God Bless The USA Network

And for good measure a group of really really good looking people

Last week USA premiered its newest original show Common Law, featuring two detectives so dysfunctional they have to be put in couples’ counseling so that they can learn to work together.  The pilot was very enjoyable and a great addition to the network that proclaims “Characters Welcome.”  It also got me thinking about this supposedly second tier cable network and how apart they are set from every other channel on television.

Ryan’s Favorite List from 2011

I was going to sit down and make a “best of” list for the year, but it struck me as so cliché that I couldn’t go through with it. However, being the sentimental type, I wanted to at least write something about what pop culture has brought me this year. What I decided on was to create a list of the best things I have experienced this year, not necessarily what was released this year. This is not THE year in review; it is MY year in review.

CW Upfronts Witches and Twins and Dixie Oh My

Oh CW, the pretentious side of me wants to hate you far more than I do. The CW announced their fall schedule earlier this week and there were only two major cancellations and four new shows to announce. Hellcats, which I didn’t care about and Life Unexpected, which I heard was good, both got the axe and sit tight because I’m going to go through all the new pickups. I also totally lifted all of the summaries and credited them below because, if you’ve ever read my movie reviews with Scotty, you know I can’t write them.

The Ringer
Stars: Sarah Michelle Geller (Buffy)
Airing: Tuesdays at 9:00, hour drama
Premise: A young woman on the run from the mob poses as her wealthy twin sister to try and evade them, but soon discovers that her sister has a price on her head as well. [IMDB]
First Reaction: If I could raise my eyebrow at this, I would. But hey, there have been stranger premises that worked.
After Seeing the Preview: Well that didn’t elaborate at all. Lies, secrets, Sarah Michelle Geller falling through walls, what more could you want. Seriously though, even with very little to go on it does look exciting and might even be good.
Suggestion: DVR

Hart of Dixie
Stars: Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), Jaime King
Airing: Mondays at 9:00, hour dramedy
Premise: A wholesome small-town drama about a NYC doctor who moves to a small town in the American South to become a general practitioner. She discovers regular folk who actually need her help, some unexpected family ties and a mess of damn fine Southern boys just waiting to become her boyfriend. [E!]
First Reaction: This makes me want to go out and rescue kittens. It also sounds terrifically boring, like Gilmore Girls without the witty banter.
After Seeing the Preview: Oh look, she’s a Manhattan doctor and there were Southern Belles in costumes that looked like they were borrowed from the Vampire Diaries. I didn’t think I could want to see this show less.
Suggestion: Skip

The Secret Circle
Stars: Young People I don’t know
Airing: Thursdays at 9:00, hour drama
Premise: The "Secret Circle" series follows 16-year-old Cassie, who moves from California to live with her mom in New Salem and falls in love with a mysterious boy named Adam. But, when she enrolls in high school there, she realizes that he, she and all the other elite students at the school are witches! She befriends their leader, Diana, but soon discovers that Adam and Diana are dating, which leads to a whole bunch of complicated drama. [IMDB]
First Reaction: I’m going to quote Jennifer Arrow on this, “The Secret Circle is a series about witches that is (a) based on source material from the same author as The Vampire Diaries, (b) produced by the same team that produces The Vampire Diaries, and (c) airing on the same night as The Vampire Diaries. But it's about witches, which is different, and it's set in Washington state instead of in Virginia. So...different.” [E!] Now, I watch the Vampire Diaries and will give it credit for being surprisingly funny with some well written characters, even if half of them suffer from some sort of Jesus complex. So, this may have potential, even if this whole thing takes place in New Salem, WA. Did we really need to name the town that? Will people not get it otherwise?
After Seeing the Preview: Does the CW have one font for its previews? From what I can tell, if you don’t like The Vampire Diaries, you’re probably not going to like The Secret Circle. It looks a tad overdramatic with characters who apparently have the most lenient teachers ever because they are literally never in school. If they can infuse the same humor into this show that they did with the Vampire Diaries, I think it will be worth watching.
Suggestion: Check it out

