The old-school epic makes a triumphant return in the summer series Empire

By ANDREW RYAN
Saturday, June 25, 2005 Page

These are the days of toga television. The reliable sword-and-sandal concept has been worked over thoroughly by Hollywood, so now comes the logical move to television. There haven't been this many laurel wreaths on TV since I, Claudius. Or possibly the last Summer Olympic games in Athens.

The past few years have seen moviegoers flood theatres to experience spear-clanging actioners like Gladiator, Troy and Kingdom of Heaven; Oliver Stone also released his long-awaited Alexander, but nobody noticed. The epic is a sturdy film staple dating back to Samson and Delilah, Spartacus and even the Hercules movies of the '50s. The genre resurfaces every few generations and if it works on the big screen, it should work on the small screen.

Fortunately there is no reduction of scope in the sprawling series Empire, which opens with a two-hour premiere and airs over the next four Tuesday nights.

By any standards, Empire is an epic. Filmed in high-definition, entirely on location in Rome and South Central Italy, the six-hour miniseries is a glossy soap opera set in Rome, circa 44 A.D. Executive-produced by the team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, Oscar-winners for Chicago, it's a pricey TV product, with eerily accurate sets and wardrobe, Roman chariots and, of course, the requisite dusty battle scenes with a cast of hundreds (which resembles a cast of thousands, courtesy of state-of-the-art computer-imaging).

The Empire cast represents an international assortment of well-regarded players from stage and screen, starting with Canadian thespian Colm Feore as the big man himself: Julius Augustus Caesar. Also in principal roles are British actor Jonathan Cake (First Knight), Venezuelan heartthrob Santiago Cabrera (Haven), 24's Dennis Haysbert and Trudie Styler, aka Mrs. Sting.

The storyline of Empire is taken from existing historical accounts of ancient Rome, with more than a few broad dashes of dramatic license merged within. As the story opens, Caesar returns home from the wars in Spain, victorious in battle but saddened to see his empire in near-ruin.

The once-respectable Senate has grown corrupt in Caesar's extended absence, and the most ambitious are intent on ruling Rome -- particularly Brutus (James Frain) and Cassius (Michael Maloney). The ensuing struggle for power rests on the broad shoulders of the fictional character Tyrannus (Cake), the greatest of all Roman gladiators.

Born and raised in slavery, Tyrannus is one fierce customer, the undisputed arena champion and the people's hero. After watching the great warrior in battle, a duly impressed Caesar offers Tyrannus his freedom in exchange for his service as confidante and protector.

The bond between the two men of honour is eventually shattered by the devious Brutus and Cassius who arrange the kidnapping of Tyrannus's young son. Tyrannus races to his child's rescue, but Caesar is attacked and mortally wounded in his absence. In his dying breath Caesar beseeches Tyrannus to protect his teenaged nephew Octavius (Cabrera), rightful heir to the Roman Empire. An oath is spoken.

And that's just the first hour. The remainder of Empire focuses on the necessary odd-couple alliance between the brutish Tyrannus and gentle Octavius, together forced to flee Rome to protect the latter from those who may recognize him as the last link in Caesar's bloodline. They are joined on their flight out of the city by the trustworthy soldier Agrippa (Chris Egan) and the ethereal Camane (Emily Blunt), a genuine Vestal virgin and mystic.

The subsequent years in exile harden Octavius and create a burning resolve to avenge his uncle's death. With Tyrannus's help, the boy becomes a man and also the leader of a devoted army of soldiers. Anyone even remotely familiar with the epic genre will be aware that Octavius's destiny lies in marching back to Rome. Even with its fabricated story elements, Empire is television on the grandest of scales. It's vastly superior to NBC's cartoonish miniseries Hercules, which aired last month, and it's precisely the sort of TV vehicle that could easily garner a substantial summertime audience. Broadcast in lush high-definition, Empire's high-end production values make it virtually indistinguishable from similarly themed feature films. Viewers will be tricked into thinking they've rented a DVD.

And prepare for more men in skirts on television this fall. HBO's loftiest project for the coming TV season: Rome, a 12-part dramatic series revolving around the lives and loves of two Roman soldiers. Early reports have pegged Rome as the most expensive project ever undertaken by the cable broadcaster, who already appears convinced it's going to be a hit with viewers: The second season was being prepared while they were still shooting the first. Well, when in Rome. . . n

By Vince Horiuchi Tribune Columnist

Hail Caesar! At least hail to "Empire," a surprisingly good six-part series on ABC that had me on the edge of my seat wondering if a young, inexperienced Roman lad was courageous enough to lead a warring country. "Empire," by the executive producers of the Oscar-winning "Chicago," premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. on KTVX Channel 4, and may be one of this year's most unexpected hits. What I thought would be a cheesy, cheap and clichéd sword-and-sandal series is in fact a fairly serious and dramatic story. I raise my sword in allegiance!

