Rome

I just finished watching the first season of Rome (thanks yet again, Netflix) and I love it. Granted, I'm a big fan of history in the first place and this show may not be for everyone, but it's hard to resist such flawed heroes and virtuous villains. We follow an ambitious Roman consul and general Julius Caesar, an arrogant Mark Antony, an unsure Brutus, a young (and future Emperor) Octavian, and a humble Cicero. But our protagonists are common soldiers Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus who, much like D'Artagnan and the musketeers or Forrest Gump, constantly find themselves thrust into historical events.

This show is so unapologetically brutal it makes Gladiator look like a Disney movie. It wisely pays no homage to previous depictions of Rome (sorry, Shakespeare, no "Et tu, Bruté" here) and paves a road to Rome we have never seen before.