Remember Highlander?

It would be a Saturday night. Saturday Night Live would be nearing that point midway through where it stopped being funny, and I would change the channel to some syndicated station or other, or The USA Network, and there it would be: Highlander.

I've never been a big sci fi-fantasy-action fan, but more often than not, my interest was captured by this show about a man who would remain immortal til someone came up and chopped off his head. I don't remember specifically, but I think I must have had a good number of nightmares on Saturday nights.

I was able to like Highlander for a number of reasons. First, unlike many late night syndicated action shows, it didn't have people running around in weird outfits in the jungle or ancient times, (no offense Hercules and Xena fans). It was set in the here and now- well, except when it used flashbacks to relay the last couple hundred years of the immortal Duncan McLeod's life.

And despite the fact it involved a beheading every week and some pretty serious mythology I never really a followed, it wasn't so sci-fi that it alienated me. No pun intended. The interesting mix of history, backstory, and fantasy (and sometimes humor- Roger Daltry, anyone?) was still usually connected to some kind of personal or criminal issue and that was cool. For lack of a better word. For late night syndication, yes, Highlander was a pretty cool show.

Adrian Paul played Macleod, the aforementioned immortal. Most of the time, he went around doing good, not unlike Angel from, well, Angel. He would be challenged from week to week by other immortals who wanted to cut off his head and get his immortal power via a process called - if I remember correctly - The Quickening.

I think that was the title of one of the Highlander movies starring Christopher Lambert. But Macleod was a badass and he did always did the final chopping himself. Paul, except for the ponytail thing, was a good action hero- accent, tall dark and handsome, convincing both in the fight, and also when he moralized. He was a little too Fabio for me to have a crush on, but definitely a good action hero.

Macleod, like Buffy, from well, Buffy¸ had a watcher. Mac's was named Joe Dawson. Jim Byrnes (or Byrne) as Joe Dawson, was a fun bit of casting for Wiseguy fans. Byrne(s), as you may recall, played Uncle Mike/Lifeguard/Daniel Benjamin Burroughs on that show. Like he did on Wiseguy, Byrne - a musician in real life- played guitar at least once on Highlander. Blues. Cool. Of course Macleod had an annoying sidekick, the earnest and fresh faced Richie (Stan Kirsch) who became an immortal and, if I recall correctly, got himself good and beheaded.

Then there was the most annoying character of all, Methos (Peter Wingfield) the oldest immortal around. He passed himself as a guy named Adam (oldest man, first man, maybe) and was always walking around in the later seasons being all cryptic and stuff. I don't know what happened to him. I think he's on Touching Evil or something…

Also on the show were some none too interesting love interests. Remember Tessa, who bought the farm? Anne, a doctor who was pregnant, I think? And of course, past love Amanda (Elizabeth Gracen) who was an immortal herself and, unlike MacLeod, a criminal immortal. But poor MacLeod, hard to fall in love when you know you'll out live the girl, or have to behead her. Amanda of course, escaped that fate and Gracen went on to her own failed Highlander show called The Raven.

The crimes and mysteries the little historical bits, the sympathetic hero, the original- if gruesome - premise: all this made for good late night viewing.