Rome was probably the last show that I really anticipated seeing the episodes on a weekly basis. As a history buff, anything that even remotely touched on stuff I was interested in, even with a lot of fictional crap, I was all for. Rome was just amazingly made. GOT is...meh, I gave up on it for a couple of seasons and then was told it got better, so I got back into it, but yeah, Rome was just amazing.
Being more familiar with Brit shows, the actors were always familiar to me from other things but when I started to see them pop up in a lot of US made movies and shows, that's when you knew people were seriously paying attention to how fantastic those actors were.
Ray Stevenson was a huge indication of that - He got roles in Dexter, Punisher, The other guys, Book of Eli, hell it led to Thor as well.
Even him as Frank Castle, he was probably the most savage portrayal of Frank Castle I have ever seen in any live action version of him. There are many takes on Frank in comics, but the most savage sides of him was on full display. The only shame in that movie was how they created Jigsaw.
Polly Walker on that show though, I have always had a huge crush on her, then seeing her in that show just cemented it for life.
#stillwould.
PS: Because of Rome, seeing Tobias Menzies in anything always makes me think he is a dick in real life too.