Still Star-Crossed

It's interesting how certain reviewers (is it even released in Luxembourg yet?) are reacting negatively to the casting. It's a TV show based on a YA novel that used secondary characters from a play where all female roles were played by men. Mind you, Shakespeare borrowed heavily from other sources ("The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" and "Palace of Pleasure"), rewrote and adapted other writers' concepts, and his history plays are straight up Tudor propaganda. Oh, not to mention all of the in jokes and innuendos throughout his plays. I bet he'd be tickled that his play spurned a new tale AND TV show.

All that to say that I enjoyed the episode. While fast paced, it did do the job of establishing the conflict, introducing the players, and teasing just enough to whet your appetite.

I think the casting is phenomenal. So many talented English, Australian, and American actors. While the writing was clunky in bits, I do believe the actors elevated the material, which usually doesn't happen. The costuming is exquisite and so vibrant. I appreciate the attention to detail (although some costumes are a bit out of time, it's not too distracting, especially when so many get it right).

But truthfully, the star of the show is Salamanca (standing in for Verona). For a show set in one city, the fact it's filmed on location gives the scenes so much more power, authenticity, and depth that a sound stage would remove. You feel as if you're there with them walking the streets of this beautiful city.

I'm pleasantly intrigued by what is to come, and if the preview is any hint, it'll be explosive!

Loved it. Can't wait for more. I am so glad to see this on television. I love everything about Shakespeare. We need this on television. Anytuhing Shakespeare is needed on TV today. The actors are very competent in their parts. The custom designs are beautiful and the scenery is outstanding. Anyway all and all I think people need to give it a chance and watch it. This series is a great artistic piece.

I'm not a fan of Shakespeare but after watching this show all I could think about is DAMN, its really good. The actors are completely invested in their characters and it shows on screen. I love it. The first episode was good and then the second one, OMG it was intense. I am intrigued and completely on board with this drama. I really hope I can see it all unfold.

Well done for a first episode. It wasn't perfect and did have its faults, but the casting is superb despite, perhaps, being a little inconsistent in terms of family lines (as a personal desire, it'd be nice to have consistency there for immediate families). But the actors and actresses themselves, do a great job capturing their character perspectives, particularly when one takes into consideration the plot, time period, and what would have been their ages. They also did fairly well with the writing they were given, which was lacking at times, but that, of course, wasn't their faults.

And for all of those making claims that this "turns Shakespeare on its head," or that it's pushing "political correctness" or pushing unnecessary diversity, such are knee jerk reactions from uneducated individuals who cry about authenticity, but usually have no problem with the fact that women are acting in the productions, even though authenticity would mean men playing the women's parts; it's selective outrage that's usually R.W.S.-based.

Please don't let negative reviews that have no legitimate criticisms of the show itself persuade you from watching it, especially if you're like me and have a personal interest in Shakespeare anyway which has pushed you to do your proper due diligence, leading to the truth of yes, there being Black people around at the time (as if Othello didn't make that obvious, anyway). For those still not convinced and in need of visuals, a page online titled, "People of Color in European Art History" (the pg is: medievalpoc) proves it, too.

Besides, let's be honest, if nothing else, it's a great breath of fresh air from what we usually see with such renditions. In Leo DiCaprio's version of R+J, for example, it was nice to see Harold Perrineau, Vondie Curtis-Hall, etc, but the production was still pretty boring in terms of lead character casting, and bland in terms of their performances. It is nice to see TV branching out to cover more period pieces, and as far as diversity goes, I hope things like this continue, as they promote what is a more genuine sense of authenticity and truth, ignoring what is popular belief about the time period in question.

So... based on the first episode, at least, I hope the show's given room to grow into another season or more, allowing it to continue improving and continuing to surprise me. Much like one of my fav shows, "Reign," I have a feeling this, too, will end up blossoming into a wonderful show if it's given a chance/time to.

Some of these reviews are really mean. The show wasn't that bad, maybe dramatic yes but it is Shakespeare. I really enjoyed the romance in it and was getting into the mystery before it was cancelled. It wasn't my favorite show but it was still entertaining to watch another version or loosely based show of Shakespeare's. I think some take any version very seriously and may be upset if it's not exact. I didn't have a problem with it. Some reviewers were not a fan of the diverse cast. Everyone who is familiar with Shonda knows she doesn't cast based off race and appearance. You should expect a diverse cast from her, which is something I admire about her. She doesn't let race dictate her casting. One reviewer went as far as to say that the protagonist wasn't the most attractive, I don't know what they were looking at but I thought she was beautiful and even if she wasn't that's just very superficial and sad to expect the main characters to be drop dead gorgeous. But I know that's Hollywood's fault too. I know I personally want to see a cast with regular people, all shapes and sizes, that's just more realistic.