# The Pillars Of The Earth



## Guardian (Oct 30, 2009)

This epic tale of passion and greed begins when a mysterious secret disrupts the succession to the English crown and an unlikely member of King Henry's family takes the throne. A power struggle between Henry's daughter, Maud, and nephew, Stephen, causes England to be torn by war as battles rage for the rightful heir. Meanwhile, Bishop Waleran Bigod and the Hamleigh family manipulate the conflict to satisfy their own ruthless ambitions. Within this tumultuous setting, Prior Philip fights insurmountable obstacles to keep Kingsbridge and his dream of building a magnificent cathedral alive. The task is daunting, but master-mason Tom Builder, his gifted stepson, Jack, and noblewoman Aliena work together to achieve their dreams. And in the process, the long-hidden secret is revealed.

*Premiering July 23*, The Pillars of the Earth will be the epic event of the summer. Starring Ian McShane ("Deadwood") as Waleran Bigod, Rufus Sewell (The Holiday) as Tom Builder, Matthew Macfadyen (Frost/Nixon) Prior Philip, Eddie Redmayne (The Good Shepherd) as Jack, Hayley Atwell (Captain America) as Aliena and Donald Sutherland ("Dirty Sexy Money") as Bartholomew.


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## oldschoolecw (Jan 25, 2007)

Guardian said:


> This epic tale of passion and greed begins when a mysterious secret disrupts the succession to the English crown and an unlikely member of King Henry's family takes the throne. A power struggle between Henry's daughter, Maud, and nephew, Stephen, causes England to be torn by war as battles rage for the rightful heir. Meanwhile, Bishop Waleran Bigod and the Hamleigh family manipulate the conflict to satisfy their own ruthless ambitions. Within this tumultuous setting, Prior Philip fights insurmountable obstacles to keep Kingsbridge and his dream of building a magnificent cathedral alive. The task is daunting, but master-mason Tom Builder, his gifted stepson, Jack, and noblewoman Aliena work together to achieve their dreams. And in the process, the long-hidden secret is revealed.
> 
> *Premiering July 23*, The Pillars of the Earth will be the epic event of the summer. Starring Ian McShane ("Deadwood") as Waleran Bigod, Rufus Sewell (The Holiday) as Tom Builder, Matthew Macfadyen (Frost/Nixon) Prior Philip, Eddie Redmayne (The Good Shepherd) as Jack, Hayley Atwell (Captain America) as Aliena and Donald Sutherland ("Dirty Sexy Money") as Bartholomew.


I had to Google it to find out what Network it was going to be on. Starz and it looks great thanks for letting us know


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## Guardian (Oct 30, 2009)

*OOPS....* Sorry about that. Yes it will appear on Starz and I cant wait it does look really good.


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## TheDurk (Mar 8, 2007)

I read the book when it came out (1989). It was a slight detour at the time for Ken Follett, who was better known for death-on-every-page espionage thrillers such as Eye of the Needle. He went on to write several historical novels. I enjoyed the book, but not enough to make me pick up Starz.


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## Dario33 (Dec 15, 2008)

I haven't read the book, but plan on tuning in for this. :up:


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## astrohip (Mar 4, 2007)

At the time, this was one of the best books I had ever read. Still ranks in my top five. Have no idea how this mini-series will be, but simply based on how much I enjoyed the book, I'll give it a go. I already subscribe to Starz, so it's a no-brainer.

Just checked on LibraryThing (online book database). It's ranked #116, out of over 2,000,000 books. Not very scientific, but a good indicator of its general popularity.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

The book is excellent and I believe he is now working on a follow-up to it, not exactly a sequel but a related story told with descendants of the characters in Pillars. I wish I had Starz so I could watch it, I may put it on my BD watch list in case they release it later on. The book is very good and I really enjoyed it even though it was not what I was expecting from Ken Follett who normally puts some crazy sex angle in just about all his books.


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## astrohip (Mar 4, 2007)

bobukcat said:


> The book is excellent and I believe he is now working on a follow-up to it, not exactly a sequel but a related story told with descendants of the characters in Pillars.


World Without End was released in 2007, and is the book you are referring to. It was a good book, a very good book, but not at the Pillars level. But then very few books are. I thought WWE was much better than some of his last few books, and highly recommend it if you enjoyed Pillars.

He is working on a new book, Fall of Giants, due this fall.

From his website:



> Fall of Giants to be published in September 2010
> 
> Fall of Giants, the first novel in my 'Century' trilogy, will be published in 14 countries simultaneously on September 28, 2010. In Fall of Giants, I follow the destinies of five interrelated families - one American, one Russian, one German, one English and one Welsh - through the earth-shaking events of the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
> 
> The second book in the ' Century' series, set to be published in 2012, will feature the children of the characters in Fall of Giants as they live through the Depression and the Second World War. The third book, due out in 2014, will be about the next generation during the Cold War.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

Recorded first episode both on DirecTV 101 on Wed and Starz on Fri. Watched the Starz copy tonight and enjoyed it very much. Was a little disappointed that when I turned on closed captioning, I didn't get anything. As I get older, CC often helps me with words I may not be able to catch audibly.

Don't know why, but then I started the 101 copy, and was surprised that the CC showed up on the screen.

If Starz went to the trouble of having it closed captioned, why wouldn't it be included with their broadcast?


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

makaiguy said:


> Recorded first episode both on DirecTV 101 on Wed and Starz on Fri.


Wow, didn't realize this is also on the 101. The whole miniseries will be on there?


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

spartanstew said:


> Wow, didn't realize this is also on the 101. The whole miniseries will be on there?


