Fighting withdrawl...

I must confess that the past couple of weeks have been a bit hectic personally, so I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to this column until yesterday (it's Wednesday as I type this). However, deadlines loom, and it's miraculous what the brain can come up with when you need to have something in by Wednesday evening.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let me fill the necessary space for this installment.

This past weekend had a Hercules repeat, and Xena is a repeat this coming weekend (at least locally). As a result, my brain came up with the idea of suggesting other things that fans of Xena and Hercules might enjoy when their show is in repeats.

Okay, okay, it's a last-minute topic that I've had lurking in the back of my mind for just such an occasion. You've gotta admire the segue though.

This list, of course, is far from exhaustive. I've merely included some of my favorite films and TV shows that capture in one way or another some of the same essence as Hercules and Xena. If you have your own favorites for fighting off rerun withdrawl, let me know, and I may check them out for myself.

Without further ado, here is The List:

Army of Darkness

This is actually the third of the Evil Dead trilogy. All three films are Renaissance Pictures projects, and many of the big names were on board from the beginning. Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, Joe LoDuca, Bruce Campbell. The third film is kind of a prototype of the whole Hercules & Xena phenomenon. All three films were recently re-released on video, so they shouldn't be too hard to find.

The Quick and the Dead

Sam Raimi directed this western about a gunfighting competition that stars Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone. Watching Raimi's earlier films, it is clear how much of an influence his style has on Hercules and Xena. He takes several of the well-known cliches fron the genre and turns them on their ear a little. It didn't get great reviews, but the movie is a lot of fun.

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

If RenPic had done a western series, it might very well have ended up like this one. Bruce Campbell plays the title character in this western action series. It displays a very similar mix of humor, drama, and action that have made Hercules and Xena the shows they are. It was being shown in syndication on TNT recently, but I'm not certain whether it stll is or not.

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