Merlin, NBC, BBC and ASH
Apr. 4th, 2008 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteThat's ASH as in Anthony Stewart Head.
See, NBC announced its 2008-09 schedule, and in a rather unusual move, it agreed to run a new BBC series called Merlin. This marks the first time that any American network is picking up a BBC show this quickly, and is part of NBC's efforts to avoid reruns entirely. How to avoid showing too many reality shows (even for NBC)? Buy something that already exists.
The show itself doesn't actually sound that great to me. Apparently, it's the adventures of Arthur and Merlin as young men finding themselves in the world. We've never had a good Arthur adaptation, and I don't really care for the idea of Arthur and Merlin being contemporaries. Or making Merlin the focus.
But playing the part of Uther Pendragon? That would be Anthony Stewart Head. That alone gets my attention. Looks like there will be at least two shows I will have to try this fall, both with Buffy connections (the other of course being Dollhouse).
Assuming, that is, that those of you from the UK who get to see it first on the Beeb (and those of you in the US who download it) say it's worth watching.
Also, speaking of NBC, Heroes returns on September 15 with a clip show and then a two hour premiere. And the Heroes: Origins spinoff is dead, as everyone involved wisely decided to focus on the original instead. I hope, however, that at some point we get to see Kevin Smith (who had signed to do one of the Origins episodes) direct or write an hour of this show.
See, NBC announced its 2008-09 schedule, and in a rather unusual move, it agreed to run a new BBC series called Merlin. This marks the first time that any American network is picking up a BBC show this quickly, and is part of NBC's efforts to avoid reruns entirely. How to avoid showing too many reality shows (even for NBC)? Buy something that already exists.
The show itself doesn't actually sound that great to me. Apparently, it's the adventures of Arthur and Merlin as young men finding themselves in the world. We've never had a good Arthur adaptation, and I don't really care for the idea of Arthur and Merlin being contemporaries. Or making Merlin the focus.
But playing the part of Uther Pendragon? That would be Anthony Stewart Head. That alone gets my attention. Looks like there will be at least two shows I will have to try this fall, both with Buffy connections (the other of course being Dollhouse).
Assuming, that is, that those of you from the UK who get to see it first on the Beeb (and those of you in the US who download it) say it's worth watching.
Also, speaking of NBC, Heroes returns on September 15 with a clip show and then a two hour premiere. And the Heroes: Origins spinoff is dead, as everyone involved wisely decided to focus on the original instead. I hope, however, that at some point we get to see Kevin Smith (who had signed to do one of the Origins episodes) direct or write an hour of this show.
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(no subject)
Date: Apr. 4th, 2008 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Apr. 5th, 2008 03:04 am (UTC)Space: 1999 did too, but that was in syndication, not primetime. Maybe The Avengers was too?
I guess I'm wondering how many times this might have happened before, even if Merlin breaks a record this time doing it.