You know that show that you’re upset with yourself for being hooked on? The one that you would never admit to liking if you weren’t already so far gone that it certainly wouldn’t decrease anyone’s opinion of you? This is mine.

So, here’s how it happened: I saw Remember the Titans in tenth grade and fell in love with the dorky one (cause no one could have predicted that). Turns out the actor’s name is Ryan Gosling. Very groovy name. Put on shelf of nifty actors to look out for.

Cut to summer prior to senior year. Father has recently switched satellite service to digital cable, infuriating the Toon Disney fan who is finally on her way to collecting every episode of Gargoyles on tape in order. But I digress. There’s a new channel on cable that wasn’t on satellite – Wham!. It’s mainly geared toward pre-teens. Nothing exceptionally exciting here. That is, until I somehow catch wind of a show starring Ryan (have recently been informed that they play two Ryan shows. Back to back. Great.) Hah hah. Another stupid show that butchers Greek mythology. Starring the guy who made a complete fool of himself in RtT. I guess I’m gonna have to see just how bad it is. And I should have left it at that.

It didn’t take much brainpower, used plots I’ve seen done with everything from high-brow Shakespearean actors to hockey-playing alien ducks, debased the myths only slightly less than Disney, and had a severely campy feel to it. But I, being a stupid fangirl, kept tuning in. And now the whole family knows I’m hooked.

This show has the same tongue-in-cheek feel of Mighty Ducks – could have been done by the same people, in fact, except it wasn’t – and that comes through the acting as well as the writing. They realize they are not contending for any prestigious awards, and that is obvious in the fun they seem to have. There’s some good dry humor, great facial expressions, fabulous interaction, and that very casual style that I enjoy so much.

Ryan Gosling’s Hercules is much like Tate Donovan’s. The boy is generally rational, compassionate, easily attracted to young women, and self-deprecating, to an extent. I am intrigued by this unbelievable characterization of the chauvinistic, war-mongering demi-god. But Gosling’s Herc does not possess his animated counterpart’s superhuman strength. Cheiron’s training is more physical than Phil’s because, though he has natural talent, Gosling’s Herc cannot bench the Hydra.

Iolaus – not Aeolus – (played by Dean O’Gorman) is Herc’s best friend. A rash, hormonally driven young man, Iolaus has a history of...less than legal behavior, but he has come a long way in cleaning up his act. He’s still a bit lacking in the intelligence department, and he can’t swim, but he’s a sweetie. And he makes me think of Dive, for various reasons.

Chris Conrad is Jason, another of Herc’s good friends. Jason is much quicker on the uptake than Iolaus, and he seems the most mature of the group. Which is good, seeing as he’s the Crowned Prince of Corinth (to all those in my tenth grade English class, that is NOT pronounced “Cor-nith”).

Lilith, played by Jodie Rimmer, is the academy’s only female cadet. She is “spunky,” but a touch whiney on occasion, as well. She holds her own, but I’m not quite satisfied with her character for some reason. Perhaps I’m just upset that she’s not slightly less feminie.

Kora, played by Angela Marie Dotchin, runs the local cadet hang-out by day and serves Artemis by night. Actually, she serves Artemis all the time, but it sounds neater the other way. In Kora are all the characteristics I expected to find in Lilith. Which is good, since I’ve always been a fan of Artemis and her followers. And Kora is great. She’s got good taste in men, too. Definitely identify with this girl.

The Olympians are portrayed quite marvelously, actually. Though Zeus is relatively protective of his son (this particular son, that is), all of the other deities Herc encounters seem to want to destroy him, Ares in particular. Hephaestus is the only one who seems to care to have anything to do with his little brother. Which is appropriately in character and I enjoy it.

So, basically, we have a purely entertaining show with great characters and absolutely no redeeming value. It’s the glazed donut of the television world.

Young Hercules was produced by Sam Raimi, Robert G. Tapert, and Cynthia Hsiung, and directed by Chris Graves, Charlie Haskell, and Andrew Merrifield. Head writers were Eric and Julia Lewald.

Thanks to Dawn’s Young Hercules Page and Kristin’s Young Hercules for the pictures.

Back away from the crazy lady
Created January 24, 2004.