Colosseum

I understand the need for revenue, but dang.... trying to watch streaming was a battle to its own. The production was as good a documentary as ever. There was no shortage of stories, so I guess greed has to be the only reason.

Watching episode 4 out of 5 that has been realized so far and they have mentioned one "poet" of Rome as an actual historical source. Poetry generally isn't considered historical fact, especially when it is paid for by the emperor, a fact briefly mentioned once or twice. Oddly enough I can't seem to find any work by the poet they mentioned to read his work myself. They have "Roman historians" on never giving the details as to what makes them a Roman historian since clearly they didn't live through it details as to what degree and from where as well as any relevant experience they have would be nice, and well necessary according to my 6th grade English teacher and every teacher since in research papers. If they are going to present it as a historical factual documentary I expect enough information to be able to continue or further my research behind the short snips in the show and yet it feels more like a teaser based in rumors than a documentary.

Following the first installment I abandoned it, checking it a few times now & then if it had improved. Some of the information is extremely interesting but the intense interruptions of commercials was the end for me. It's value is hopefully inspiring someone to have an interest in ancient history, etc.

As for the commercial breaks - exactly the reason why we all but put "Oak Island" on hiatus.

Gave up after 30 mins of episode 1. The endless droning of a selection of boring talking heads, sorry 'academics', tediously intercut every minute with 'action sequences' was too much. Basically daytime TV crud. The only thing missing were adverts evert 10 mins for funeral services, stair lifts, online gambling and teeth whitening. I assume the endless emphasis on gore, mutilation and death was for the American audience, who like that sort of thing. No brain needed to watch this. A real shame as 8 episodes is enough to go into detail on an internationally fascinating subject. The facts are all there it's just horrendously badly scripted, presented and edited. Go read a book on it.

Colosseum

Overall we learnt quite a bit, but it was quite a mixed bag of generalisms and grandstanding by several historians who went way beyond the history. All emperors had access to use the Colosseum to advance there standing with the people of Rome, not true, the Colosseum typified Rome not true, circus Maximus was the main draw in Rome. Gladiators were trained slaves not wholly true many freedmen to fame and wealth and chose to be gladiators. The Colosseum was how slaves became freedmen, not true Romans free thousands of people each year and even married them.

Several episodes dragged terribly and just kept repeating the same stuff, the worst one was the Martyr.

Overall I liked it but the historians irritated, one man moved his hands matching every syllable, this is like a text message in capitals it shouts at you. For me this is a 6 outta 10, it could have been great but turned out pedestrian.