For one thing, "Empire" hardly professes to be the end-all of historically accurate epics. It first and foremost is an entertainment with plenty of political intrigue, decent sets and fine acting all around. It begins with the return of Julius Caesar ("Chicago's" Colm Feore) who has been in Spain while Rome was neglected by its powerful Senate. He is assassinated by the senators soon after announcing he would begin vast land reforms that would take away some of the Senate's property. With his dying words, the ruler asks his bodyguard, the fictional gladiator Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake, "First Knight"), to protect his nephew Octavius, whom he wills to be the next Caesar of Rome.

That launches a compelling journey for Octavius (Santiago Cabrera) and Tyrannus, who are on the run from corrupt senators who want to have Octavius killed in order to seize control of Rome. Meanwhile, the legendary Marc Antony (Vincent Regan, "Troy"), one of Julius Caesar's trusted generals, has his own plans to become ruler. Through the course of the series, Antony plots to have Octavius killed to become the new Caesar.

The network calls "Empire" "one of the most lavish and technically complex series ever to air on ABC in primetime," though it still falls far short of such truly epic productions as "Gladiator" or "Kingdom of Heaven." Yet what the series does with a limited television budget is fine. "Empire was filmed entirely in Italy, and makes fairly good use of its settings. And the sets, while too clean, are adequate. But what makes this breezy series shine is its fast-paced, gripping storyline of a young man, Octavius, and his efforts to regain control of the legacy left him by his uncle.

Part of the credit for that also is due to acting that doesn't revert to caricature, as do many costume dramas on television. Cake, as the noble Tyrannus, and Regan, as the politically astute Antony, are particularly believable in their roles. My initial impression was that "Empire" would be nothing more than a warm-up to a series about ancient Rome that HBO will air this fall, a mammoth production that is rumored to be the most expensive series ever made.

But "Empire" stands on its own. The whole six hours unfolds with an engrossing storyline and plenty of plot twists. So friends, Romans and countrymen, lend this series your eyes and ears. You may find it an entertaining way to spend part of the summer.

--- Television columnist Vince Horiuchi appears Mondays and Fridays. He can be reached at vince@sltrib.com.

It's more hysterical than historical

Thursday, June 23, 2005

BY ALAN SEPINWALL Star-Ledger Staff

Empire

(Starts Tuesday at 9 p.m., Ch. 7) A freed slave tries to protect Julius Caesar's chosen heir in a six-hour miniseries starring Jonathan Cake, Santiago Cabrera and Vincent Regan.

HISTORICAL miniseries are all the rage this summer. For the past few weeks, TNT has been bringing viewers back to where the buffalo roam with "Into the West," and starting Tuesday, ABC goes all the way back to Rome itself with "Empire."

The two sagas seem like polar opposites. "Into the West" is impeccably researched and noble minded, but duller than the worst social studies teacher you've ever had. "Empire" is historically absurd, loaded with fictional characters and events, but its campy inventiveness makes it vastly more engaging. You won't learn much about the actual birth of the Roman Empire, but the bread and circuses should keep you amused.

It's 44 BC and the Julius Caesar we meet (played by Colm Feore) isn't just a conquering hero, but a socialist one. He wants to disband the Senate, not for his own glory, but to redistribute the wealth of his fat-cat politician friends to the poor citizens of the Republic.

This naturally doesn't sit well with the senators, who, led by Cassius (Michael Maloney) and Brutus (James Frain), ventilate Caesar on the Ides of March. ("Et tu, Brute?" becomes "And you, my son?" in this version.)

Caesar's bloody death happens early in the miniseries' first hour, and from there on, it's a mad three-way scramble for control of Rome between Cassius and his cronies, military leader Marc Antony (Vincent Regan), and Caesar's teenage nephew -- and designated heir -- Octavius (Santiago Cabrera).

Ordinarily, the callow Octavius would be lion meat against such fierce competition, but he has a strong ally in Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake), the Michael Jordan of ancient Roman gladiators. (At a camp for gladiator training, one slave gripes that an instructor has stolen Tyrannus' signature move.) Shortly before Caesar's death, Caesar asks Tyrannus to protect his nephew from all comers.

