Friday 16 April 1999
By eBroadcast Staff and agencies.

Hercules is coming to an end - please, no tears

'Hey, maybe they'll let me take this cool stuff home'

He may not be Xena, but he's almost as popular. Hercules is about to take a journey to that big Mt. Olympus in the sky, the place where all good Greek heroes go when their networks throw their show in the can. You heard us: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is about to be no more. And it's really a tragedy, isn't it?

According to the New York Daily News, production begins soon on the final episodes, and there are only eight more left. Set your VCRs now.

"I'm actively pursuing more work now," Kevin Sorbo, star of the series, told The News. "I'm 99.9 sure the show is over, which is sad." Like we said, a terribly tragedy. Good luck on that finding other work thing, by the way.

Before the show was even created in 1995, Sorbo started playing the role of Hercules in five two-hour movies in 1993. The success of the show led to the creation of everyone's favorite, Xena: Warrior Princess. Hercules now comes in second, only behind Xena, in original syndicated shows. It averages 5,430,000 viewers per week, compared to Xena's 5,720,000. Assuming the audiences overlap, that's about 5,000,000 people we don't ever want to meet.

"From what I understand, they're writing a great finale," Sorbo said. "I've asked them, 'Whatever you do, don't kill me off.' . . . I think they want to go out with a big show, a big episode. That reconfirms the fact that they're not interested in coming back."

Sorbo feels that the cancellation is due to simple financial problems. Apparently, Studios USA, who produce and syndicate Hercules, have a 3-year-old deal with USA Networks. The deal sold the reruns to the cable channel to be aired daily, but they were sold at a price that just can't support the production costs. Normally, a successful show would rake in the cash and provide the funding for production, but apparently someone on the Hercules team was in the bath when opportunity came knocking.

Sorbo will continue to work on the remaining eight shows, as his contract runs through the last episode. There was some talk about continuing the series and his role, but as he was asked to accept a "huge" pay cut, he declined. As such, he's currently looking at roles in three other series, all new, and perhaps a film or two. We really hope daily movies covers those films so we can read all about them.

Even though he's interested in the other work - and he ought to be, since it's probably won't last for forever - he's still lamenting the end of Hercules.

So are we, Kevin, so are we. Could someone just please hold us?