If You Seek a Bad Show

The Sword of Truth. The Seeker. The Magic Box. The Confessor (no this show does not feature a roaming, ass-kicking Catholic priest. Unfortunately. That might have made things more interesting). These are all the incredibly generic names for important items and people in the show. The writers couldn't think of interesting names, and they couldn't think of interesting plots.

Actually, as a fun fact, this is based on the equally craptastic Terry Goodkind novels entitled The Sword of Truth. The writers changed the name of the show because they wanted to be able to expand on the material (ie, change it to make it more interesting). I think I speak for most people when I say: WHY DIDN'T YOU?!

Basically, if you haven't seen it, the show revolves around The Seeker, who carries The Sword of Truth, and wears a very open shirt. He has a thing going on with The Confessor, who wears a very long, flowy white dress and yet somehow manages to be an expert fighter and doesn't trip on it. This thing with The Confessor is completely uninteresting because they both like each other and travel together. The end. No drama. There's also a very old guy who plays the role of Gandalf and gives everyone extremely obvious advice. He's generally boring but worth it for the one giant shining moment wherein it is revealed in one fell, miraculously still uninteresting swoop, that basically everyone on the show is related to each other and gramps-alf is being toted along because he is, in fact, The Seeker's grandfather. And nobody questions any of this. Not even a, "Wait, you're mommy dearest?"

The worst thing about this show is that unlike similar classics like Hercules and Xena, there is no subtle, self-effacing humor. No, this show takes itself entirely seriously. And nobody is going to be able to nod their head and suspend belief for 45 minutes of this crap without wanting to laugh at it.

The best thing about this show is that (not to give out spoilers, but honestly, who cares? If you watch this show, you shouldn't) there is no real conflict. The characters actually assemble the power that the bad guy is after, and start to use it for themselves and then... give it up because it corrupts the hero too much. Um, how about you let him kill the bad guy and THEN take away his toys? Apparently this 21st-centry logic is far beyond The Seeker & co.

I assume that this show was meant to appeal to everyone, not just cape-clad D&D fans. FYI: it does not. Yet somehow this crap is popular, because it's coming back for a second season. TV watchers everywhere, I must ask you - For the love of God, WHY?