Tyrant

Did you ever invest 2 seasons on a great show only to have writers run out of ideas by season 3, so they decide to make everybody sleep WITH Everybody? Well, this is that kinda show.

I'm impressed with the courage it took to put this on TV. This is not an easy subject to cover and the honesty it is dealt with says a lot about the willingness of the entire crew to take risks.

The acting is superb and everyone gives their character the exact nuance required to convey the sliminess, brutality, tortured indecision, suffering, or shallowness required.

I never thought I'd see such depth and truth portrayed on a mere TV series. The people who put this on have guts and I'm impressed. I will continue to watch for as long as the producers, directors and actors are willing to avoid shallowness or cave to "political correctness."

I'm not a big fan of sex, nudity, or brutality on TV but this story could not be properly told without representing the characters as they really are.

Congratulations! And I'll be praying for you.

Most of the characters were somewhat stereotypical at first impression. However, the development of the characters has been executed nicely at a very gradual pace but accelerated to match the tempo of the development of the story.

I have found myself drawn into the characters and their psyche and I believe that most viewers can identify with most of them. The cast executes quite well in general. However, the "Big Brother" controlling Jamal is overdone and slows the development of his disposition. He is intelligent enough to make tough decisions. However, due to his father's influence coupled with the absence of his brother during his formative years, he sometimes needs to be pointed in the right direction yet maintains a cynical sense of humor and pretends to be dumb. This seems to invite the continual advice from his big brother. But the overbearing continual advice from the brother is still overdone.

Most viewers will find "Tyrant" to be a very distinct and unique series and very interesting to watch. It has very good content and nearly all ages can watch this for the sex scenes display more class than most shows on the air. These scenes are shown less and less as the show goes on and when they are shown they are done without unnecessary nudity and tasteless displays of the act. The violence has mellowed as well.

I sincerely hope that the writers keep up the good work, for so far they have shown great vision and originality!

I will go through a few points about various elements of the show.

Casting - It doesn't seem like anyone is out of place, but there were a few confusions about child versions of a few characters. One of the children looks nothing like the adult version of the character, I was confused and had to look up the cast. Other than that the cast is solid.

Writing - Generally well written with a few odd circumstances but nothing that cannot be explained later in the show. I am glad the writers were up to the task because the show is very dialogue based there isn't a lot of action but I was still pulled in episode after episode.

Acting - Adam Rayner is the main character is this show and as far as I know it's his first lead he has had for a major network. All I can say is that he is playing his role right. This can be said for the rest of the cast with a few exceptions. I cannot say too much without giving away spoilers but I have no complaints about the acting.

Set - Most of the show was filmed in Morocco, the show is not set in Morocco but it had me convinced it was a middle eastern country.

My wife and I really enjoyed watching Tyrant. That is, till season 3. Then it just got ridiculous. So the eight stars are for the first two seasons. Season 3 ended with one star.