TVSquad

(S02E10) I'm just going to come out and say it. I really enjoyed the season finale of The Tudors. The wife-number-two storyline is all wrapped up. And now next season we'll move on to wife-number-three, Jane Seymour. I think I'm even more excited for next season because I know next to nothing about Henry's wives post Boleyn drama. I know many of you history buffs will disagree, saying that you'd rather they keep to the facts because Tudor history alone is interesting enough. I feel, at this point, I'd rather just watch the story --which is basically a primetime melodrama with corsets and crowns and public executions. So, I'm not as worried about accuracy. And by the way, public executions on Melrose Place would have been awesome.

But, enough about what's to be, let's talk about what happened tonight. My review of the season finale is after the jump.

(S02E09) "These bloody days have broken my heart. My lust, my youth do them depart. And blind desire of ambitious souls who haste to climb, seeks to revert. And about the throne, the thunder rolls." --Sir Thomas Wyatt (voiceover)

This was a dark episode. As much as I disliked Anne during her ascension to the throne and sided with the steadfast and pious Queen Catherine, I hated seeing Anne's demise come to a head this episode. Somewhere along the way, Anne became the victim on this show. The Tudors, in my opinion, has done a good job of creating a multi-faceted character on the part of Anne Boleyn. Once a villain, she ended up a sacrifice to male-dominated political power play.

(S02E05) This was by far the heaviest episode of The Tudors I've seen. I'll get to my review of the heavier parts later. First, however, I think I'll begin with some of the lighter parts of the episode, all of which were provided by the Pope. I know I've said it before but Peter O'Toole is an invaluable addition to this show. All of his scenes were impeccable tonight (not really anything different from any other night). I think by far his best scene was after Michelangelo threw a tantrum and used foul language when one of his apprentices didn't paint Moses right. Also great but a little haunting was the pope's mention of Cardinal Fisher's martyrdom. He had this eerie expression on his face while he "lamented" that he would not be able to die for Christ like Fisher.

Read on after the jump for my full review of The Tudors...

It couldn't have happened to a nicer fella.

Perez Hilton, the annoying Internet gossip who is fond of outing people who don't want to be outed, was being profiled for a segment on 20/20's year-end program about this entire YouTube/blogging/Internet phenomenon thingy I've been hearing about ad nauseum. Almost as soon as he starts talking about Lindsay or Paris or Britney or whatever, the program breaks in to announce that Saddam Hussein has been executed. Since Perez's yapping suddenly seemed insignficant in comparison (imagine that), the show decided to stay with the Saddam story, playing segments created in anticipation of the Iraqi dictator's inevitable execution. So, at least in the Eastern and Central time zones, Perez's appearance has been lost to the winds of history.

To be fair, Harvey Levin of our corporate cousin TMZ.com was also profiled in the piece, so that site's moment was also lost. But I was more gleefully happy to see Perez's moment get pre-empted because, well... I don't think Harvey is a pimple on society's ass. Not sure what I was more happy to see: Saddam's hanging or Perez's momentus interruptus.

I never thought I'd see the day when the words "Saddam" and "tasteful" were in the same sentence, but that day has arrived. Word is coming from the Iraqi government that Saddam Hussein will be executed by hanging by Saturday at the latest, and they will tape the entire thing. If that happens, the networks are saying that the coverage of the execution will be tasteful, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Now, they're not doing it out of respect to Saddam, of course; they're doing it out of respect for their audience. They won't air the full video if the Iraqi government makes it available for broadcast. "We're very aware that we're coming into people's living rooms and that there could be children watching," Linda Mason, a senior VP for CBS News, told THR. Since the war started, network news executives have considered using graphic video footage on a case-by-case basis, often editing it down to make it more palatable to audiences.

(Update: Embedded below is reportedly a video of Saddam's hanging.)