If you are hesitating between watching Tom Fontana's BORGIA and Showtime's The Borgias you find your answer right there in the different titles. It is interesting how two different titles can be so well fitted to the actual quality of the show. The shows are very different in how story is developed and in how characters are portrayed. Showtime's The Borgias is to be honest a bit of a polished turd as the title of the show would suggest. It lacks depth and relies on big names with British accents (apparently British accents are important...) to cater to an American audience. It feels a bit like if they tried to just move the Tudors to Rome which makes the show feels British and fabricated. In contrast BORGIA seems very true in how it conveys the story. Much like the series ROME the show builds a world which is believable to the audience and does not seem manufactured as it does in The Borgias.
When it come to characters and performance BORGIA is wildly superior on all fronts. Although it does not have the best known cast the performances are absolutely great and there is incredible depth to each character on the show. Almost no character on BORGIA is sympathetic yet we sympathize with them. The characters on BORGIA seem true: Rodrigo Borgia, Lucrezia, Cesare, della Rovere, Farnese are all more interesting, more compelling, less polished and less sympathetic then their counterparts on The Borgias. Some criticism that could be directed to BORGIA and where The Borgias is superior is for example special effects and other production issues. I do think that BORGIA does a better job in terms of style and wardrobe but sometimes the scenery can look a bit cheap which is due to a smaller budget.
Overall BORGIA is a far superior show. The ratings on IMDb are misleading because The Borgias has a larger more active audience on this site and will therefore score higher but there is a reason why The Borgias has been canceled and BORGIA is still going strong. If you want to watch a show which is in par with shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Rome, The Walking Dead or even the Tudors watch BORGIA by Tom Fontana not The Borgias.
When it come to characters and performance BORGIA is wildly superior on all fronts. Although it does not have the best known cast the performances are absolutely great and there is incredible depth to each character on the show. Almost no character on BORGIA is sympathetic yet we sympathize with them. The characters on BORGIA seem true: Rodrigo Borgia, Lucrezia, Cesare, della Rovere, Farnese are all more interesting, more compelling, less polished and less sympathetic then their counterparts on The Borgias. Some criticism that could be directed to BORGIA and where The Borgias is superior is for example special effects and other production issues. I do think that BORGIA does a better job in terms of style and wardrobe but sometimes the scenery can look a bit cheap which is due to a smaller budget.
Overall BORGIA is a far superior show. The ratings on IMDb are misleading because The Borgias has a larger more active audience on this site and will therefore score higher but there is a reason why The Borgias has been canceled and BORGIA is still going strong. If you want to watch a show which is in par with shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Rome, The Walking Dead or even the Tudors watch BORGIA by Tom Fontana not The Borgias.