Alot of you seem to be echoing similar sentiments I held towards the show when it first premiered. I figured it would be another inauthentic portrayal of Rome with loads of senseless craptacular action in typical "hollywood" fashion ala Gladiator. However the historical authenticity, super high quality sets and actors( and I do mean HIGH quality; the first season alone cost over 100 million $) and the focus on political intrigue and character relationships rather than just battle scenes really set this apart from any tv series ive ever seen before.

People with low attention spans might get turned off from it quickly, but then again thats one of the things that made it so great for me.