Even more shocking is that “Hercules” is actually good. Two guys see to that: executive producer Sam Raimi and star Kevin Sorbo. Raimi is a movie director with a talent for genre pop (from “The Evil Dead” to “The Quick and the Dead”). Sorbo is a supremely relaxed Minnesotan whose primary acting credits have been hunk-for-hire spots selling Diet Coke and Budweiser. At 6 feet 3, Sorbo is buff without being steroidal. His feathered hair is Kate by way of Fabio. Somehow he gets away with it, his azure eyes hinting at a brain and a sly sense of humor. “We wanted to make him like a Western hero,” says Raimi, “not a muscleman in a toga.” Sorbo, 86, says he gets photo-illustrated fan mail from womenaged 20 to 50 “in various stages of undress.” Martial-arts mayhem and semiclad babes keep men riveted. The violence is cartoony enough for parents not to mind kids watching. And Greek mythology is educational.
MCA TV launched this addictive waste of time last year with five syndicated movies, then upgraded it to a weekly hour in January. Shot in Auckland, New Zealand, the show’s scenery steals scenes. So does the native acting talent. Michael Hurst, a local Shakespearean, plays Hercules’s sidekick Iolaus (and Hamlet in his spare time). Another formidable natural resource is Lucy Lawless, whose wild-eyed appear-antes as Xena the Warrior Princess were impressive enough to land her a spinoff series for this fall. Pamela Anderson: put on your fighting bikini and prepare to die.
