‘The Vikings’ Tries to Conquer the Historical/Period Piece Genre With Its First Trailer (VIDEO)

I love me a good historical epic. They usually involve a lot more crime, blood, sex and racially-awkward humor. And now the History Channel, the long-ago educational programming network that has lately only wanted to focus on ancient aliens and fraudulent ghost hunters, has teamed up with MGM to try to do something worthwhile with their airspace again and are offering up a period piece series about those mysterious runic-writing, horned-helmet wearing Norse folk, the Vikings.

Starring Gabriel Byrne, The Vikings, which premieres March 3rd, follows Ragnar Lothbrok, an actual historical figure, as he rises to become one of the most memorable Vikings of his age. From the trailer above, the show looks like it has some great potential, but between the look of it and the character names, I'm going to have some trouble keeping this and Game of Thrones separate in my head.