Some 11 years after the syndicated Hercules TV show ended, actor Kevin Sorbo is accusing his former bosses of hiding profits.
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys revolves around the mythical brave and handsome son (Sorbo) of the classic Greek gods as he makes his way through a fantasy version of Ancient Greece. Others in the series include Michael Hurst, Kevin Smith, and Robert Trebor. The series ran for six seasons and spun-off another popular syndicated TV show, Xena: The Warrior Princess.
Sorbo is accusing execs behind the show of “creative accounting” in order to hide money made from the series to avoid paying the actors their share of profits.
The actor recently told BlogTalkRadio, “They are certainly, truly a mafia. They hide the money. They bury the money. They won’t share profits. They won’t pay actors what they’re due on the back end of series.
He continued, “If you can actually get a truth machine on them, and hear what they really say, and hear what they really think, they don’t even like themselves. I had a back-end deal, but they claimed there were no profits. In the circle of actors I know, they talk about it all the time. James Garner sued for his share of the profits from The Rockford Files. Alan Alda sued over M*A*S*H.”
The details of Sorbo’s deal are not known and the actor didn’t say if he was suing for his share of the profits. However, these sorts of issues have come up many times over the past few years. Most recently, Jack Klugman has been sparring with Universal over profits from Quincy, M.E. and Don Johnson successfully sued the show’s other owners for back profits from Nash Bridges.
What do you think? Do you think that Sorbo is due back profits for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys? Do you think he could win a lawsuit?
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13 Comments on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Kevin Sorbo Says Bosses Hiding Profits"
I’m sure that Kevin Sorbo is correct. He should be paid in full with interest.
The single most important part of a tv show is who the actors and actresses are.
I believe that all the actors should get their fair share of the profits from the Hercules series. Kevin go for it.
Whether one likes or dislikes Mr. Sorbo is not a factor. If he was promised and is owed profits, then he deserves them.
PS–I do not believe one can actually dislike somebody one does not personally know. You can dislike an imagined person, but not the actual person.
PPS–One of the co-stars was named Robert Trebor, not Robert Trebo as listed in the article.
Watcher » Thanks for catching that typo.
I don’t know anything about the issue at hand, but Kevin Sorbo’s had a chip on his shoulder for a long time. I love the show, but I very much dislike him. He seems to resent the fact that Xena was a popular show, and takes every opportunity to mud-sling the cast and crew whenever either show is mentioned in an interview.
On whether his claims are true or not I don’t really have an opinion. But, as a general rule, I’m pretty distrustful of anything Sorbo says. He’s bad-mouthed his co-workers too many times.
It’s all-too common theses days for the greedy production company to have 2 sets of books so they can claim no profits when it comes time to pay the talent their due.
Pretty soon the actors won’t be able to trust any contract they sign
So true, I do beleive that Herc Kevin Sorbo and the rest of cast definitely have a law suit,Not onlt on Hercules as well as Xena Warrior Princess,This is what is why the owners of Herc and XWP do not want us to have a Movie with the regular Cast ,Go for it Hercules and let all others know that the fans i am sure are with you all.
All the actors on xena and hercules got screwed except Lucy since she married to the ex. producer,even Renee is owed money on the dvd work she did on commentary. Some should write a tell all book Sorbo or O’connor i would read it.
This has become typical practice for all networks! There are currently dozens of networks in lawsuits over not paying actors or writers for reruns, dvd releases, or merchandise sales.
Off-hand, I’d definitely say there’s merit in Sorbo’s claim — Hercules was an incredibly popular show in its time and he should definitely be seeing back profits from the DVDs and such.
sad but typical now a days, rich people running big companys or like prez. bush our gov. ******** over the people who work for them, hiding money and only caring about themselves, pretty messed up all these great actors need to sue for the money they are owed.