S01.E01: Stand And Unfold Yourself

[justawatcher]

I think the biggest mistake was making them the rulers of "England". They should have kept it all exactly the same but made them the rulers of some made up country. Then, we wouldn't have all of you (collectively, in general) picking apart things like whether or not the son would be named Liam or the king Simon, we wouldn't be worrying about the dress length of the Queen or the protocol. Instead, we would all just be enjoying the campiness and fun of the show rather than tearing apart the proper protocol.

 

Want proper protocol? Go watch Downton Abbey. Want Elizabeth Hurley and Joan Collins? Watch The Royals. Simply, that casting and the fact it's on E! should have told you it was going to be Dynasty goes to England. Why the shock?

[Avaleigh]

I think the biggest mistake was making them the rulers of "England". They should have kept it all exactly the same but made them the rulers of some made up country. Then, we wouldn't have all of you (collectively, in general) picking apart things like whether or not the son would be named Liam or the king Simon, we wouldn't be worrying about the dress length of the Queen or the protocol. Instead, we would all just be enjoying the campiness and fun of the show rather than tearing apart the proper protocol.

 

Want proper protocol? Go watch Downton Abbey. Want Elizabeth Hurley and Joan Collins? Watch The Royals. Simply, that casting and the fact it's on E! should have told you it was going to be Dynasty goes to England. Why the shock?

I personally think there could have been a happy medium where it wasn't completely insulting to the intelligence of the viewers. Even a person who knows absolutely zero about royal protocol would have to know that it would be impossible for a member of the royal family to just curl up on the ground outside of the palace gates without any member of the press so much as taking a photograph. The media would have been all over her every moment especially since she'd just recently given them the "beaver" shot. 

 

Also, in my post I made it clear that I wasn't expecting the show to be Downton Abbey and even commented that I was nitpicking when it comes to the names. 

 

I'm not shocked just a little let down. I thought it was going to be campy fun but so far this really only came through with Helena, the twins, and a couple of Eleanor's scenes.  

 

I agree with you though that they should have been from fictional country sort of Dynasty or Princess Diaries style especially if they're going to make up the rules as they go along. 

 

Honestly, Dynasty goes to England sounds way more entertaining than what we've been given so far. 

 

I'm still shaking my head at the TV spots where some reviewer of this show said that this crap could be an Emmy contender this season.  

[HeySandyStrange]

I'm not shocked just a little let down. I thought it was going to be campy fun but so far this really only came through with Helena, the twins, and a couple of Eleanor's scenes.

 

 

Totally agree.  I wasn't expecting something at all accurate or even with very high production values. I wasn't even expecting good acting!  But I think we have a right to complain if it was boring as watching grass grow.  I almost think the CW would have done more for the show then E!, to be honest. They at least seem to understand camp while on E! this show doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.  I'm willing to give it one, maybe two more chances and then I'm out.

[beesknees]

My opinion is if they're going to create a show centered around the Royal family then they'd better get the basic rights.  Not adhering strictly to details (artistic licensing and all) but damn, do a little homework.  Add to that the fact that the show is completely boring, yeah, I'm disappointed.  I really wanted to love this show.

[candall]

I have had a crush on William Mosley since the Chronicles of Narnia...

Thank you!!  I lost the first 20 minutes, pondering, "I've seen this prince before. . .white horse. . . . raised sword. . . shining silver chain mail. . ."

 

...any more than William and Kate are going to drop Padraig or Seamus or Topher anywhere into their next kid's name.

Topher.  LOL

 

 

Nice shot of the princess in her black skull boob T next to flowy long-sleeved white muslin Ophelia.  The clues!  They are so subtle!

[okerry]

Before I read any of the posts, let me just say that this is one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen on TV. I cannot wait to see more of it. My favorites are, no kidding, Penelope and her sister. They are just hysterical. And Joan Collins is joining soon? Oh, my. Doesn't get much better than that!

[okerry]

>>>I have a question, though, maybe someone here will know.  Can't there only be EITHER a Queen or King of England?  I mean, right now, there is Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - not King Philip.

 

Queen Elizabeth is queen in her own right - that is, she was born to it. Philip is not a king in his own right. He is merely the husband of the queen. A king outranks a queen, so that's why he gets the title of prince and not king.

