Agree with you on the Vikings series. Well done and good characters with strong historical thread throughout. I'm not sure it should end with the death of Ragnar, since historically Rollo becomes the first Norman with the lands of Normandy gifted to him by the King of Francia. He was an ancestor of William the Conqueror. If books are your thing, the Bernard Cornwell series "Saxon Tales" is also great. It's a ten book series and the hero is Saxon Uhtred raised by Vikings (Ragnar), and becomes involved in the wars between the Danes and Saxons, the most historically notable being Alfred the Great. The books are long but move along well, with great character development, historically accurate except for the fictional characters added to keep the story flowing. It takes you from the initial conquering of Britain by the Vikings through the slow unification of England. Lots of action and great storylines.
But God forbid we should hijack this otherwise substantive and meaningful "discussion" among friends for such historical drivel... 
@sneakypeteGuys, I'm no prude. I am, however a little picky about what I allow to be funneled into my living room.
I fully understand that sex has been going on a long time, that raping, pillaging, and burning were well ensconced cultural norms for those powerful enough and so inclined to engage in such (or who were the victims thereof), despite the power of the Church, which on occasion harbored those who engaged in such acts. Power corrupts, and it always has, with rare exception.
Those stories can be told effectively without going all Sam Peckinpaugh or John Holmes across my medium screen (it isn't the really big one). They can be told without going all 'pride parade' on it, too, because if they do, they won't be on my screen.
When I was in EMS, I saw enough bloody messes, thanks. The thought that that could become commonplace again with the desensitization of a culture ill equipped morally to deal with that is one of the reasons I don't, as a rule, support the might 'makes right anything goes blood and guts' shows.
Historically accurate? Yep, most likely, in spirit, if not in absolute fact. That was the reason for the Magna Carta, and eventually, our own Constitution and Bill of Rights. That is the quagmire from which Western Civilization rose, watered in blood and fertilized by the carcasses of the slain. Going back to that might be good entertainment if that historical fiction is presented in that context, but we are getting away from that context as we are getting away from the Chivalrous concepts that sprang from it, even as we get away, culturally, from the concepts of equal unalienable rights and the sanctity of life, ironically most propelled by those who demand both.
It's one thing putting zombies out of your misery, but treating other humans as such on a regular basis without qualm is a dangerous place for a culture's head to go. Unfortunately, our culture is going there, and taking with it the concept that might makes right, not just that being right makes right, and might safeguards that. The subtly implanted concept that it is acceptable or preferable to use force without a moral compass nor constraint (other than opposing force) for the sake of spoils is all we need to destroy Western Civilization and take culture back down that dark road from which it emerged.
