wasn't blowing up in their faces?

These people must have really loved their Hollywood jobs to endure all this. Very entertaining to watch, probably wasn't all that great to live through. Amazing that some guy from Hogan's Heroes was at the center of it all.