from Jonathan Klotz
| Published
after Hercules and Zina became huge hits in syndication, some of the networks wanted to try their hand at the fantasy adventure genre. No one tried as hard as cable network TNT.
Instead of Greek mythology, the network decided to revive one of the most legendary heroes The New Adventures of Robin Hood. If you remember watching it, there’s a very good chance it was because of the infamous marketing stunt involving Hulk Hogan that tricked viewers into watching the first episode.
The scandalous match of Robin Hood
TNT wanted a huge number for the premiere of The New Adventures of Robin Hoodand at that time WCW Monday Nitro was the hottest show on cable. This was thanks to a few months earlier when Hulk Hogan formed the NWO and suddenly pro-wrestling was cool.
On January 13, 1997, 12 days before they collided on NWO Souled Out Pay Per View, “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan and The Giant (Paul White) had a match, but it would only air during commercial breaks for the new series. For more than 30 minutes, during breaks, fans were treated to the “live” match, which actually only lasted about nine minutes, but was edited to appear longer and keep fans watching.
Derided as a “Robin Hood” match in wrestling fan circles for decades, it was an embarrassing stunt for both the network and WCW (both owned by Ted Turner). Since then, no one has attempted a promotion tactic as misleading and manipulative.
The New Adventures of Robin Hood didn’t retain much of that initial audience, but those who stuck around for the next four seasons were able to enjoy a deliberately cheap, hackneyed, low-budget but wildly entertaining take on the English legend.
Campy series that knew what it was
It stars Matthew Porretta as Robin Hood, which is notable since he played Will Scarlett in the Mel Brooks spoof Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
The New Adventures of Robin Hood without wasting time in introducing magical weapons, monsters, witches, aliensand eventually time travel. The casting of Warwick Davis as Big John was key to the tone of the show. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, and it didn’t, but that was a big part of the show’s charm.
Adaptation of Hercules and Zina the Robin Hood formula involves making episodes that are homages to different movies. They include The Seven SamuraiJungle Predator-style hunt in Season 4 and the Season 2 episode, “Outlaw Express,” which resembles Person/Off with Robin and his evil counterpart. Of course, there’s also the time loop Marmot day-style episode and one with Elvis being sent back in time to Sherwood Forest.
The New Adventures of Robin Hood started to get really weird after it went from TNT to syndication in Season 3.
This change is also partly why the series is unwatchable today, as not only is it not included streamingbut only the first season has been released on DVD. If it wasn’t Matthew Poretta’s YouTube channel in which he posted videos talking about his time creating the series, The New Adventures of Robin Hood it may have disappeared completely.
There’s always hope that the series will appear in a service somewhere; after all The Drew Carey Show hit streaming this year for the first time, but until then, explaining the time Robin Hood met Elvis will make you sound crazy.