H8R
Stars: Mario Lopez
Airing: Wednesdays at 8:00, hour reality
Premise: Celebrities go head-to-head with civilians who hate them to win their "haters" over. [CW]
First Reaction: If this is why they moved America’s Next Top Model to 9 pm, at least I won’t have to watch previews for this show.
After Seeing the Preview: Yes, because I really want to watch a show about Snookie-caliber celebrities confronting jerks on the internet who say bad things about them.
Suggestion: Skip it

CBS Upfronts: Doing So Well, My Snarky Titles are Useless

If we were to rank networks by how well they're shows do, CBS would be waving at the rest below them with fans of hundred dollar bills. What else would you expect from the network home to both CSI and NCIS? It also means that some of the shows CBS decided to cancel had ratings NBC would have killed for. $#*! My Dad Says, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Mad Love, Medium, and The Defenders all got the axe. They also cancelled Chaos, but I literally have no idea what that is so maybe that one deserved it. So what does the big eye have for us in terms of replacements? All premises were stolen and are credited below.

Two Broke Girls
Stars: Kat Dennings (Thor) and Beth Behrs
Airing: Mondays at 8:30, half hour comedy
Premise: A street-smart waitress (Kat Denning) makes friends with a gone-broke trust-fund princess (Beth Behrs) when they get a job at the same diner. [Time]
First Reaction: Get it? It’s the odd couple, but with girls. Yay creativity!
After Seeing the Preview: I'm on the fence about this. On the one hand, I do like Kat Dennings' delivery and there were some funny moments in the preview. However, the other one looks and acts like Paris Hilton. They even make a Paris Hilton joke. They're so timely and hip with the kids.
Suggestion: DVR

How to Be a Gentleman
Stars: David Hornsby (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Kevin Dillon (Entourage), Dave Foley (tons of stuff), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24)
Airing: Thursdays at 8:30, half hour comedy
Premise: The series chronicles the friendship between an uptight columnist (Hornsby) and his more freewheeling trainer (Kevin Dillon). [Wikipedia]
First Reaction: Get it? It’s the odd couple, but with…oh wait. Yay creativity!
After Seeing the Preview: I'm still not totally sold on the premise but the preview looked genuinely funny. It made me chuckle at one point and sort of reminded me of How I Met Your Mother. If they can keep the "aren't they all terribly wacky" factor low and rely more on smart writing and good delivery, this could do quite well.
Suggestion: Watch

Unforgettable
Stars: Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace)
Airing: Tuesdays at 10:00, hour drama Premise: Poppy Montgomery plays a cop who forgets almost nothing—literally; she is one of a rare set of people who can remember every moment of their lives. The catch: the one day she can't remember is the long-ago day her sister was murdered. [Time]
First Reaction: I will admit to not being a huge fan of procedurals but this is a twist on the old standard that might actually give it some life and character. Also, Poppy Montgomery is the best name ever.
After Seeing the Preview: I looked this up on IMDB and apparently this show was renamed at some point in its production life and used to be called The Rememberer. That is such a stupid name. It also makes me think that they're using this "she can remember things" as more of a gimmick excuse to make another procedural than to actually make an interesting show. The dialogue sounds forced and apparently, when she lets her emotions "rule her," her memory powers don't work so well. I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. How they visually convey that she's using her super memory does look interesting but I'm not sure its enough to save the show.
Suggestion: Wait for reviews of the pilot

A Gifted Man
Stars: Patrick Wilson (Watchmen), Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice)
Airing: Fridays at 10:00, hour drama
Premise: Patrick Wilson plays an insufferable but brilliant surgeon who gets life lessons from the ghost of his ex-wife. [Time]
First Reaction: Ummm…what do you expect me to do with this CBS? A Gifted Man has officially taken The Ringer’s place as the number one wackiest Premise that I’ve heard this week.
After Seeing the Preview: This show is still stupid. Ok, let me rephrase that, this is going to make a stupid TV Show. TV movie or regular movie fine, but I have no idea how they will keep this going week to week. Now, the preview did actually look good. Apparently Jennifer Ehle was a clinic doctor while Patrick Wilson is a highly paid surgeon and he has to help her finish her unfinished business, namely logging into her computer at the clinic to get all kinds of needed info because none of the clinic staff can do it. I'm also sure she's also going to teach him about life and love because, after all, what else are ghosts for?
Suggestion: DVR the pilots and second episode

