WHEN IN 'ROME,' YOU'LL BE UNIMPRESSED.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

IF THERE'S BEEN one edict HBO executives have assiduously ignored over the past decade, it's ``When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'' Sure, HBO comes via your TV, but its programming has been like no one else's - the pay-cable network's famous motto is ``It's not TV, it's HBO.''

And yet its lavish new series ``Rome'' (this is billed as ``Season One'' - we'll see) is, notwithstanding some lurid sex and gruesome violence, as conventional as anything the network has ever done. Sword-and-sandals epics have become familiar Hollywood staples (ABC offered a similar, low-rated miniseries this summer, ``Empire''), and those expecting something that takes up where the legendarily decadent BBC/PBS series ``I, Claudius'' left off may be in for something of a disappointment.

Those happy for more of the same, however - albeit an opulently produced more-of-the-same, (the 12 hours reportedly came with a $100 million budget) - should enjoy the wallow.

It begins as many of these sagas, including Shakespeare's, does: with Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds) feeling a bit invincible. Having conquered most of the known world, he's ready to take his place atop the pantheon in the center of civilization, Rome. Pompey Magnus (Kenneth Cranham) and his loyal Senate members, however, are less than sanguine about Caesar's impending usurpation of their powers.

The wild card here is Caesar's brazenly opportunistic niece, Atia (Polly Walker), who is less concerned about the niceties of who will rule what than she is about how prominent her role will be when the treacherously violent birth pangs of the new empire are over.

Atia is, naturally, ruthless. She's not above murdering daughter Octavia's (Kerry Condon) husband if it'll get her a little cozier with Pompey, and she administers tough love to her young, weak-yet-wise son Octavian (Max Pirkis) to ensure her bloodline endures. She bathes in the blood of a slaughtered bull as it rains down over her head if she thinks that might help, and Marc Antony (James Purefoy) is but one of her lovers, dispensable if things don't go as planned.

As this is essentially a ``Bonfire of the Vanities'' in togas, ``Rome'' also focuses on the little people. Lucius (Kevin McKidd) is one of Caesar's centurions with his own soap opera bubbling at home, while Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is his most earthily loutish soldier, whom Lucius despises but comes to rely upon for his grit and aqueduct (rather than street) smarts.

``Rome'' is co-created and largely written by Bruno Heller, whose credits heretofore were a couple of basic-cable series. Its producers include feature filmmakers John Milius and Michael Apted (who directs several episodes), whose work couldn't be more dissimilar.

Milius (``Conan the Barbarian,'' ``Red Dawn,'' screenplay for ``Apocalypse Now'') - also credited as a co-creator - emphasizes manly men doing what they must and random savagery as his themes. Apted's signature films (``Coal Miner's Daughter,'' ``Nell,'' ``42 Up'') are a good deal more circumspect (OK, he did do a James Bond flick).

Apted's sensibility seems to be more overriding when the particulars of the story suggest that Milius' should prevail. There's a pervasive sense of self-seriousness to the production, outside of random conventionally comic moments, and until episode six (by which point ostensibly $50 million has been spent), when Marc Antony is revealed to have a wryly bitchy personality and almost every character finally scores.

Reportedly, ``NYPD Blue'' co-creator David Milch pitched HBO a series on the Roman empire, but this one was already in the works, so he went on to the provocative Western ``Deadwood.'' ``Deadwood,'' in virtually any given scene, has more verve and energy than the almost-dutifully produced ``Rome'' seems to boast.

Outside of Pirkis and Stevenson's work, there's not a lot of crackle to the performances. Walker resolutely downplays her character's most obviously campy elements, which is simultaneously laudable and yet somewhat deadening to the proceedings. Even the extras in crowd scenes can't seem to muster up much enthusiasm for what surely should be moments of ribald mayhem.

Who'd have guessed that HBO's answer to the ``when in Rome'' cliche would be ``nod off''?

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com

ROME - Two and one half stars

What: The political intrigue and decadent behavior in the time of Caesar are revisited in this 12-episode series.

Where: HBO.

When: 9 tonight; also 9 p.m. Tuesday, 11 p.m. Wednesday, 10 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Sept. 4, with other play dates on HBO2, HBO Signature and unlimited availability on HBO on Demand.

In a nutshell: Familiar territory, curiously lacking HBO's trademark spin.

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Photo:

The ruthless and self-serving Atia (Polly Walker) takes Marc Antony (James Purefoy) as one of her lovers in HBO's 12-part ``Rome,'' debuting tonight.