Wizards and Warriors

For all you hardcore geeks (myself included) the utterly obscure, utterly surreal Wizards and Warriors, a short-lived American television Fantasy series from the early 1980s. If you remember this you are definitely one of the fraternity. It starred B-television actor Jeff Conaway as Prince Erik Greystone with Walter Olkewicz as his trusty servant Marko. Though only eight episodes were ever made and not a lot happens it has a certain odd charm, mainly due to the efforts of the two leads. Conaway made his name in “Grease” and “Taxi” before entering the thespian doldrums (and I include “Babylon 5” in that) while Olkewicz was a workmanlike character actor who popped up in various (often cultish) series throughout the 1980s. Both give their roles gusto. Unfortunately it was all for naught. Jeff Conaway passed away in 2011 after many years of public drug abuse and on-screen mea culpas as American television celebrities of a certain calibre are wont to do. All very sad.