Many people see Shakespeare's works as unattainable and uninteresting, and they associate them with hardcore literature geeks or pretentious snobs. But when you take away the difficult language and focus on the high points of the stories, his themes are universal - they're stories of love and loss, of murder and intrigue, of the struggle for power, and yes, there is also a lot of comedy. The idea of The Shakespeare Chronicles - Star-Crossed Lovers was to take one of William Shakespeare's most iconic, well-loved, and oft-told stories, boil it down to its essence, set it in a contemporary setting, and tell it in about 15 minutes.