Octavius (later to become Augustus) was real, while Tyrannus is fictional, but it's clear the producers of "Empire" are more interested in their own creation. And why not? As played by Cabrera, Octavius is a vacant pretty boy. Even when he develops a spine in the later chapters, he's still no match for the brooding, butt-kicking Tyrannus, who twirls swords in both hands and constantly broods over the family he sent into exile so he could play bodyguard to this dumb kid. The beefy Cake isn't Russell Crowe, but he's a close enough approximation for TV purposes.

The international cast introduces a variety of foreign accents to ancient Rome -- one prison guard sounds like he's auditioning to play the Brooklyn guy in a '50s W.W. II movie -- but the core actors serve as a reminder of the gravity classically trained British actors can lend to the silliest of material.

As the story moves on, we find the producers borrowing not just from "Gladiator" but "Desperate Housewives," in a subplot that finds the philandering Antony henpecked by his wife. And, of course, there's a lengthy orgy sequence in the fourth hour, just in case anyone thought "Animal House" invented toga parties.

"Empire" was originally planned for eight hours, but a variety of production difficulties -- not to mention HBO's similar "Rome," set to debut this fall -- caused ABC execs to trim it down to six. That's not really obvious until the final two chapters, when events happen so quickly (notably the scandalous affair between Octavius and a vestal virgin) that it's a wonder the actors can get all their dialogue out in the limited time remaining.

In the end, I come to praise "Empire" as fine fluffy summer viewing. TO-GA! TO-GA! TO-GA!

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at asepinwall@starledger.com, or by writing him at 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J. 07102-1200.

Santiago Cabrera is Julius Caesar's nephew in ABC's drama.

Empire
By Barry Garron
June 24, 2005

Bottom line: Ancient Roman drama dominated by gladiatorial action and endless carnage.
9-11 p.m. Tuesday, ABC Summer, being the traditional time for archeological digs, it seems only right for ABC to present "Empire," a six-hour epic drama set in ancient Rome. In this creative history project, Julius Caesar (Colm Feore) designates his nephew Octavius (Santiago Cabrera) to succeed him. However, except for his mother, Octavius doesn't have much support in his corner.

Some of the senators who took turns sticking knives in Caesar think they should rule. So does Marc Antony (Vincent Regan), a Caesar loyalist who thinks his leadership of the Roman Army should put him in line to be the next Roman CEO. Even Octavius can't understand why his uncle chose him, a shallow sheath-chasing, orgy-loving guy. Fortunately for Octavius, Caesar, just before he died, recruited gladiator champ and former slave Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake) to serve as mentor and protector. Also behind Octavius is Camane (Emily Blunt), a Vestal virgin who, over time, gets sorely tempted to find a new line of work.

Part "Arthur," part "Star Wars," "Empire" just aims to fill the screen with action and intrigue. It follows the adventures of Octavius and Tyrannus through prisons, sword fights and political scheming. It is a spectacle with production values so grand you half expect to see Robert Halmi's name pop up on the credits. Unlike Halmi's visits to antiquity, though, "Empire" draws more energy from smart dialogue and less from special effects.

In the two-hour opener (succeeding episodes are only one hour and run at 10 p.m. Tuesdays), a conquering Caesar returns to an adoring Rome and a conniving Senate. If you were assigned to read Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," you know what happens next. While Antony's funeral speech here won't make anyone forget the Bard, writer Chip Johannessen nonetheless provides some great lines, and Regan rises to the occasion.

In "Empire," Octavius undergoes the dramatic transformation, but the more interesting character by far is Tyrannus, played by Cake with soulful expression and heroic demeanor. Not surprisingly then, the penultimate episode, in which the two men go their own ways and the focus is largely on a weepy Octavius, is by far the least compelling of the series.

Although Director Greg Yaitanes does not revel in the bloodshed, "Empire" will be hard on the squeamish. Yaitanes takes full advantage of location shooting in Italy, capturing the scenic splendor. Cinematic values inside Cinecitta Studios (formerly Dino De Laurentiis Studios) are equally demanding. Also, true to historic cinematic precedent, nearly all Romans speak with British accents.

