The romans have been always one of the great Bad Boys from the Hollywood History, even among some professionals of History. We speak more about their Slaves than about their Aqueducts, while about ancient Greeks we mention more their Monuments (but they used slaves too).

We speak more about the Democracy in Athens even when they had several despotic rulers, while with the Romans we point about their dictators and crazy emperors but not their Laws that are our base.

Probably the best option is watching these tv series as entertainment, and not to think about them as a serious study.