“The Royals”: Soapy But Fun
This big new soapy drama, which premieres Sunday on E!, is about a fictional British royal family but it isn’t populated with characters who mirror specific individuals in the real-life ruling Windsors. Anyone who confuses Elizabeth Hurley’s Queen Helena on this show with Queen Elizabeth needs immediate optometric help. “The Royals†doesn’t pretend to be much more than good fun, and it delivers that. Future King Liam (William Moseley) is a good kid who hasn’t thought much about what his next gig will require. His twin sister, Eleanor (Alexandra Park), doesn’t think much about anything except finding a way to escape life in a gilded cage. The queen prizes discipline even when she can seemingly instill none, and her husband, King Simon (Vincent Regan) wonders why the realm needs his job at all. In look and pace, “The Royals†is a decent choice as the first scripted series on the E! network. Scene after scene could slide seamlessly into E!-style news-clip segments.
