Jack of All Trades

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.

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.

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.

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.

I watched the first episode on the day it first came on, because I thought that the plot sounded cool. I really liked the episode so I continued to watch the show. It kept on getting better and better. This also was my first time seeing anything with Bruce campbell. I thought that he was really funny in the show so I also tuned in to Adventures of Brisco Country Jr.(also a great show airing on TNT saturday mornings)I have seen some of his movies and now I am a fan. He is probably one of the only good B movies stars. Anyway watch the show, because it is cool and only 30 minutes long. You could do a lot worse with your saturday afternoons. 10/10