Premium cable is in no way a necessity.  That’s why the onus has been on channels such as HBO and Showtime to give us a reason to pony up those extra bucks for a subscription. HBO’s answer was  “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and “Six Feet Under.”  Showtime got us to pry open our wallets for “Dexter” and “Weeds.”

Now, the late-to-the-original-programming-party Starz has promised that sometime on or after January 22, 2010, when “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” premieres, we will see Lucy Lawless get naked. You read right: Xena, in the buff.

Now that Starz has your attention, it’s worth mentioning that this detail is not the only reason you might want to check out “Blood and Sand.” It’s not even the main one, although on Wednesday producers gave critics  an eyeful of the boobilicious , uncut promo trailer they weren’t allowed to show at Comic-Con to sweeten the deal.  Keep reading for our list of reasons that this upcoming action drama could be worth a look.

1. If the trailer is any indication of what we’ll see, it looks gorgeous. True, it does look like “300: The Series” as other bloggers have observed, but even those who were profoundly disappointed in the pacing of  Zack Snyder’s sword-and-sandals fantasy gave a few props to the visuals.  In the clips we saw, the digital polish on “Blood and Sand’s” battle scenes made this writer’s jaw drop.

Rob Tapert explained to critics, “having a digital environment and not having to have ultra-realistic backdrops and an arena like in ‘300, or in, like, ‘Gladiator‘… allowed us to actually bring this to the screen. There was no way to do it without having the artifice, so to speak.”

To those who would counter by bringing up HBO’s “Rome,” remember that show’s budget came in at a reported $100 million in its first season and was shot at the fabled Cinecitta Studios in Rome. “Spartacus,” on the other hand, is shot in New Zealand on a much tighter budget — hence, the CGI.

2. “Spartacus” is executive produced by Tapert and Sam Raimi, a team that has proven several times (“Xena,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys“) that they know their way around crowd-pleasing fantasy epics. This goes without saying for fans of the syndicated series “Legend of the Seeker,” who might be inclined to follow Tapert and Raimi to Starz. Non-believers could be lured by the familiarity of the story, the genre (who doesn’t love a good gladiator tale?) and the action. Speaking of which…

3. Tapert and Raimi won’t skimp on the fight choreography, a quality not to be underestimated in an era when mixed martial arts is king on cable. Granted, sword-and-sandals brutality is worlds different from that, and the octagon is lot smaller than those arenas. But people will be tuning in to see if these actors have the moves to paint the town red, so to speak.

Additionally, the art department had a field day with the more gruesome aspects of the battle sequences including one scene in which, as castmember Peter Mensah explained, “at a death, the victor could take off the other man’s face and wear it.”

They’re also not going to delay gratification, plotwise; according to head writer and fellow E.P. Steven S. DeKnight, the first season begins before Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield) is sentenced to slavery and ends with the revolt.

4. Tonally speaking, this is going to be serious business. Don’t look for musical episodes or tongue-in-cheek slapstick. Take Lawless’s character for example. She describes Lucretia, wife of gladiator owner Batiatus, as “his Lady Macbeth.

“And if he has to do something psychotic to do business and it’s against the rules of the time, and there were not very many things against the rules at the time, she’s going to shore him up,” she added.   “I think she sees herself eventually as the power behind the throne of Batiatus.”

5. There will be a number of special appearances by Kirk Douglas…the prosthetic. Yes, we’re back to the nudity again and if we’re perfectly honest, that will be a draw for a number of folks. (See: “Rome” and “I, Claudius.”) The producers have hinted at equal opportunity exposure; thus, an apparatus for the male actors was created. Yes, that is actually its nickname.  No word yet from the Douglas family on how they feel about this…honor?