Friday, April 1, 2011

Arthurian Shows: Merlin and Camelot

If you're into Arthuriana, you've undoubtedly come across plenty of different versions of the legend of King Arthur and Camelot. Two current television series explore the legend, and each has its own take.

Merlin has been on Syfy for the past two seasons after completing its first season on NBC. As season three is about to wrap up, there's a new player ready to get our attention. Camelot is an original series from Starz that is scheduled to debut April 1 (today), although the network did offer a sneak peak earlier this year by airing the first episode.

As an unapologetic fan of Merlin, I wanted to see what Camelot would be like. I was curious to see how it would differ from the show I've already been watching for three seasons. Would it be worth my time?

After watching the sneak peak, I thought about different aspects of each series and wrote an article contrasting the two.

The verdict? I'll be watching both series, but they're quite different. Camelot officially premieres tonight at 10:00pm Eastern Daylight Time on Starz. It's a 2-hour premiere, so I'm guessing the sneak peak was the first half. Check the official website to see when the encore presentations will air.

4 comments:

pbquig said...

I absolutely love "Merlin" and have been watching it since NBC had it. This year I got to see the series second episode in London, long before SYFY brought it over.

STARZ is free this weekend so we have DVRed the first two Camelot. When I watch I will look forward to reading your article on the comparison. This A-Z is so much fun.

Charmaine Clancy said...

I'll be teaching 'Myths and Legends' at school soon, so I might let the kids watch an episode of Merlin. Thanks for the reminder :)


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Roland D. Yeomans said...

Thanks for the enlightening article contrasting the two series. I was wondering how they would fare. As a harried blood courier, I do not watch much TV unless it is on DVD or on hulu.com. You did a great job of informing us of the differences, Roland

Anonymous said...

I love the Merlin TV drama too, though I have yet to see Camelot :O)