Jack, le vengeur masqué

Yesterday, I sat down to watch the series premier of "Jack of all Trades." I was expecting something in the tradition of "Hercules: the Legendary Journeys." I was wrong. Bruce Campbell has never been funnier. And I really enjoyed his boss, Angela Maria Dotchin. This is the first time in like six years since Bruce Campbell had his own series. I can't wait to see where it goes.

At first I couldn't stand this. But then one day, for some reason, I watched an episode. I found myself enjoying possibly the best program made ever. The comical banter between the two main characters Jack (Campbell) and Emilia (Dotchin) is perfectly laden with innuendo. Sure this relies on bending history for plot lines and uses the most rediculous of stereotypes for characters (the French are superbly played up), but I can sit for 30 minutes a week now with a silly grin on my face and enjoy. At that, folks, it pure entertainment.

"Jack of All Trades" is the latest collaboration of cult duo Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi. I watched it today after the awful "Cleopatra 2525," which is packaged with Jack into an hour show. Sure, Jack of All trades was funny. Bruce Campbell rarely disappoints. The musical opening credits were catchy and hilarious, so I was looking forward to the show. It's another sound-effects filled romp into an exagerrated past with witty dialogue and inaccurate facts, like Hercules and Xena have recently become. Sure, maybe the show is flimsy and the sets are cheap, maybe the effects are bad and nothing is remotely similar to reality. But who cares? Good stuff for Campbell fans.

JACK OF ALL TRADES is mostly fun and spectacle, in the twenty minutes of each episode we have great slapstick as only Bruce Campbell can do, great swordfights, really bad ( but funny, often politically incorrect ) one-liners, talking parrots, jokes about the french and to summarize it, it can be very immature. But good executed. So a whole lot of fun. It's comparable to Brisco County in the fact that modern inventions are often used as deus ex machina, but it is not as emotionally. The whole setting reminds more of the Wild,Wild West Movie than of Brisco. The guests are great fun, for instance Verne Troyer as Napoleon goes where Mini-me of Austin Powers not even dared to.

Watch it for the fun of it.

The Plot overview here isn't entirely correct. It is the early 19th century when "Jack of All Trades" takes place and he is an American agent working with Emilia, a British agent, against the evil Imperialist forces of Napoleon. "J.O.A.T" has almost everything that one could demand in a TV show, swashbuckling, sword fighting, action, early 19th century hotties and a super hero (That's right Jack (already a secret agent) gets to have a mask wearing dual identity, called the Dragoon), and most importantly it stars Bruce Campbell. Jack also has something else that most shows have been lacking these last few years, that being a rocking, rollicking theme song. The song is sung by dancing Pirates, Bar Maids and Revolutionary Soldiers as well as a singing parrot. Jack himself is the perfect hero for Bruce Campbell to play, described as a "Scoundrel with a Heart" by the theme. Jack is like a fusion between James Bond, the Scarlet Pimpernel (except not as fopish), Zorro and most importantly now Ash. The only shame is that unlike it's older siblings "Hercules" and "Xena", "Jack of All Trades is only half and hour long. Oh well maybe this will draw in people with short attention spans.