Person of Interest
Stars: Michael Emerson (Lost) and Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ)
Airing: Thursdays at 9:00, hour drama
Premise: Michael Emerson plays a software billionaire who developed a program to analyze surveillance material gleaned by the government. With it, he can discern patterns and determine when a crime will occur before it happens; he recruits an ex-agent (Jim Caviezel) to be his vigilante. [Time]
First Reaction: In the race to create the next Lost, CBS has JJ Abrams and Ben so you all can suck it. But really, it’s Ben and Jesus fighting crime together!
After Seeing the Preview: Ben and Jesus fighting crime! Yes, I know it's darker and deeper than that and Jim Caveisal is not playing Jesus but Michael Emmerson is pretty much playing Ben so I will take what I can get. It looks cool and action packed, suspenseful and a bit mysterious. See Ringer, this is how you sell an "I don't know what's going on" thriller. Give enough to know the premise and what to expect without giving away the goods. Simply not knowing what's going on is not going to make me watch it.
Suggestion: Watch it

First thoughts on ABC’s Fall Line-Up

ABC’s line-up for the fall has been released and has left me feeling a little less excited than I was following NBC’s announcement. The full listing can be found at comingsoon.net and includes the return of fan favorites such as Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, Modern Family, and Body of Proof, among others. My initial reaction was of stunning indifference; few of the new shows leapt off the page. However, if you look at ABC’s best shows, none of them have a great premise. Castle and Body of Proof sound like cheesy riffs on the familiar police procedural and the rest of the ABC current line-up is variations on sit-coms and workplace dramas. ABC has always led the way with solid writing and acting talent. So without further speculation, here are my top picks among the new ABC drama.

• Charlie’s Angels: If you are unfamiliar with the concept behind Charlie’s Angels you may need to retake History of Television 101. This reboot of the 70’s classic will follow three sexy female detectives as they solve crimes and fight bad guys. There is also a strong possibility that at some point one or more of the main characters will appear in a bikini, but that’s just my speculation. Creators have promised that this reboot will be more serious and less campy then the 2000 movie. The reboot of Hawaii Five-0, has done well and I think Angels could be a fun ride so long as the writers find a way to keep the simple premise interesting from week to week.

• Once Upon A Time: It seems like this year every network is taking a chance on one weird fantasy genre show in an attempt to find the next Lost, and Once Upon A Time is ABC’s. Once Upon A Time follows Emma Swan, as she is reunited with the young son she gave up. Things take a turn for the strange when Emma’s son insists that she is the daughter of Snow White and must travel to the town of Storybrooke, home of the most famous characters of fairy tale lore, who have now been transformed into humans and forgotten their mythical origins by means of The Evil Queen’s curse. The show sounds a little strange on paper, but this mix of fairy tale stories with the “real world” could lead to some interesting story-telling. Emma Swan is played by Jennifer Morrison, well known from House, and I think is a good choice. She has proven her acting chops with supporting roles and should be ready to carry a show as a lead.

• Pan Am: Just as every network is trying to find the next Lost; it seems every network is also trying to create their own version of Mad Men. Pan Am, set in the 60’s, follows the men and women of Pan Am, the largest name in air travel. During this zany time period, pilots are kings, stewardesses are queens and the sky’s the limit. At this point you can see where this is going, and I see little reason to get excited for another period show. Perhaps Pan Am will bring something new to the table that Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, or NBC’s new The Playboy Club do not, but I rather doubt it. If you really like the period show concept, this might be for you, but I’m putting this one down in the “wait and see” category.

