“Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire” has all the ingredients of a good television show: a protagonist who takes things too seriously, an oafish ogre sidekick, a smoking girlfriend, Kevin Hart, and a bald antagonist. When Sam Koelle expressed how $$$ Krod Mandoon was, I had to check it out. Wrong again Samson. Someone messed up, because “Krod Mandoon” is blatantly average.

“Krod Mandoon” follows the story of its namesake, a resistance fighter in an imaginary oppressive kingdom of yore. He journeys on many quests from episode to episode, bringing his loyal motley crew with him. His main adversary is the power-hungry, egotistical Chancellor Dongalor (name lol), who seeks to destroy his opposition and seize the emperor’s throne.

There are redeeming qualities to the show: the jokes are generally funny, and the writing is, for the most part, good. The show’s plot is easy enough to follow, even with some odd fantasy land plot twists involving diamonds, a mythical council and a bi-Cyclops. The humor often comes from the characters’ unique qualities, which could potentially spell trouble, because eventually they are going to run out of gay jokes for Krod’s rather flamboyant companion, Bruce.

Although creator Peter Knight claims to have seen “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” a bajillion times and cites it as inspiration, the show’s humor is far from that of “Monty Python.” The humor of “Monty Python” alternates between the primary types of British humor: excessively ridiculous and pompously dry. “Krod Mandoon” is straight-up American humor with no limey influence in sight. A basic plot summary and description would suggest humor similar to “The Holy Grail,” but in reality the show is far from the oft-quoted masterpiece.

The humor is fairly original, and occasionally hilarious, but is too scant and suffers due to the show’s pacing issues. Some episodes get a lot accomplished but are too focused on plot, leaving you as serious as swine flu. Others make you laugh, but also feel shortchanged by the plot. Not one episode has been able to strike a good balance so far.

The brand new show still has time to find good balance and pace, and if the writers can cope with the pacing issues and the actors can interact better, then the show can survive. Otherwise, it will be another mediocre attempt to unseat Futurama reruns on Comedy Central. Step to Matt Groening.