SyFy's 'Olympus' hits the screen and I am not impressed, though slightly intrigued

Because I felt I owed it to you guys and I was actually a little curious, I watched SyFy's 'Olympus' this morning. What can I say...? It's SyFy. It's American. It's... loosely based on Hellenic mythology, and whoever did the creature design for that Cyclops needs to be fired.

'Olympus' has some good things:

• it has kick-ass female characters that carry much of the show; both the side of good and the side of evil are led by women in the first episode (the Oracle of Gaia and the Queen of Athens, respectively)
• Hero, the main character, is likable and delightfully naïve
• the main actors are good, and they make their tacky dialogue work
• 'Hero' is not his actual name, which makes me very happy
• the plot sounds intriguing and fun (a cursed name, a lexicon the bad guy wants and the good guys have, all very 'fantasy 101' and a guaranteed good time)

Now for the bad:

• nothing in this setting has anything to do with ancient Hellas besides the fact that they use the location of 'Athens' and a few things from Hellenic mythology; not in the (horrendous) CGI, not in the clothing, not in the weapons--nothing is accurate to time
• anyone who is not a main character can't act to save their lives and it's painful to behold--although perhaps not entirely their fault (see below)
• except for Hero and the Oracle, the writing is weak across the board
• the CGI--did I mention the CGI yet, because good Gods! I watch 'Atlantis', I devoured 'Sanctuary', I am used to terrible CGI, but I have not seen CGI as bad as this in years

If you are into shows like 'Merlin', 'Atlantis', 'Game of Thrones', 'Sanctuary', 'Rome', and 'Spartacus', you should try 'Olympus'. But you need to go into it looking for a nice fantasy show to waste an hour a week on. If you are looking for realism on ancient Hellas or Hellenic mythology, 'Olympus' is not going to give you that. As much as I gripe about 'Atlantis' and its lack of realism when it comes to the portrayal of ancient Hellas, it's actually more accurate than 'Olympus'.

Now, 'Atlantis' is ending soon, but I will most likely not be filling its slot with 'Olympus', simply because I feel it's a downgrade, not an upgrade. Unfortunately for 'Olympus', much of its story has already been told by 'Atlantis', and its characters are not original either. Where I cut 'Atlantis' a lot of slack because it was the first, 'Olympus' gets no such treatment. That said, I will watch the next episode. I will do so for two reasons only: Sonya Cassidy, who plays the Oracle, and Tom York, who plays Hero. Cassidy's Oracle is a delight to watch, and York does this thing whenever Hero doesn't understand anything that is so incredibly adorable that I'd love to watch another hour of that. As for the rest... well... I hope it gets better. I'm not invested yet, but who knows, SyFy might surprise me.