Bar none, the best TV main title sequence of the 2000s, to date:
Joseph LoDuca was even nominated for an Emmy for composing the JACK OF ALL TRADES theme song. Produced in New Zealand by the same folks responsible for the syndicated hits HERCULES and XENA (including SPIDER-MAN director Sam Raimi and STAR TREK scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman), JACK OF ALL TRADES was a half-hour show starring the great Bruce Campbell (now on BURN NOTICE) as Jack Stiles, an American secret agent stationed in the South Pacific in the early 1800s to keep an eye on Napoleon's quest for power.
Since the show was a swashbuckler, Jack masqueraded as a Zorro-type masked rogue named the Daring Dragoon. His reluctant partner was a sexy British agent, played by blond Angela Dotchin, but their relationship was more David-and-Maddie than Steed-and-Peel.
At just 30 minutes per episode, the pacing was slick, but the plots were too simple, and the generous humor was too juvenile, almost like a Matt Helm movie. JACK OF ALL TRADES was syndicated in the U.S. as part of an action hour with CLEOPATRA 2525. When Jack was canceled after its initial season of 22 shows, CLEOPATRA returned for a second year as a one-hour program. I didn't like CLEOPATRA 2525 either.
I actually liked this show a lot (it's available on DVD...but I had it in my head there were two seasons). The CLEOPATRA one proved that beautiful nearly naked women is sometimes not enough.
ReplyDelete