PBS and Horror Shows

My mother was (and is) a big fan of PBS. When I was growing up I was subjected to Masterpiece theatre and all things British.

My mother is a bit of an anglophile.

And in 1970 the entire family was mandated to watch The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth.

For me, as a 10 year old girl, it was like watching a horror movie: Arranged marriages and big fat ugly guy chopping off the heads of his wives just because they could not give him a male heir—not to mention the thought of what the wives had to do with the big fat ugly guy to even get an heir.

It was frightening.

And on the news today not only did I hear that Princess Kate might have slipped up and mentioned that she was having a girl, I learned that if she did have a girl, as firstborn she would be heir to the throne—even if she had a baby brother.

The rules have changed.

It only took 900 years----give or take.

And this July, PBS is bringing back The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth— redone as a new mini-series. This one will be bolder and more intimate. But the fat guy will still remain--as will the decapitations, exiles and incest.

I won’t be watching. But my mother will be. I will view Game of Thrones instead--the fictional HBO series where medieval women may rule, raise dragons, and apply swords to men’s necks. And this season, killer zombies come down from the North. It’s the kind of horror show that even a ten year old girl might find less scary than the truth that is portrayed on channel 13.