Far as I can tell, 101 only has the first 2-hr episode "Anarchy: Master Builder", which is still being repeated and is available on VOD from 1101 (The 101) and 1527 (Starz). I guess this is a teaser preview to encourage people to subscribe to Starz.

The second episode, "Redemption", 1-hr, only seems to be available on Starz, according to the search I just ran.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Episode 101: "Anarchy" and 102: "Master Builder" can be streamed from the Starz web site.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

makaiguy said:


> Watched the Starz copy tonight and enjoyed it very much. Was a little disappointed that when I turned on closed captioning, I didn't get anything.


Checked out the replay on SBLKHD-530 last night and CC worked fine. Just one more unexplained glitch, I guess.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

After the other night watching Starz and getting a bunch of animated ads, I am waiting for the 101 VOD downloads.


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## Dave (Jan 29, 2003)

I see you can also stream it from the Netflix site. If you have the streaming account activated on your Netflix account and have a Roku, Blue Ray Player, etc., etc.


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## dreadlk (Sep 18, 2007)

So is it any Good? I have it recorded but I don't want to jump in unless it's great!
On a Spartacus scale, with Spartacus being a 10 for acting, sets and script were does this show rate?


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## Dario33 (Dec 15, 2008)

I am liking it. It is quite different than Spartacus mind you. Probably more in tune with The Tudors, if anything. Hard to give it a grade at this point, but I am in for the long haul (8 episodes).


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## dreadlk (Sep 18, 2007)

Thanks, it sounds like I better hold off a bit longer till It gets more difinitive reviews.
I am so tired of investing time in a series only to be dissapointed.


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## Christopher Gould (Jan 14, 2007)

did the second show end right at 50 mins. i dvr'd it and the last thing was the king's daughter not even credits. 3rd show shows 50 mins too.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

My recording did the same, so I set a manual recording to start 45 minutes into the next showing, to run for 15 minutes. There was only about one minute at most beyond the end of my first recording before they started rolling the credits.

I've now set my series link to record an extra 15 minutes at the end just in case ...


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## astrohip (Mar 4, 2007)

dreadlk said:


> So is it any Good? I have it recorded but I don't want to jump in unless it's great!
> On a Spartacus scale, with Spartacus being a 10 for acting, sets and script were does this show rate?


This is better than I thought. I had read so many reviews that were... less than positive.:eek2: So I went into this with my expectations fairly low.

And it's pretty darn good. I'm having no problem following characters or the plot (reviews said it was 'all over the place'). It moves at a fast pace, the story is interesting, the acting decent, the court intrigue is... intriguing! I'm actually looking forward to the next episode. And if I had stuck by the reviews, I wouldn't even be watching.

I like it. Just a little p*ssed that it ran over its allotted time frame last week. I've padded the SP by ten minutes.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

astrohip said:


> This is better than I thought. I had read so many reviews that were... less than positive.:eek2: So I went into this with my expectations fairly low.
> 
> And it's pretty darn good. I'm having no problem following characters or the plot (reviews said it was 'all over the place'). It moves at a fast pace, the story is interesting, the acting decent, the court intrigue is... intriguing! I'm actually looking forward to the next episode. And if I had stuck by the reviews, I wouldn't even be watching.
> 
> I like it. Just a little p*ssed that it ran over its allotted time frame last week. I've padded the SP by ten minutes.


Any report on the Starz logos and advertisements during the program?


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

armophob said:


> Any report on the Starz logos and advertisements during the program?


Must not be too bad -- I havent noticed them. But then, maybe I'm not as sensitive to that junk as you.

This is a big-budget major investment for Starz. I think they went overboard in promoting it during other programs as a result. They don't need to promote Pillars of the Earth IN Pillars of the Earth.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

makaiguy said:


> Must not be too bad -- I havent noticed them. But then, maybe I'm not as sensitive to that junk as you.


That is good. I will give it a shot. The last time I watched a program on Starz it had a little movie in the bottom corner advertising another show.


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## astrohip (Mar 4, 2007)

armophob said:


> Any report on the Starz logos and advertisements during the program?


It's there, but not bad. Not enough to distract me.

I *did* find it a PITA during some other Starz show to see the Pillars logo being plugged. Don't like, don't expect on pay cable channels. As makaiguy noted, this is a big budget show for them, and they went a little overboard with promos. But it wasn't a distraction during Pillars. Thankfully!


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## dreadlk (Sep 18, 2007)

astrohip said:


> This is better than I thought. I had read so many reviews that were... less than positive.:eek2: So I went into this with my expectations fairly low.
> 
> And it's pretty darn good. I'm having no problem following characters or the plot (reviews said it was 'all over the place'). It moves at a fast pace, the story is interesting, the acting decent, the court intrigue is... intriguing! I'm actually looking forward to the next episode. And if I had stuck by the reviews, I wouldn't even be watching.
> 
> I like it. Just a little p*ssed that it ran over its allotted time frame last week. I've padded the SP by ten minutes.


Thanks, thats good news. 
I am going to start watching soon.


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## armophob (Nov 13, 2006)

armophob said:


> After the other night watching Starz and getting a bunch of animated ads, I am waiting for the 101 VOD downloads.


Joke is on me. I watched episode 1 from 101. It had a Starz/101 logo twice as large as the regular Starz.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

We've only watched the first episode but are looking forward to the rest. Although there are several actors I'm not familiar with I think a good job was done in casting the production.

And while Ian McShane's character Waleren isn't as foul mouthed as Swearingen in Deadwood, he is every bit as devious.

We did not notice the Starz logo or ads that some of you did. But then on an 82' you have a lot of screen to watch  And we had no problems with CC, either.


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