[Avaleigh]

>>>I have a question, though, maybe someone here will know.  Can't there only be EITHER a Queen or King of England?  I mean, right now, there is Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip - not King Philip.

 

Queen Elizabeth is queen in her own right - that is, she was born to it. Philip is not a king in his own right. He is merely the husband of the queen. A king outranks a queen, so that's why he gets the title of prince and not king.

Right, so in the show Helena is Philip's Queen Consort as opposed to being a Queen in her own right. Presumably Camilla will be Queen Consort one day as will Kate. (We discussed this a bit earlier in the thread. :-) ) 

[okerry]

>>>The guy admitted that he slipped something in her drink.  If he drugged her, then she can't consent and it's rape.  I also highly doubt that she consented to being recorded.

 

On a second viewing, I noticed that the first thing the bodyguard asked was, "How much do you remember?" When Eleanor answered, "Nothing," *then* he told her that he'd drugged her and recorded their subsequent activities.

 

He could have been just telling her that in order to get back at her, and in reality did nothing of the kind. But now she has to wonder and worry. Even if she got hold of his phone, she'll never know if he downloaded it somewhere else and then deleted it from his phone.

 

Clever boy.

[formerlyfreedom]

I'm still shaking my head at the TV spots where some reviewer of this show said that this crap could be an Emmy contender this season.  

 

I'm going to stick with it a while longer, because there is some delightful opportunity for camp here, especially with Joan Collins coming on board. But yeah, I'm glad I didn't see these spots, they would have had me spewing whatever I was drinking or eating all over the place!

[Bill C.]

Kings, this ain't.

 

That out of the way...I want to like this show.  At least when I can hear myself think about it over the bloody frigging soundtrack, which is about as omnipresent and as subtle as Prince Cyrus, I want to like it.  It's campy, it's wonky, and going off the pilot there will apparently be moments where you can glimpse something resembling a good, or at least fair, show in it (mostly due to Vincent Regan, IMO, and Alexandra Park; the verdict's still out on, well, everybody else that isn't Joan Collins or possibly the Edina-and-Patsy twin princesses).  But it tried too hard with the pilot, and it wasn't terribly subtle about it...OTOH, pilot episode jitters are a common thing, and that's why I'm going to hang on a little while longer.  If it can settle down a bit, and the music director is dragged out back and flogged, I can at least handle this in the same way I handle The Haves and the Have Nots.

[Rhondinella]

I can't with this, ya'll. And I've watched every episode of Reign. But this show makes that look like a documentary on life in a royal court. There are too many things to pick on, but the one that drove me most crazy (like I wanted to throw things) was that Ophelia apparently LIVES in the castle (because . . . OK) and more importantly she seems to just WANDER AROUND WHEREVER SHE WANTS even in the "family" part of the house. I just . . . can't. And don't get me started on the "I never learned how to curtsey."

However, the cousins were a hoot (they at least seem to know what kind of show they are in and have embraced the trash) and I'd almost be tempted to watch just for them. But the rest was dullsville.

I've got it! Transport the cousins to Reign instead! Problem solved. And they won't really have to worry about changing their costumes for the period since the costumes on that show range in period from 16th-21st century anyway.

[CarBe]

I liked the show and will give it a few episodes. It's night soap opera fun. I find Liam and the American girl super boring but look forward to watching what happens between Eleanor and Jasper the bodyguard. Him turning the tables on her was the best part of the show. I am one of those who doesn't think he drugged her drink but only told her that after she told him she didn't remember what happened. He also looked kind of sick with himself at the mean things he was saying so I couldn't figure out his motivation for blackmailing her until I noticed, on the umpteenth re-watch of that scene, that his accent changes to an American one in the middle of him talking about her depraved acts. I initially thought the actor might be American playing British and couldn't hold the accent but he's definitley a Brit. So, I think there might be an American spy angle in there. I cannot wait until Joan Collins shows up.

[dr pepper]

>>>The guy admitted that he slipped something in her drink.  If he drugged her, then she can't consent and it's rape.  I also highly doubt that she consented to being recorded.

 

On a second viewing, I noticed that the first thing the bodyguard asked was, "How much do you remember?" When Eleanor answered, "Nothing," *then* he told her that he'd drugged her and recorded their subsequent activities.

 

 

I read that as he put something in her drink that she asked him to, and now she can't remember what followed.

[dr pepper]

Also: I'd like to see a scene where, just in passing, the camera catches the uncle reading one of Shakespear's works set during the Wars of the Roses.

 

Also, the cousins seem to act more like Paris Hilton and her crew, or maybe the Gabors, than like traditional aristocrats.

Edited March 20, 2015 by dr pepper

[gator12]

Edward VII was named Bertie. Edward VIII was named David.

Edward VII was name Albert Edward, Bertie was a nickname that the family had for him. Bertie seems to be a popular family nickname for Albert as that was what George VI was also call.

Edward VIII was name Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David.

I'm guessing you are talking about nickname?

[formerlyfreedom]

Since we have a strong suspicion that this show is not going to suddenly 'get it all right' in the coming episodes, let's take discussion of what they're getting WRONG over to the brand new 'Nitpicks' topic!

 

Thanks for posting!

[grisgris]

I had saved this for Friday night viewing and can't describe how disappointed I am. (It was my replacement for "Fashion Police.") The promos were far more interesting than the actual show. It's like the love child of "Dallas 2.0" and "Fashion House." Only in England.

[Timetoread]

I liked it.

[KFC]

You can tell this was edited and scenes were added from haircuts and Liam's facial hair. The problem is that two scenes I think were added were the Liam/King and Eleanor/Ophelia conversations, which were boring. And from his interview in EW, Schwahn seems to say that the sexy, fun stuff is just for the promos and we'll be getting more of the "family dynamics." So I'm not optimistic about the show's direction.

 

I admittedly didn't follow "One Tree Hill" all that closely, but the bolded part pretty much sums up what Mark Schwahn sounds like... misguided in what he's actually making and rather delusional about the end results. I seem to recall him saying how OTH was Emmy worthy at one point, if you can believe it.

 

Based on the promos, I was expecting trashy, wink-wink soapy fun, but instead I found the pilot dated in its snarky/"cool" references ("that's what she said" jokes? Really?) and almost like the writing was afraid to embrace the camp. Which made the whole thing drag. Add to it the emo-alt/rock soundtrack, and this show really comes across like something that would have been canceled after a CW summer run circa 2008. It's a shame, because a lot of the actors seem game for something campier. But Schwahn seems like the type who finds club scenes edgy and characters saying "whore" with a British accent sufficiently humorous. It's just kinda lazy and behind the times. Soaps these days move much quicker and are more frenetic and shocking.

[Bill C.]

Halfsies on having Elizabeth Hurley actually use the word "snatch," I suppose (and for justifying a lingerie shot--she's not regal enough for this, not yet, but I can't turn down a lingerie shot).  But you're right in that it's a little too deliberately snarky-dated...not too much, but enough that it can be a little jarring.

 

OTOH...

 

I had saved this for Friday night viewing and can't describe how disappointed I am. (It was my replacement for "Fashion Police.") The promos were far more interesting than the actual show. It's like the love child of "Dallas 2.0" and "Fashion House." Only in England.

 

OMFG, Fashion House.  We can only hope it embraces that level of cheese, grisgris...though it also took something like twenty episodes for a nightly series to get there.  Dallas, for better or worse, might actually be too high a bar.

[Neurochick]

I thought this show was supposed to be a comedy.

I have a feeling the oldest son isn't dead.

[MoonBeam]

I'm all in for this show. It's only the first show and those are usually the slowest due to introducing the characters and their storyline. I'll give it a chance. It has potential. Glad to hear it's already been picked up for a second season.

[CSunshine76]

Edward VII was name Albert Edward, Bertie was a nickname that the family had for him. Bertie seems to be a popular family nickname for Albert as that was what George VI was also call.

Edward VIII was name Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David.

I'm guessing you are talking about nickname?

And Liam is a nickname for William. Surely it's a nickname here and the future King is William.

[biakbiak]

Clever boy.

Fairly common skeezeball criminal.

[Jan Spears]

I finally caught up with the first episode last night.  I would agree with other posters that the show didn't know what it wanted to be.  Parts of it felt like classic Dynasty.  The dynamic between the King and Queen was like something out of Ordinary People.  The twins, who were one of the best things about the premiere, could have come straight from Absolutely Fabulous.  And the prince and his American girlfriend were standard WB/CW star-crossed lovers.

 

It was almost as if the producers had filmed four separate pilots and then stiched together scenes from each of them to form the premiere episode.  Here's hoping they get handle on things and develop a single point-of-view.

[Shugardrawers]

Saddest kind. She does the work, the other party gets the orgasms.

 

Which is why I have NEVER participated in online sex  Because one is jerking off while the other is doing all the work.  Pretty sad division of the work if you ask me! 

 

The character was born to a reigning British monarch, or the next in line at the time. He could have been given twenty names, but none would have been Liam, any more than William and Kate are going to drop Padraig or Seamus or Topher anywhere into their next kid's name. Further down the line is where you get Zara and Savannah and Mia, the less staid and traditional names.

 

I find the blatantly incorrect details here more amusing than anything else; should you really expect more from a One Tree Hill take on royalty brought to you on the network that long ago hitched their wagons to the Kardashians? I'm not sure how much of a problem it will be with in terms of a broader audience, but a show like this does attract an audience who actually follows real royalty enough to know right away what aspects they're getting blatantly wrong, and some will be irked to distraction, rather than rolling with it.

 

He probably does have 4 or 5 names.  Prince Charles Phillip Arthur George comes to mind.   Still......Liam?  That's a thoroughly Irish name!  

 

I was screaming at my tv "KILL HIM KILL HIM DEAD!!!!!" When the housemaid brought out her gun.  I know it won't happen but Prince Cyrus is so SLIMY~  BTW I realize I called him Simon earlier.  My mistake.  

[Ms Blue Jay]

Ophelia is awful, I don't like her.

 

I like the sister.

Everything else is ok.

[xtwheeler]

I agree Liam's name must truly be William, just like HRH Prince Harry is really Prince Henry. Upon ascension to the throne, a British monarch may choose to tule under any of his/her given names. There is speculation Charles will rule as George in honor of his grandfather.

You know, I think this could have been a lot more interesting if they made the Princess in line for the throne (pretending the new law in Britain was passed before she was born. It would be interesting to see that dynamic.

Oh, also, with regard to Prince Philip he was also a prince in his own right, so he does not just get the title for being married to the Queen. A queen by birth has a royal consort, just as Charles is expected to make Camilla Queen Consort, even though at their marriage the palace declared she would be styled "Princess Consort" upon him taking the throne. As she gets more popular and Diana fades, her odds of being Queen Consort go up.

All that said, I think it's a fun show and I'm willing to excuse their royal procedures. I'm interested to learn what happened to Robert.

[SmithW6079]

The character was born to a reigning British monarch, or the next in line at the time. He could have been given twenty names, but none would have been Liam, any more than William and Kate are going to drop Padraig or Seamus or Topher anywhere into their next kid's name.

"Liam" can be a shortened form of "William," which is likely the case, just as Prince Harry is formally Prince Henry.

[calmdown]

E! should stick to reality shows. This show is absolute sh.t. Like others have mentioned, there's no chemistry between the characters, the storyline seems shit and the casting was awful. Good idea, executed poorly.

[GaT]

Good idea, executed poorly.

I'm not even sure it was a good idea, they made the family British, like nobody has a clue who the real British royal family is. It's really hard to believe Liz Hurley in her skintight dresses when you know what the actual, real queen looks like.

[Miles]

I really thought this would be a lot more silly comedy. What I actually got was sadly a dull generic soap opera.

On 16.3.2015 at 4:32 AM, venusnv80 said:

I wouldn't have an issue with the prince and commoner if it was a new kind of commoner (maybe a women of color or something, that's new) or someone who the ACTUAL actor had chemistry with.

If it had been a dude, that could have been interesting. With all its implacations regarding the line of succession. Maybe the prince is even bi and his parents are preassuring him to find a nice girl to produce an heir, but he really loves the guy and wants to be with him, or something like that. That actually would have been fresh.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Miles