Anyway, the Xena DVDs are fun to watch but the quality is fairly horrible. Supposedly this is due to the series originally being shot on 16 mm film up to mid-season 2 when they switched to 35 mm. Or it could be due to incompetence or laziness in the transfer. Either way, the colors are pretty muddied.

My set included a bonus DVD filled with interviews of the personnel. One of the Directors commented that Xena succeeded because of timing and that there had never been an action show featuring a female lead. Hmmm, what about Charlie's Angels?

I think Xena (and Buffy) succeeded because of the female leads and strong backgrounds supporting them. Xena could and did draw upon darn near any aspect of mythology and religion. Buffy could draw upon near any aspect of the dark underworld of demons and ghoulies. Between the two, that's a lot of background to mine. And there's the problem. Something like a Sheena didn't have this rich diverse universe of mythos to tap upon and died a quick death. Worse, future shows have to be careful when using these backgrounds because they don't want to come off as clones. And, of course, Hollywood is famous for originality. "Next season, Candy the Werewolf Whomper!"