Kevin Sorbo & Lucy Lawless: Hercules and Xena,
TV's most pec-tacular duo.
(Special Year-End Double Issue: Best of 1995; Entertainers of the Year)

Entertainment Weekly

29 December 1995

 

Thank Zeus for those few TV shows free of latte bars and Manhattan apartments. In other words, thank Zeus for buff thespians Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless, who masterfully lord over Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, two syndicated hours of Bronze Age camp.

This year, Sorbo's Fabio-length locks and deadpan delivery snagged him both colossal Hercules ratings and a seven-figure movie deal (he'll star in Kull the Conqueror). It's a break-through, says the veteran commercial actor, that seemed centuries in coming. "I've paid my dues," sighs Sorbo, 37. "It's not like I was an accountant and all of a sudden I said, `Hey, I want a series.'" Much less one so popular that it yielded a spin-off starring Lawless, 27.

The kung fu-chopping actress says she "turned green" with jitters after learning Xena would get her own series, but she soon got comfy in those dominatrix boots. "I guess it's the culmination of 35 years of feminism," she says. "Women can be as badass as any man ever was."