The premise of Deadliest Warrior sounds like it was dreamed up over a game of Dungeons and Dragons: “Hey, who would win if Batman had to fight Wolverine?” Or better yet: “Would a level 12 Mage be able to take out a level 15 Orc?” Or something like that. Having never played D&D (goodbye geek points!), I’m not sure how that comparison would actually shake out. But you get my drift.

Of course, instead of superheroes or fantasy characters, you get various warriors/fighters throughout history paired up in an imaginary battle of skill and weaponry. And yes, it’s basically as stupid and awesome as it sounds. Whether it’s a gladiator facing an apache, a samurai taking on a Viking, and any of the other duels featured in season one, Deadliest Warrior is tailor-made for those guys (and gals) who never quite grew up. It’s a bigger sandbox with nicer (and much more expensive) toys. You’ve got weapons experts, history buffs, physicians, and computer geeks who all voice their opinions on who would win, culminating with a computer-simulated (but live action) battle pitting the opponents head-to-head in a showdown for supremacy.

While I can fully support the premise of the show (how cool is it to see all this weaponry being tested out on body dummies and slabs of beef and dead pigs?!), I can’t endorse the over-the-top nature of the narration or the fact that they pad out what could easily be a 30-minute show into a full hour-long one. There’s recap after recap of something that we just watched five minutes ago. It’s overkill and doesn’t add a thing to the overall feel of the show. If anything, it makes the comparisons seem even more cheesy and goofy (unless you’re really into this sort of thing).

As a result, while I dig the concept, I gotta dock the show some points for essentially being a windbag program, fully convinced of its own awesomeness. But it still does have that 10-year-old sense of goofiness and fun that helps sell the overall shindig. Check this out if you’re just dying for some mano-a-mano action thanks to a samurai and Viking (or fill in the blanks with your favorite historical fighting machine).