- Network: Starz
- Series Premiere Date: Feb 25, 2011
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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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The main thing Camelot has going for it is a lively, unpretentious desire to entertain. It doesn't take itself overly seriously--Merlin has a wry sense of humor--and there are some capable action sequences amid scenes of rustic splendor.
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Bower starts out seeming just a bit too young and green to command the throne, though he may grow into it as the weeks go along. The rest of the cast play their positions well, from the conniving Morgan to the inscrutable Merlin. And if once in a while things look like "The Young and the Restless," well, some truths are eternal.
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It's all extremely familiar material, despite plot tweaks here and there, and yet the show is still somewhat charming in its emphasis on idealism and bravery. Flimsy, but charming enough.
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While stately and reasonably smart, the first three episodes unfold at a less-than-galvanizing pace, featuring a young King Arthur whose appeal seems more calibrated to please the "Twilight" demo than action-craving men.
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Nice looking, but not nearly enough action.
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It's not easy, with all the silly one-liners, oddball plot twists, and frat-party ambience, to get terribly invested in who will win the power struggle that Camelot dramatizes. But if Fiennes and Green could stage a coup, wresting control of the show from its tawdrier impulses, then that might just be something worth watching.
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Pieces of the familiar Arthurian epic are preserved in the script, but that doesn't mean the characters fit our images of them.
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The series as a whole seems much more interested in the love triangle involving Arthur, his bravest knight Leontes (Philip Winchester) and the beautiful Guinevere (Tamsin Egerton) than in actually showing the growth of a king. It doesn't help that parts of that story are bizarrely anachronistic.
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Camelot teeters on the edge of camp, but it doesn't have the nerve to pitch itself into the abyss and just be trashy.
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Despite the interesting twist of overt sibling rivalry, Chibnall seems to be making a blood and gore version of "The Princess Diaries."
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This retelling of the Arthurian legend feels overly familiar and there's just not enough that's new or different to make it worthwhile.
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Rarely has the story been rendered so dreary and insipid.
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Even on the level of it's-just-entertainment, Camelot is exceedingly silly.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 18 out of 49
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Mixed: 19 out of 49
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Negative: 12 out of 49
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Apr 2, 2011
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May 19, 2011
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Apr 4, 2011