Watch Spartacus, Spartacus Blood and Sand Season 2, Spartacus Series

There’s good news for fans of Spartacus: Blood and Sand! Starz announced today that the series has been picked up for a second season. Ok, if you’re among the people anticipating this new show, you’re probably wondering if they missed the premiere and to that, the answer is no. The first season won’t premiere until January 2010 but apparently, the pay-cable network is so confident that the it will be a success that they’re already moving forward on season two, tentatively titled Spartacus: Vengeance.

Vengeance! Oooh, sounds good already. Who doesn’t love a little vengeance in a TV show? The Blood and Sand portion of the series premieres January 22nd (10:00 p.m. ET/PT), so it’s likely that people aren’t going to be jumping for joy over the second-season pickup just yet. All the same, the network’s confidence in the show will make it easier for those of us who do plan to tune in to get comfortably invested in it, knowing that there’s definitely a second season in the works.
Starz Gives Second Season Order To Spartacus Series

If there was ever an era that was perfect to be made into a pay-cable TV series, it's ancient Rome. Courtly intrigue, coupled with the excesses that the Romans indulged in -- glorious conquest, opulent wealth, killing for entertainment, sex as a distraction from boredom -- form the perfect recipe for mass entertainment. Why else do you think Gladiator won an Academy Award? The HBO series Rome tried to capture that glory, and succeeded; unfortunately, it was too expensive to last more than two seasons. Starz is following a different route, however -- they're emulating the film 300, which re-created ancient Greece on a budget by using computers and green screens. There are sets in Spartacus, of course, but they're far from the massive exteriors of Rome, and most of their characters (like the Spartans in 300), require very little costuming. I don't know what budgetary category "washboard abs" falls under (catering?), but it ain't costumes.