Tudors cancelled

Well, another show like Smallville has announced its farewell season which is due to launch next year - and which gives fans time to cope with the separation anxiety.  Considerate of them - as it can be traumatic to follow one series, invest yourself emotionally in its characters and storyline, and then find yourself facing the cold grave of cancellation at the end of the journey.  (Think Journeyman.)

This time, Showtime's serise on the loves, lunacies, and lecheries of Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) will just have one more season - its fourth and then no more.  After three seasons which have seen political intrigue that literally rocked nations, split a Church, sent sinners and saints to the gallows, and women and wives changed as if the young lusty king were changing wardrobes, the producers are calling it quits.

It's not because of ratings - The Tudors still brings in 1 million viewers each episode.  But it is costly to produce - given its resplendent recreation of 16th century England. This is the era when monarchs rule with almost absolute power and the will of the people and their rights aren't on the agenda.

Still, Henry's reign won't end abruptly.  In just that remaining season of ten episodes, producers will have to squeeze in the state of affairs that shook England as he took his last two wives.  Tudors season 4 won't be pretty - the producers have described it as Henry VIII's descent into madness.

It's the kind of stuff that TVdom will try to resurrect.  According to the grapevine, the network is looking at a modern re-telling of the Borgias, a Sicilian ruling family of  corrupt popes and byzantine blackmailing  that makes Henry's reign look like a family squabble.

Season 3:



Season 4, the last of the Tudors: