if you wanted to make a sexy soap opera, you could definitely do worse than August the Strong
Very true. Mind you, because of its reputation as the big GDR prestige tv effort, I was expecting v.v. serious tv, not trashy fun, but I'm all for it! I'm also getting a kick out of imagining the scriptwriters embracing all the trashiness in a way they never could have if they'd been given a contemporary subject. Although even within that parameter, some of the scriptwriting choices are weird, such as:
uh, real life meeting of Anna and August seems much cooler than what they actually went with??
Indeed. Not only was the rl first meeting cooler but intensely visual and thus ideal for tv, one should think. Unless they had already blown all the budget (the Countess Cosel story was filmed last, wiki says, though it takes place first) and couldn't afford faking a 18th century palace burning. Then again, wiki also says the beauty competition thing hails straight from the novel and has no basis in history, so I guess you can blame the 19th century novelist.
FW: only has two scenes in this entire series, yes manages to be instantly recognizable and ic in both. :) And yeah, I totally buy that even ambitious pages in Saxony and Poland would have had his number at this point.
"Leutnant Keith" being two boyfriends and a page in one person: I guess given the focus of this show on Saxons and Prussians really becoming relevant only in the last two eps, it's understandable, but it still feels weird if you know anything about history.
Re: Sachsens Glanz und Preußens Gloria: A Miniseries in six parts (A)
Very true. Mind you, because of its reputation as the big GDR prestige tv effort, I was expecting v.v. serious tv, not trashy fun, but I'm all for it! I'm also getting a kick out of imagining the scriptwriters embracing all the trashiness in a way they never could have if they'd been given a contemporary subject. Although even within that parameter, some of the scriptwriting choices are weird, such as:
uh, real life meeting of Anna and August seems much cooler than what they actually went with??
Indeed. Not only was the rl first meeting cooler but intensely visual and thus ideal for tv, one should think. Unless they had already blown all the budget (the Countess Cosel story was filmed last, wiki says, though it takes place first) and couldn't afford faking a 18th century palace burning. Then again, wiki also says the beauty competition thing hails straight from the novel and has no basis in history, so I guess you can blame the 19th century novelist.
FW: only has two scenes in this entire series, yes manages to be instantly recognizable and ic in both. :) And yeah, I totally buy that even ambitious pages in Saxony and Poland would have had his number at this point.
"Leutnant Keith" being two boyfriends and a page in one person: I guess given the focus of this show on Saxons and Prussians really becoming relevant only in the last two eps, it's understandable, but it still feels weird if you know anything about history.