EMPIRE

ABC
Taranus Ltd. in association with Storyline Entertainment
Credits:
Executive producers: Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Jony Jonas, Chip Johannessen, Tom Wheeler
Producers: Jacobus Rose, Carrie Henderson
Co-producer: Julie Herlocker
Director: Greg Yaitanes
Writers: Tom Wheeler, Chip Johannessen
Director of photography: Daniele Nannuzzi
Production designer: Alison Riva
Editor: Marilyn Moore
Music: Richard Marvin
Costume designer: Alberto Spiazzi
Set decorator: Stefano Paltrinieri
Casting: Linda Lowy, John Brace
Cast:
Tyrannus: Jonathan Cake
Octavius: Santiago Cabrera
Camane: Emily Blunt
Marc Antony: Vincent Regan
Julius Caesar: Colm Feore
Brutus: James Frain
Cassius: Michael Maloney
Cicero: Michael Byrne
Magonius: Dennis Haysbert
Agrippa: Chris Egan

New miniseries prove bigger isn't always better

By NEAL JUSTIN, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Almost any convenience store worth its weight in Hostess Twinkies offers a 64-ounce option in fountain drinks. That's ridiculous, since nobody requires that much liquid at one time, unless they just finished a marathon across the Mojave Desert or have a bladder the size of a compact car. That's sort of how I feel about miniseries. They've become TV's version of the Big Gulp. They're too long, artificial-tasting and, by the time you get to the end, everything's gone flat.

Three major miniseries debut over the next few weeks - "Empire Falls, "Into the West" and "Empire" - and only one didn't leave me feeling bloated.// On paper, "Empire Falls" seems the most promising. It's based on Richard Russo's bestselling book and stars the likes of Paul Newman, Ed Harris and Helen Hunt. It's also on HBO, which gears up for this kind of thing. There's just one problem: It's a huge bore.

The setting is a dying river burg in Maine that never has recovered from the closing of its mills. Only the matriarch of the wealthy Whiting family (a properly brittle Joanne Woodward) has prospered, and she makes certain that there's no room for others near her mansion on the hill. Her favorite puppet: Miles Roby, an unambitious diner manager (Harris) who's afraid to dream beyond making the perfect burger.

Except for an explosive, disturbing finale, that's pretty much all that happens. And while you think the all-star cast would add fire, it actually has the opposite effect. Yeah, it's interesting to hear Hunt sink her teeth into a juicy Maine accent, and Newman, playing a unwashed derelict, sports a cluttered beard that just might be his squirreliest co-star since Robert Redford. But you don't buy that any of these bigger-than-life actors would really be trapped in Crabville, USA.

I found it as disconcerting as "About Schmidt," a cleverly written, well-directed film that made the horrendous mistake of casting Jack Nicholson as an inarticulate wallflower. Yeah, maybe standing next to Caligula.

"Empire Falls" would have been better off casting lesser names, such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, who shows up as a mysterious man from Roby's past; Hoffman would have made a much better Roby than Harris, who's still burdened by his old John Glenn aura of bravado. It also would be better under two hours. If we wanted to spend that much time exploring small-town life, we'd turn off the TV and drive to Winona.

TNT's "Into the West," on the other hand, covers too much ground. It spans 12 hours over six nights in its effort to explain a considerable hunk of 19th-century America through the eyes of two fictional families, one from a Lakota tribe, the other from Virginia.

After watching the first three installments, I felt like I had just relived a semester of my American history course in college, except this time I wasn't hung over. It's as if executive producer Steven Spielberg wanted to cram in every important milestone. (Gold Rush? Check. Pony Express? Check. Civil War? Check.) The characters' stories get thrown into the back of the covered wagon.

Like "Empire Falls," the production boasts an impressive cast, but the faces fly by so fast that you don't get much of a chance to enjoy them. It had completely slipped my mind that Gary Busey makes an appearance as a tough-talking cowboy until I looked at my notes just two days later. If you forget Busey, you know something's wrong.

"Empire," which debuts June 28 on ABC, doesn't have any big stars, but it does tell one whopper of a story. I missed the recent sandals-and-toga big-screen epics "Alexander" and "Troy" (I was too engrossed in the Greek tragedy "Desperate Housewives"), but after watching this six-hour event, I can't see how those movies missed.

"Empire" covers the trials and tribulations of Octavius (chiseled hunk Santiago Cabrera), the nephew whom Julius Caesar named his heir after being stabbed by the Roman Senate. The leader-to-be is really just a spoiled brat, and those around him are eager to throw him to the lions. But a beefy slave, a fictional character named Tyrannus, becomes his Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the two face down one challenge after another.

