The Tudors
SHOWTIME | Release Date: April 1, 2007
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 55 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
22
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 3 Review: The Tudors, Showtime's all-of-the-above series, comes roaring back Sunday night as fresh as its first season. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 2 Review: Hirst, Rhys Meyers and the rest of the cast (and Bergin's costumes) make it all somehow meatier but no less entertaining in Season 2. Read full review
100
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 1 Review: Showtime's glorious, gorgeous "The Tudors" is the best series since "The Sopranos." Period. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorGloria Goodale
Season 1 Review: Now that lusty and incredibly bloodthirsty historical dramas have proven their power on premium cable (think HBO's "Rome"), Showtime is jumping in the act with a portrait of one of history's most notorious womanizers and political schemers. Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 2 Review: The Tudors comes back enriched and improved. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyAubry D'Arminio
Season 3 Review: Despite taking place during the king's historically yucky later life (sexing up an ulcerated leg is hard), season 3 stays hot. Read full review
83
Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard
Season 4 Review: It’s a shame “The Tudors” is coming to a close. As Hirst has noted, there are generations of stories yet to tell. Count on this series to end on a royally good note Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 2 Review: The Tudors is loads of addictive fun, filled with intrigue, the delicious papal stylings of Peter O'Toole, and that old stand-by, hot sex. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond
Season 2 Review: The acting here is first-rate, the details sharp and the cinematography superb. In other words, Tudors hasn't lost a step. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 2 Review: The sexy, sudsy historical drama returns without missing a beat. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)John Leonard
Season 2 Review: The Reformation is what this equally entertaining second season is about, plus ditching the brunette, Anne Boleyn (Natalie Dormer), in favor of the blonde, Jane Seymour (Anita Briem). Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 2 Review: I find I’m even more enthralled by Showtime’s costume melodrama The Tudors than I was a year ago. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyRobert Abele
Season 1 Review: With everyone's motivations in this handsomely mounted but adrenaline-fueled series so on-the-surface, Dormer's enigmatic, time-halting loveliness [as Anne Boleyn] is a boon for The Tudors, and damn near worth losing your head over. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron
Season 1 Review: The series, a feast for the eyes, boasts stellar performances and a historically authentic aura but only occasional flashes of the kind of action and suspense you might expect from such a period piece. Read full review
80
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: A highly entertaining and addictive costume drama. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom Gliatto
Season 4 Review: Tudor history is irresistible, even if the bedroom gymnastics here seem more in keeping with the Playboy Mansion than a royal palace. [19 Apr 2010, p.47]
75
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 2 Review: The acting, led by Rhys Meyers, is solid. The costumes and production are good and the dialogue smooth, though one wonders if clergy in the 16th century really used the word "newfangled." Read full review
75
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 2 Review: It's not quite as randy--it's become less of a soap and more of a historical drama. This is not to say it's not great. Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom Gliatto
Season 1 Review: The show is a lusty soap opera that aspires to the pulsating, cutting-edge glamour of Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth. It's a little ham-fisted for that. [2 Apr 2007, p.37]
75
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: Despite some passing references to Henry's fondness for "humanism" and new, middle-class men, no one is likely to mistake The Tudors for a treatise on the socioeconomic pressures that reshaped England during Henry's reign. Still, the show does a fine job of showing the interplay of passions and politics that shaped so many of his decisions. Read full review
75
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: Although it's not quite as much smart, trashy fun as "Rome," it is still an engaging romp that moves along at a stylish pace. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: With all the intrigue of a Shakespearean drama and all the coiled intensity of youthful power-brokering and rampant sexuality, it's hard to not like this version of Henry VIII. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 3 Review: Even those whose historical knowledge goes no further than the whole "six wives" thing can ascertain that the future doesn't bode well for poor Jane, but the particulars remain fascinating amid all the bodice ripping, torture and jockeying for the king's favor. Read full review
70
PopMattersTodd R. Ramlow
Season 3 Review: This relationship between king and subjects is the driving concern of Season Three, and marks a welcome departure from the show’s previous focus on the personal drives and desires of Henry VIII. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 4 Review: I wouldn't recommend taking every word of "The Tudors" as fact, much less citing it in a term paper, but as historical fiction, it's proven remarkably robust. Read full review
70
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 2 Review: This is a season of politics and principles, of might and martyrdom. If you're here just for the sex, you're likely to be disappointed, unless the trysts of relatively minor characters interest you as much as Henry's. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: Less lurid than HBO's Rome, yet still quite the pageant of pomp and friskiness, it's a throwback to the old-fashioned miniseries of yore, spiced with pay-cable frankness. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith
Season 1 Review: Good fun, and not as bastardized as its advertising campaign suggests. Read full review
70
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: Do we ever feel as if we're really there, in Henry's court, half a millennium ago? Perhaps not, but a splendid cast and sumptuous production details make "The Tudors" a rollicking and resplendent show, if never a deeply affecting one. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Season 1 Review: In fact, "The Tudors" suffers from being merely capable on most fronts, a decent diversion. The direction is effective but artistically flat, and so are several scripts. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Even though "The Tudors" adds another jewel to the crown Showtime has been forging of late, this particular jewel isn't all that dazzling. Read full review
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