History Channel's 'Vikings'

[Donnie Darko]

Aren't the Bible ratings through the roof, though?

 

[James]

Bible whatnow?

 

[Forever Rud]

There's a thread here discussing it:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=452219

It's first outing got through-the-roof ratings.

 

[squeekness]

Aren't the Bible ratings through the roof, though?

Not from what I have been reading in the entertainment mags. Said they changed some things like having Abraham actually kill his son Issac when that wasn't what happened, ect. I have no desire to watch it.

 

[Dangerman]

Not from what I have been reading in the entertainment mags. Said they changed some things like having Abraham actually kill his son Issac when that wasn't what happened, ect. I have no desire to watch it.

Then the mags you read are wrong. They didn't have him kill his son on the show. Actually everything on the show have been pretty spot on just a little rushed though.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Wrong thread :/

 

[squeekness]

Then the mags you read are wrong. They didn't have him kill his son on the show. Actually everything on the show have been pretty spot on just a little rushed though.

Yeah, I just watched it and while it was rushed and awful like you said, the mags were wrong. Didn't mean the crappy review they gave it was off though. Vikings was significantly better in every way possible.

 

[Forever Rud]

I was surprised to see that the Vikings did not have compasses . . and learned through a little web research that the magnetic compass wasn't really used in Europe until almost 500 years after Vikings is set! I couldn't find any reference to the real-life Ragnar inventing a sun-circle device for navigating like they showed in the first episode.

➽ In the 1958 movie 'The Vikings' , Ernest Borgnine played this very same Ragnar, but with a more cosmopolitan haircut.

And History Channel has apologized for those outrageous claims of 18 million viewers: "Did History Channel commit a sin when it boasted about “Vikings” ratings?

Tuesday morning, when final stats came in on the network’s Sunday unveiling of the two programs, the basic cable network sent out an announcement that “over 18 million tuned in!” to “Vikings” .

According to Nielsen, the unveiling of “Vikings” Sunday at 10 p.m. averaged only around 6 million viewers, but still topped all broadcast networks among 18-to-49 year olds who are the currency of most commercial TV.

But History instead reported the number of people who had watched as little as one minute of “Vikings” which, where we come from, is called “channel surfing.” " t:

 

[Golgo-13]

Watched the first ep. Show has potential.

 

[squeekness]

The show is still good, but I was a bit iffy on this third episode. I still find it hard to believe that Ragnar would just... you know.. invite some other guy to share with his wife like that. Are most guys possessive of their women? Not so sure it was realistic. Perhaps it was just an excuse to get Travis with his shirt off or something...

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Maybe it was a test of trust, Ragnar put the monk in charge for the next raid.
It seemed as Ragnar was also going to "enjoy" the monk seeing how wide was his smile when he made the offer.
Maybe Ragnar wife is one hell of a Viking woman and Ragnar an open minded husband.

Anyway, the scene struck me as odd.

 

[chamber-music]

Considering real vikings weren't shy about raping or having sex with their slaves including the male ones I don't think what Ragnar offered was too far out.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

British propaganda of the time makes you think that

PS : I have no idea, I am no historian.

PS 2 : after ep4, yeah, Lagertha is one hell of a Viking woman.

 

[squeekness]

Considering real vikings weren't shy about raping or having sex with their slaves including the male ones I don't think what Ragnar offered was too far out.

they musta skipped that part in history class. While I was aware that Romans would do this, I hadn't expected it of the Vikings as well.

 

[James]

Is this show's schedule all out of whack or something? I thought we were only up to episode three? Are they doing episodes at once, putting them online early, what's the deal?

I just finished episode three so I came into the thread to hype about it and find out episode four's already been seen. Madness!

Oh well, episode three was good. Perhaps I've been watching too much Spartacus, but I wish the action/battle scenes were a little better choreographed. I can only assume they're going for realism.

Regarding Ragnar's request to have the monk join him and his wife, I didn't think it was too far fetched. The Viking moral system is completely sideways compared to the Christian moral system. During that scene I don't think Ragnar had quite come to respect the priest as much as he did later in the episode (if you can call it that) and like his children, tended to treat the monk as more an item of amusement than a person.

On to episode four!

 

[squeekness]

TV is up to three, yes, but then they post the next one online. I haven't jumped ahead, myself. I'd rather watch them as they come out.

 

[James]

Ahh, I see. I thought they might have just done that with the first two episodes. How unusual.

I'm all caught up now, so episode four spoilers follow!

I take back what I said about the action. While it's definitely not slick action-movie style fights, that battle on the beach was still damn good. Loved the shield-wall and the look on the horse-mounted guy's face as the viking cut through their superior numbers.

Loki dancing around in the church was fun (they're all bastards really). He certainly lives up to his name. It was great to see Ragnar's brother come through for him like he did. I'm enjoying Ragnar's...I guess we can call it 'friendship'(?) with the monk. The disfigured Viking priest is one freaky dude.

Seems like there's a kind of civil-war brewing within the village. Bets on whether or not Ragnar will be earl come the end of the season?

 

[Marvolo]

I'm enjoying this quite a bit. I'm wondering if they will stick close to the legend or if they will forge their own path? And is this a miniseries, or will it have another season?

 

[Forever Rud]

I'm wondering if they will stick close to the legend or if they will forge their own path? And is this a miniseries, or will it have another season?

It's been billed as 'HISTORY's first scripted series' so I imagine the hope is that it will continue after these 10 episodes. In which case they won't want to include Ragnar's very violent real life demise just yet!!

It continues to do really well in the ratings race:

New York, NY, March 19, 2013 – HISTORY’s series VIKINGS continues its strong ratings success in its third episode on Sunday at 10 p.m. capturing 4.8 million total viewers, making it the most-watched cable series in its timeslot for the third week in a row. It also delivered 2.2 million Adults 25-54 and 1.9 million Adults 18-49. This is up +16% among Adults 25-54 and +12% among Adults 18-49 compared to week two. Additionally, VIKINGS continues to be the #1 new cable series in 2013.

 

[squeekness]

Glad to see this is still going strong. Yay for Travis.

 

[Golgo-13]

I love the actress that plays Ragner's wife. She looks sexy but really looks like she can kick your ash!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

This series is fantastic. It's pretty much Brian Wood's Northlanders comic on TV, or Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy put together. I've enjoyed every episode so far, and I'm particularly keen to see how the relationship Ragnar and his pet monk develops. I like that it still remembers it's on the History Channel and slips in little historical details, like explaining the new sailing method Ragnar devised or showing us a couple examples of Viking justice.

 

[Marvolo]

It's been billed as 'HISTORY's first scripted series' so I imagine the hope is that it will continue after these 10 episodes. In which case they won't want to include Ragnar's very violent real life demise just yet!!

It continues to do really well in the ratings race:

New York, NY, March 19, 2013 – HISTORY’s series VIKINGS continues its strong ratings success in its third episode on Sunday at 10 p.m. capturing 4.8 million total viewers, making it the most-watched cable series in its timeslot for the third week in a row. It also delivered 2.2 million Adults 25-54 and 1.9 million Adults 18-49. This is up +16% among Adults 25-54 and +12% among Adults 18-49 compared to week two. Additionally, VIKINGS continues to be the #1 new cable series in 2013.

That sounds very promising! I would really like to see this become if not a long running show at least 4-5 seasons if there is enough material.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Wow, I didn't know it was doing that well. That's awesome.

 

[James]

Vikings Renewed For Second Season