Historians, like the ones who put together "Into the West," probably will shudder at the liberties taken here, but if it's a good ol' fashioned gladiator movie you seek, this is it.

The language isn't snooty (Marc Anthony's "lend me your ears" speech now sounds more like a coach's pep talk at halftime), and the cast has great fun.

Tyrannus is played with brooding perfection by Jonathan Cake, who looks a lot like the plumber on "Desperate Housewives." (I told you I was watching too much of that show!) And Vincent Regan is dead on as Anthony, adding so much glee and menace to the performance that I kept waiting for him to let loose with one of Ray Liotta's cackles from "Something Wild."

This miniseries ends too soon. I wanted one more battle, one more twist. I couldn't say that about "Empire Falls" and "Into the West." With those, I just wanted a nap.

Friday, June 24, 2005
By Nancy DeWolf smith, The Wall Street Journal

"Empire," an ABC miniseries set in ancient Rome, breaks no new ground in what might be called the toga-drama department. But it does build on the old foundation to surprisingly pleasing effect. (The first of five episodes begins Tuesday, 9-11 p.m.) The basic tableau of historical characters -- Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, "Et Tu" Brutus et al. -- is familiar from TNT's 2003 extravaganza, "Caesar," and will pop up again this fall on HBO's "Rome." Set mainly in the years after Julius Caesar's murder, "Empire" revolves around what might be called the wilderness years of his nephew and heir-designate, Octavius. Helping him escape from assassins is an undefeated (fictitious) gladiator named Tyrannus.

This is the kind of show where the colorful cast of thousands appears to be cheering in Croatian, but it's probably Italian. "Empire" was filmed in Italy amid spectacular natural scenery. According to ABC, the costumes used up more than 6,000 yards of fabric, and the set for Mark Anthony's villa alone involved the creation of "72,000 fake Roman bricks." There is lots of stabbing with, one hopes, fake swords, too.

Almost anybody in a toga looks silly, and an early scene where young Octavius drools over a forbidden vestal virgin threatens to turn this into "The O.C. Goes to B.C." But thanks to powerful acting by the (often British) main cast, a fast pace and several suspenseful storylines, the two-hour pilot leaves you hanging, and hankering for more.

TV & RADIO
June 9, 2005
Summer sagas aim to draw viewers

By Diane Holloway
Cox News Service

AUSTIN, Texas -- Big, sweeping period pieces -- a beautiful blending of history and fiction. Is this the next trend in summer programming?

Maybe, depending on how two multimillion-dollar miniseries are received by a nation of air-conditioned viewers this month.

TNT enters the sweepstakes first, with Steven Spielberg's mammoth 12-hour "Into the West," which rolls out Friday and continues for five more Fridays with two-hour installments each week. The saga follows two multigenerational families -- white settlers from Virginia and Lakota Indians of the American frontier -- from 1825 to the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890.

It was filmed in New Mexico and Canada over the course of six months. Each installment has a different director, including Simon Wincer, who helmed TV's all-time classic western, "Lonesome Dove." The price tag? About $50 million.

Beginning June 28 and continuing for four consecutive Tuesdays, ABC's "Empire," at about half the cost of Spielberg's series, focuses on Julius Caesar's nephew Octavius, the fictional gladiator Tyrannus who is sworn to protect him and the nasty battle for power after Caesar's murder.

Filmed over several months in Rome and southern Italy, the production is the kind of lavish epic, like "The Winds of War" and "The Thorn Birds," that commercial networks used to put on during sweeps periods.

Industry experts will watch closely the performance of both productions. Typically, network audience levels drop by more than a third in the summer, and cable audience's grow by about the same amount.

"Into the West" is compelling for its authenticity, from subtitles for Lakota characters speaking in their native language to details of the California gold rush to the building of the transcontinental railroad.

But the miniseries is really too big to tell intimate stories or dig deeply into the vast array of characters. The result is a crazy quilt of stories, leaping from Jacob Wheeler (Matthew Settle), who leaves Virginia to seek adventure in the West and marries a young Lakota woman (Tonantzin Carmelo), to Lakota brothers struggling to hold onto the culture and spiritual traditions of their people.

This overall culture clash is more interesting than the individual stories, which flash by too quickly and too superficially to spark an emotional connection. The cast includes Gary Busey, Beau Bridges, Jessica Capshaw, Irene Bedard, Matthew Modine, Tom Berenger, Keith Carradine and Joanna Going. As you'd expect of any historical production from Spielberg and DreamWorks, the production has almost as many experts and advisers as it has actors and buffalo. But what "Into the West" lacks in heart, it makes up for in spectacle and beauty. The cinematography is breathtaking, especially one thunderous scene involving a buffalo stampede, and the music is appropriately grand, too.

