Merlin is a British television drama series that began in 2008. It is loosely based on the Arthurian legends of the mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur, but differs significantly from traditional versions of the myth. Produced by independent production company Shine Limited for BBC One, the programme was designed to run in the same Saturday evening family drama slot as other UK series such as Doctor Who and Robin Hood.

The show has been commissioned for a second series.

Merlin will start airing on American television on June 21, 2009 on NBC and CTV

More info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(TV_series)

If you are recording this, double check the start or pad. Golf may run over on NBC.

Edit: In Eastern time zone, this started about 12 min. late due to golf so pad 15 min. or so.

Thanks for the reminder. Giles is in it...so I'll give it a shot for the GFs sake.

Saw the first half of the first episode. It was decent. Very Smallville like.

Watched both episodes. A little too Xena and Hercules both in tone and execution for my taste. Would be really interesting if they tried harder to stay true to the knights of the round table stories versus this teen arthur and teen merlin business. These two episodes were probably enough for me unless I hear it gets significantly better.

I watched a little bit of this. Not too bad but the CGI/FX were a joke. That dragon was laughable. If Smaug turns out anywhere near as bad as that, I'll be very disappointed.

Had to catch the last 15 min on Hulu. I will watch more.

I was surprised it actually kept my interest. I am not a big fantasy/magic fan, but I found it enjoyable.

Not sure I am into the casting. The lead guy's ears are so big, I actually thought maybe he was supposed to be an elf or some creature when I first saw them, and then I realized that was his actual ears.

And the girl they have playing Guinevere is not attractive at all. In fact, I thought she was downright homely.

I thought it was a pretty solid outing for the first two episodes. I would give it 7/10.

I liked the medieval atmosphere, the castles, costumes, etc. The knights fighting was well done. Acting was decent.

I didn't care for the dragon cgi (those lips...), or the actress playing Morgana (she looked like she stepped out of Cosmo Girl - way too modern looking).

But overall a decent outing. I'll stay tuned for a few more episodes and see if it's any good.

I agree. As a big fan of the T.H. White "Once and Future King" lore, I found the mucking around with the ages of the characters annoying (especially since Merlin actually pulls a Benjamin Button throughout Arthur's rise to power through to his death).

I will watch more assuming I will be able to separate the two incarnations from each other as the series progresses.

Yeah. There is most definitely that Lex Luther/Clark Kent vibe between Arthur and Merlin.

That was one of my biggest gripes when I first watched this series. Guinevere is to become the wife of King Arthur as well as Lancelot's lover. I would think that a woman who could attract such men should almost certainly be played by a very attractive woman. But, very puzzlingly, they cast a very plain black girl instead. I'm not racist, but the reality is that no black woman has ever been a Queen of England and that, along with her pedestrian looks, makes her totally unbelievable as Guinevere. She's a good actress and very likable but she's also very badly miscast in this role.

Actually, I think that she should probably have switched roles with the actress who plays Morgana; both actresses would have been much more believable.

Wife and I liked it, watched first two eps on Hulu. Watching ep 3 from DVR now.

I can't put my finger on why I enjoyed this show so much more than Legend of the Seeker. They are both predictable and hokey and have flaky CGI. But for some reason I found Merlin much more watchable. Part of it might be production values. FX aside, Merlin's cinematography and score are much better. But I think the real reason is that the acting is greatly superior. And although neither has great writing, Merlin's setup has some nice shades of gray to play with, as opposed to LoS's black and white, good vs. evil.

I agree the Guinevere actress is a bit homely, but I think that is intentional. She has an inner strength of character that her appearance belies. Arthur and Morgana are royalty, their great character is reflected in their appearance, but Merlin and Guin are peasants and their strength lies hidden. To be honest though, that doesn't exactly jive with the fact that her character is eventually best known for her moral failure.

Third episode about the poisoned water was much better than the second "Knight's Tale" story. Nice to see that they are letting Merlin be an impulsive teenager who screws up as much as he saves the day. The Smallville vibe is definitely there, but in a good way. Makes me want to check out the Robin Hood series, as well.

Michelle Ryan is too hot.

Last couple of episodes have been superb. I like this better than the Robin Hood. Although the plots can be enjoyed by kids, the show can get dark at time. This is the type of show American TV seems unable to produce.

Agreed. Any word on whether NBC will also air season 2 when it's available?

I'm up to episode 5 on Hulu right now... and it was funny to see Issac Mendez from Heroes as Lancelot.

I'm liking the show so far, but I can't shake the thought that the guy playing Merlin is just a young dark-haired Paul Bettany.

Heads up... two eps this Sunday.

Double Episode
August 16th
Special Time 7/6c

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH TV- 14 V


THE LABYRINTH OF GEDREF TV-PG V

Looks like they are burning this off. 2 this week and 2 on the 23rd to finish off the series.

Hopefully we'll be able to see season 2 here in the states.

I saw this show mentioned in an article about the generally poor ratings the networks have been getting all summer. And unfortunately it wasn't mentioned as an exception to the rule. I never really thought this show would compete as a network primetime show, but I think it could hold it's own as a syndicated show or on BBCA.

In case anyone is interested, season 2 starts airing on BBC America Friday, April 2nd.

I ended up enjoying this show last summer, so I just set my DVR for it.

Syfy channel is also showing Season 2 beginning this Friday.

Oops, you're right, it is SyFy not BBC America. For some reason I thought it was BBCa, but just checked my DVR and it is SyFy (and in HD!)