Lost Empires

Lost Empires - I'll be honest, I expected this to be more like the Empires Specials series and less like As the Stomach Turns. But when I ignored all the soap-type sap, I found the Vaudeville and sociopolitical commentary fun and interesting. Clearly, the reprise of turn of the last century popular entertainment was well-done and very enjoyable. One is left wondering at the apparent differences between what they found entertaining and what we enjoy now. Additionally, the juxtaposition between an on-stage personality with off-stage perversion does seem to say more about the audience than the performers.

Of course, then there is also the insanity of World War I with it's ensuing patriotic fervor -- here too is a great deal of substance, but instead this mini-series (shown in the US on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre) seems mostly focused on the love relationships of it's myriad characters. Granted, there is much more than simple romance and there is value in showing love's abuses, but this just didn't keep me interested.

In the past when I've seen a program like this, that was not only well-reviewed and well-rated on IMDb but which has provided some substance, if thought, "well, maybe I just missed something important" and watched the show again. I have now done this enough times to know that in this case I don't think it is really going to be worth the time. This just isn't my cup of tea. I'm moving on...

Rating: 7 out of 10 (I'd prefer to give it a 6.5 but feel a 6 is unfairly low) Buy from Amazon.com