"Empire" boasts an intriguing story and characters you can sink your summer teeth into. This one has romance, intrigue, history, violence and tragedy. The curtain rises as Julius Caesar (Colm Feore) returns from spreading his empire to find that the Senate is drunk on its own power and rolling in corruption. Brutus (James Frain) and Cassius are plotting against him but having no luck getting Caesar loyalist Marc Antony (Vincent Regan) to join their cause. The production re-created arenas in Italy for gladiator fights, the Senate and even Marc Antony's villa.

If these mega-minis spark a crowd, summer television will be ripe for more "event" programming.

Entertainment Weekly

print issue, June 10, 2005, feature - Hot Summer TV

Empire, ABC June 28, 9 p.m

STARRING Santiago Cabrera, Dennis Haysbert, Jonathan Cake

WHAT IT'S ABOUT A $30 million, five-part limited series from executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan (Annie) chronicling Caesar's murder and the subsequent rise of his nephew Octavius to power. Hey, ABC wouldn't be trying to trump the fall debut of the HBO series Rome? Naaaaah.

WHAT TO EXPECT Well, it's no Roman holiday. Expect lots of Brutus-style backstabbing. ''Octavius is anointed to be Caesar's replacement but the senate turns against him, so his nephew has to escape,'' explains Meron. ''He is protected by a gladiator, Tyrannus, who turns Octavius into a leader. But it's a battle!''

WHY WE'RE OPTIMISTIC Yes, we know ABC pushed this to June after touting it as a television ''event'' for last season, but that's okay — it's still a flashy period soap starring a lot of buff men in tunics.

Sounds like summer to us! —by Lynette Rice

Summer TV offers some hot prospects
By MIKE MCDANIEL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Bobby Brown, Tommy Lee, Jerry Hall, Tommy Hilfiger and (oh, brother) more Big Brother — television's going gonzo over reality this summer. But scripted programming will also be served in substantial proportions.

And this year, cable's not the only summer player.

The broadcast networks previously ceded summer to cable, content to count their money as reruns ruled. But with cable drawing viewers from the broadcast channels, and with reruns proving to be ratings losers, the Big Boys are playing summer ball. There will still be more reruns than you can count, but new shows are coming, too.

It's all part of that "year-round scheduling" talk you've been hearing about from network execs. Summer is too important to ignore anymore.

We count 76 new shows — series, movies, documentaries — airing between now and September. A third of them are broadcast.

Empire. Well-acted, well-produced six-hour drama about the fall of Julius Caesar and the fight between two men to succeed him. Jonathan Cake mesmerizes in ABC's epic six-parter. From the makers of Chicago. June 28, ABC

By Ann Oldenburg
Wed Jun 1, 6:33 AM ET

Summer TV tends to be like summer beach reading - light 'n' fluffy, nothing too heavy for long sunny days when viewership usually drops.

Collectively, the six networks lost 7% of their audience last summer, compared with the summer before, and 38% of their regular-season audience, according to Nielsen data through mid-August 2004.

Cable channels usually see the season as a time to lure viewers.

Now, it's another mixed bag. A wave of reality shows is on the horizon, but the next few months also offer some big-event dramas, starting tonight and continuing through August on cable and broadcast. USA TODAY scoured the schedules and found six particularly noteworthy TV series airing this summer.........

June 28, 9 p.m. ET/PT, ABC, six hours (two-hour premiere, four one-hour episodes)

Concept: The sweeping drama filmed entirely in Rome and south-central Italy focuses on Julius Caesar's nephew Octavius, who is destined to become the Emperor Augustus and inherit the throne.

Why it'll be hot: It's epic and features intense gladiator battles, along with a lot of Roman intrigue and backstabbing, and a young new actor, Santiago Cabrera, 27, in the role of Octavius.

A soccer player through college, Cabrera is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Italian. He considers Santiago, Chile, his hometown, and he lives in London. This is his American television debut.

"I was happy from the word 'Go,' from the moment I got the part," he says from London, where he will soon start shooting a romantic comedy called Love and Other Disasters with Brittany Murphy. Audiences will like Empire, he says, because "I guarantee it gets better and better. The more it goes on, the more you care."

