• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, July 15, 2024

Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing on ancient Rome.

In movies and TV shows, Rome the city -- if not the entire empire -- is depicted as a vast, dirty hellhole of vice, tyranny, domination, sudden violence and sadism.

The city of Rome gets another going-over in all its bloody barbarism in “Those About To Die,” a new limited series coming this week to Peacock.

The series is vulgar and grotesque. It provides violent death for our entertainment, much like the very society it depicts, as a matter of fact.

"'Those About To Die' is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never before told -- the dirty business of entertaining the masses,” says Peacock’s publicity material.

“A side of ancient Rome never before told”? Are they kidding? This movie is about gladiators and chariot races, two subjects that have been more than sufficiently examined on TV and in the movies.

Hmm … I seem to remember a movie called “Gladiator” that covered much the same thing. I also remember a TV series called “Rome” and a motion picture from 1959 called “Ben Hur.”

Oh, I remember. That movie won 11 Oscars, a record for a single motion picture until “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings” also each won 11.

The central feature of “Ben Hur” was a chariot race that was one of the most thrilling action sequences ever filmed.

In “Those About To Die,” the glory of Rome morphs into the orgy of Rome. Sex is either transactional or weaponized. What’s love got to do with it? Nothing.

The show’s main characters are a bookie, a chariot racer, an emperor (played by 86-year-old Anthony Hopkins, pictured above) and his two sons, one a lusty, macho warrior and the other a gay schemer with his eye on the throne.

The show signals that there will be blood right at the outset in an animated title sequence in which blood is spattered everywhere.

Well, I guess when a TV show has a title like “Those About To Die,” one shouldn’t expect a TV show full of joy.

“Those About To Die” premieres Thursday, July 18, on Peacock.