But that can be excused, going topless could have been very dangerous in the kitchen, where Americans still had women spend most of their time in those days, and in church. Of course they usually put on and off their nightgowns at some point, and took quite a lot of baths even in those days, but the waterproof and night-vision cameras were not invented.

The old series is remotely better than the new, if one likes old fashioned French stage drama acting style. The weakness remains the same, though: actors can act as if they were in a Racine all they want, it's still a text that belongs with popular melodramas, just one set on an elaborate historical setting.

I don't know if nostalgia plays such a large role. Surely some people re read Les Rois Maudits, but what I see most is new young readers and light occasional readers picking it up and usually loving it. Nothing wrong with that, no more than with loving Dumas, or writers like King or Jordan. The only annoying thing is the inflated literary reputation (which Druon himself encouraged, he had quite the ego) the work enjoy (mostly from its mass of fans, rarely from the French literary milieu, mind you. Druon is usually referred to politely as a modern continuator of 19th century popular novel genre, another way to say he's not brought much to 20th century literature. There's this misconception that his novels alone are what earned him a seat at the Académie, but it's even more his work as as scholar, and no doubt his lobbying, considering his active career there after his election. A great deal of the best French writers were never elected to the ultra-conservative Académie, usually because they innovated too much and were read by the few while alive.)

That said, Tom seemed to work under the misconception this was a classic in its form, when it's one for its enduring popularity. As far as popular literature goes, there's far worse than LRM (just like the worst of American pop lit puts a series like WOT as average, far from the true bottom of the barrel, even in the Fantasy genre).