Also look for Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, as Servilia, mother of Brutus; Dennis Hays-bert (former president on 24) in the role of fictional retired general Magonius; and James Frain (Paul Raines on 24) as Brutus.

By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES ~ ABC is gambling that summer viewers might enjoy a Roman holiday, circa 40 B.C.

Movie theaters are dominated by various kinds of blockbusters at this time of year, "Empire" executive producer Tony Jonas figures, so maybe the same approach will work on the small screen.

In this handout photo provided by ABC television, a scene from 'Empire,' an epic six-hour summer drama series is shown in an undated photo. The series, from the executive producers of the Academy Award-winning 'Chicago,' will have a special two-hour premiere, Tuesday, June 28 on the ABC Television Network. The sweeping limited drama series, filmed entirely in Rome and South Central Italy, focuses on Julius Caesar's nephew, Octavius, who is forced into exile after Caesar's murder, and a fictional disgraced gladiator, Tyrannus, who has sworn to protect him. (AP Photo/ABC, Bob D'Amico)

"While the rest of television is doing reality shows, you're going to have this gigantic, sumptuous epic that, hopefully, comes into the American consciousness as feature films have been doing for so long," Jonas said.

ABC's ratings success also affected scheduling for "Empire." Enjoying a resurgence with newly minted hits including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," the network kept its regular-season lineup intact.

A summer airing offered two advantages, according to Quinn Taylor, the network's senior vice president for TV movies. The National Basketball Association finals on ABC create a strong promotional base for the series, he said.

And as one of the few pieces of original drama on broadcast TV this summer, "Empire" is counterprogramming both to reality shows and to cable's flood of fiction that includes HBO's "Six Feet Under."

Billed as a six-hour limited series, "Empire" begins with the assassination of Julius Caesar and follows a dramatized version of the ascension of his nephew and heir, the teenage Octavius.

The series debuts with a two-hour episode at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday followed by hourlong episodes on four successive Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EDT. (Cautionary note to students: Don't attempt to base a term paper on "Empire," which occasionally swaps historical accuracy for dramatic effect in time-honored Hollywood fashion.)

Despite early media buzz that had its fate in jeopardy, "Empire" is a richly cinematic and impressive production. A solid ensemble of mostly British actors is at ease in togas and carrying the weight of epic storytelling.

Among the cast: Colm Feore as Caesar; Santiago Cabrera as Octavius; Vincent Regan as Marc Antony and Emily Blunt as Camane. Jonathan Cake plays the pivotal and fictional character of Tyrannus, a gladiator who becomes Octavius' protector and mentor.

The avoidance of American actors (one exception is Dennis Haysbert of "24") was a deliberate bid to keep well-known faces out of the drama, Jonas said. He also figures British accents help suggest an ancient and removed era.

"The idea was what can we do to ease our audience into what's kind of a difficult buy, which is to traverse 2,000 years," Jonas said.

Cake, who stars this fall in NBC's new drama "Inconceivable," drew closer to Tyrannus â€" a principled man and ex-slave who's ferocious in battle â€" by doing his own stunt work. The athletic actor, a rugby fan, worked out with a trainer for months prior to filming in Rome last year.

"Getting a lump or bruise or cut on the hand makes you feel a little bit less like the cosseted, very spoiled actor that you are if you're doing a production where everybody's treating you nicely and asking if you want a cup of coffee," he said.

There was some risk given that real swords were used in close-ups to provide authenticity. In a scene in which Tyrannus fights to free his son from kidnappers in an ancient and musty underground temple, a cut quickly became infected and required a hospital visit for Cake.

(His five months in Italy, however, ended on a high note: He and actress Julianne Nicholson were married there after filming wrapped.)

Besides positioning itself as a TV-sized blockbuster, "Empire" seems to be aping the movies by beating a competitor to the screen. HBO is bringing the 12-part drama series "Rome, " set in 52 B.C., on in the fall.

"We were filming at exactly the same time," recalled Cake. "We'd meet up in Roman restaurants to have a 'hands across the Tiber (river)' evening to compare notes on our productions."

The joking suggestion was made that he and a "Rome" actor whose character was also handy with a sword should "just go at it to settle the whole thing." A tale of two soldiers who become involved in the sweep of events, "Rome" is being positioned by HBO as a potential continuing series. Jonas would like to see the same for "Empire," and is ready if viewers give it an arena-style thumbs-up.

"There's closure in Episode 6, but there are story lines that could launch right out in more quests for power," he said. "It's not being tied up in a nice little ribbon."

