Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Pile of Crap

In theory, I should love Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. I liked Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and I knew that this would be a parody of that genre. The production values are pretty good, which was one of my major concerns when I first heard about the project. The title has umlats in it, which makes me smile. And the lead actor is a dreamy Irish Englishman rock star, Sean Maguire. His Krod Mandoon is a new kind of hero - one who is more sensitive and in touch with his feelings.

Who said Hufflepuffs can't be hot?

But even the pretty cannot distract me from the fact that this show is basically shit. Sure, I found some elements funny - but that says more about me than about the show. To call the humor sophomoric would be an insult to sophomores everywhere. The writing is something a 14 year-old boy might come up with, full of gratuitous toilet and sex jokes. Beyond that, there is an undertone of misogyny that sticks in my craw. I'm referring to the token female character, Aneka.

Aneka is billed as a "pagan warrioress," an obvious send-up of Xena. Except, she's super slutty. In the first episode she goes home to her village to complete the Rite of the Raccoon or some such, where she sleeps with 300 men. Part of the rite is doing a strip tease for a catcalling crowd of lecherous men. And already I'm clutching my poor abused frontal lobe in agony.

Just one of many disturbing misconceptions about paganism.

That's when it hit me - there is no need for a parody of Hercules and Xena. Those shows were already parodies of themselves, because they were fully aware of their campy glory. And that was part of the fun - liking a show but also laughing at yourself for liking it. Krod Mandoon, in trying to take the genre "over the top," devolves into the lowest form of humor imaginable.

You people should be ashamed of yourselves.

The season (and with any luck, the series) finale aired yesterday. I didn't bother to watch. Though I may catch it in one of the million reruns of the show Comedy Central will use to fill air time.