The man who played Hercules was just a human, after all. According to People, Kevin Sorbo writes in his new book 'True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life' that he suffered three strokes while filming the mythological '90s fantasy series.

In 1997, when 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' was at the height of its run, Sorbo felt a strange sensation in his arm while working out. He ignored the signs, attributing the feeling to a weightlifting injury. But when his vision became blurry and speech slurred, he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe disruption of blood-flow to his arm stemming from an aneurysm in his shoulder.

It sounds like the title of an mid-90s game show on Nickelodeon, but it's actually the title of a new syndicated adventure series from Sam Raimi.

Wow, "syndicated adventure series." Whatever happened to all of those cheesy syndicated adventure shows that used to dot the television landscape? There used to be dozens of them on the weekends and late at night. Sitcoms too. There aren't too many of them anymore, replaced by reality, home improvement, court shows, and talk shows, or not replaced at all.

It's taken a couple years, as we first posted about the series in August 2006, but Sam Raimi's adaptation of the Terry Goodkind books will finally be beaming into our televisions the weekend of November 1, 2008. That's about as specific as anyone can be, because this is a syndicated series. We'll all have to check our local listings. The good news though, is that Disney-ABC says they have cleared the show in 95% of the country.

The press release mentions that Raimi and his partners, Rob Tapert, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle, and Kenneth Biller are the team behind Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Why they continue to excise Cleopatra 2525 from that list remains a mystery to me.

The series will kick off with a two-hour premiere and Raimi describes it by saying, "The amazing characters and heartfelt story, combined with the captivating backdrop of New Zealand, will have viewers on the edge of their seats." I'm pretty much in the bag for anything Raimi is involved in, so I'll be watching. Wizard's First Rule could be that something to watch on Saturday night we're all looking for.