"Spartacus: Blood and Sand" Series Preview

Airing Fridays at 10 pm (9 pm central) "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" is Starz' newest primetime original cable series. Starring Andy Whitfield as the titular protagonist, the series follows the story of the mythical gladiator who was thrown in the Coliseum in order to receive a humiliating death, and instead quickly rose to fame, seeking revenge on those who betrayed him.

Having only seen the first two episodes I cannot judge the series as a whole just yet, but from what I have experienced things are not looking good. If you have seen any gladiatorial movies, from Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" to "Ben Hur" to, well, "Gladiator" then you will find the setting to be annoyingly familiar. Everyone is wearing togas and speaking in British accents while phrasing their sentences in an extremely formal and metaphorical manner, just to give you the sense that this is "Ancient Rome." Yet, the director thought it would be daring to add modern day cursing to the dialogue, a lot of it as a matter of fact. The first sentence spoken in the entire series is "Hold your f***ing tongues!" It just doesn't work.

Another thing that has me worried about this series is the use of the "300" art style, where everything looks like a comic book in sepia tone. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then these guys just wrote a love letter to the crew of "300." However, Starz seems to have given "Spartacus" an extremely low budget because the effects just look horrible. Slow motion is used incessantly and I swear they used a looping background in one of their scenes.

To top things off, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" contains enough nudity to qualify it as soft-core porn. I'm talking full frontal nudity in every other scene and without proper context. Every major character manages to sleep with some hot blonde by the end of the first episode. It is as if Starz thought its audience comprised of poorly educated male archetypes that would enjoy nothing more than violence and boobs clogging the screen at all times.

The way I see it this series has little saving grace. Already it has established its cast of characters as flat, its art style as overused, and its content in competition with Skinemax. It is an offensive stereotype of Roman culture, which does a disservice to anything bearing the Spartacus name. Don't set your TiVo's to this one; it is a waste of time.