TV Recently Reviewed

Posted: Sun., Jun. 26, 2005, 6:00am PT

Filmed in Italy by Taranus Ltd. in association with Storyline Entertainment and Touchstone Television.
Executive producers, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Tony Jonas, Chip Johannessen, Tom Wheeler;
Producers, Jacobus Rose, Carrie Henderson;
Director, Greg Yaitanes;
Writers, Wheeler, Johannessen.
Cast:
Tyrannus - Jonathan Cake
Octavius - Santiago Cabrera
Camane - Emily Blunt
Marc Antony - Vincent Regan
Servilla - Trudie Styler Brutus -
James Frain Julius Caesar - Colm Feore
Cicero - Michael Byrne
Cassius - Michael Maloney
Agrippa - Chris Egan

By BRIAN LOWRY

  "Empire" won't make anyone forget "Gladiator" or "I, Claudius," but somewhere amid its watered-down elements of both lies a fairly entertaining limited series -- a pleasant surprise in light of its torturous history, which included an on-set fire and whittling the project down by a quarter. Although it's questionable how many will show up in the heat of summer for ABC's get-there-first ploy vs. HBO's upcoming "Rome," those that do should check their brains, dish up some pasta and enjoy the ride.

In the fashion of a typical quest tale, a teenage youth must grow up fast after the Roman Senate murders his uncle, who happens to be Julius Caesar (Colm Feore). Before he breathes his last, Caesar charges a champion gladiator, Tyrannus (Jonathan Cake), with keeping the kid alive and toughening him up enough to rule.

That's no small task, since Octavius (Santiago Cabrera) is a spoiled patrician, and the Senate, under the stewardship of sneering Cassius (Michael Maloney), wants to do him in to prevent the threat of civil war.

So off Tyrannus and Octavius go, through a gantlet of ordeals that inevitably seems to end with them galloping across the countryside as the music swells. Pivotal in the would-be Caesar's future, meanwhile, is whether he can secure the allegiance of Marc Antony (well played by Vincent Regan), a Caesar confidante whose motives remain unclear, since his late friend didn't see fit to pass him the scepter.

For all the opulent sets, the early going proves too chatty, and the action sequences don't yield many sparks other than a very cool baton-twirling motion that Tyrannus does with his swords.

Nevertheless, the project is well cast and moves reasonably smoothly from one peril to the next, as Octavius seeks to rally army legions behind him while never being entirely sure whom to trust beyond his burly guardian and Camane (Emily Blunt), a Vestal virgin who risks much -- including the safety of her religious order -- by assisting him.

At times the narrative feels a trifle chaotic, though that's in keeping with the disorder that unfolds in hourlong installments after the initial two-hour launch. On the plus side, there's sharp dialogue delivered by talented performers, such as Brutus (James Frain, most recently seen in "24") lamenting that he has become "a political actor, in a drama that's fast becoming a farce." Et tu, indeed.

Cake brings an imposing physical presence to his role, while Cabrera has the more thankless task, asked to transition from brat to inspirational leader in a too-modest span.

The final result is pretty formulaic -- essentially "Gladiator Minimus" -- leaving HBO ample room to operate on higher (and racier) ground. An orgy sequence in a later episode, for example, really isn't much more revealing than the average shampoo commercial.

Nevertheless, it's not a bad trek, and there's nothing that says two nets can't dial up the same historical era, so long as both adequately cover their Roman charges.

Camera, Daniele Nannuzzi; production design, Alison Riva; editor, Chris Willingham; music, Richard Marvin; visual effects supervisor, Jay Mark Johnson; casting, Linda Lowry, John Brace. 6 HOURS.

EMPIRE, A Bit of Fun


James Frain on the production of "Empire"

This is fun...this is a piece of entertainment......and that's why it made me think of "Shakespeare In Love," because it's like.."Shakespeare In Love" is kind of set in the Renaissance, but it's not really, it's really about now. It takes real historical characters and it has a bit of fun with them. And that's what Empire does. It takes these people that we know; We have sort of a vague sense of Julius Caesar and Brutus and all these guys and then just kind of plays with them a bit....it just has a bit of fun imagining what might have happened.....If they'd met this guy then......and that had happened......what about if he falls in love with him.....and what about if Brutus had a really pushy mother, which it turns out he does, you know, in our show....Well, maybe he did in history and maybe he didn't, who cares? It's a bit of fun.

IMDB link for Empire