• The River: The River follows the family of Emmet Cole, a TV personality and host of a Survivorman style nature show. However, when Emmet goes missing in the middle of the Amazon, his wife and son must team up with a production company willing to fund the rescue attempt in exchange for the right to film the entire thing. One aspect that might make this show interesting is the fact that the main characters have a camera crew following them around. If this is done in the style of the office it will be irrelevant, but actually showing the crew and the challenge of shooting in the rain forest might be interesting.

ABC has several new comedies premiering in the fall but two stuck out and they both ask the question of what it means to be a man and father.

• Last Man Standing: Tim Allen returns to television as Max Baxter, marketing director for a sporting goods store and ultimate manly man. However, when Max’s wife returns to work he is forced to take a more active role in the lives of the couple’s three daughters. It’s hard to tell a good comedy from the elevator pitch but I think the combination of Tim Allen in this odd man out set-up could lead to some good moments of comedy.

• Suburgatory: Aside from the horrible title, this show sounds pretty interesting; following a single father that moves himself and his teenage daughter out of their New York apartment after finding condoms on her nightstand. Hoping to protect her from the evils of the big city, the two relocate to the suburbs which, as everyone in the real world knows, is just like it is on Desperate Housewives. This show has one thing really going for it and that is the single parent thing. A large number of recent dramas have gotten mileage showing the special connection that is shared between a daughter and single dad and if they take a few notes from shows like Castle and Californication, ABC could have a hit on their hands. Also, Alan Tudyk is slotted for a supporting role, and that can’t hurt.

Well those are my picks for most interesting looking new ABC shows, but that is far from the complete list. Make sure to follow the link to comingsoon.net and check out the full listing of new shows and tell us in the comments which you want to see. Also follow the link here to take a look at our coverage of NBC’s fall line-up

NBC Fall Line-Up

NBC released its fall schedule on Sunday, finally letting us know which of our favorite shows will be returning and what new freshmen shows we have to look forward to. You can check out the full list here and see exactly what NBC has planned come September, but before you do I will take you through the highlights and give you my speculation on what new shows look worth your time and which will be 13 episode flops.

The returning line-up offers little surprise as Parenthood, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Harry's Law, Chuck, Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, and 30 Rock are all set to return. The one bit of news here involves cult favorite Chuck, which against all odds has survived cancellation yet again. NBC has stated that this will be the show’s fifth and final season and that they will be moving Chuck from its regular Monday time slot to the Friday death slot. I think the show has had a great run and since the writers know this will be the last year going in, I think we can expect a great final season. As for the move to Fridays, I don’t think this will have much effect on the show that has shown just how loyal its fans can be. After fans flocked to out to buy Subway sandwiches to show support for the show, I think making the move to Friday nights will not be a problem.

NBC has six new dramas airing for the fall season and while I encourage you to follow the above link and read more about all of them I am going to single out three that have me particularly excited.

· Grimm takes the classic “what if all story-book monsters were real?” motif that has been the basis for both Supernatural and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. A homicide detective discovers he is one of the last remaining Grimms, people with the ability to see and fight the monsters that plague humanity. If you are a fan of either Buffy or Supernatural, I do not think that this show will be anything new. However, the show has David Greenwalt listed as a creator/executive producer and Greenwalt helped Joss Whedon create both Buffy and Angel and if he brings us more of the same, I for one will be happy.

· The Playboy Club is a new drama that seems to be following in the footsteps of Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire. Set in the 60s, this drama will center around the infamous club located in the heart of organized crime, Chicago. Brian Grazer is set to executive produce; his resume includes 24, American Gangster and Apollo 13. I have not followed either Mad Men or Boardwalk Empire, but with the successes of these other period shows I think this could do rather well. Plus, it never hurts to throw a buzzword like “Playboy” in your title.

· This brings us to Awake, a drama following Detective Michael Brittan in the aftermath of a terrible car crash. Following the accident, Brittan finds himself drifting back and forth between two parallel realities. In one, his wife dies in the accident, but their young son survives. In the other, the wife lives but the couple loses their son. Brittan is left jumping between the two worlds and living through two different tragedies simultaneously. I am very excited for this show and I think if it’s good, Awake could become something akin to what Lost was in its early days. This show has the possibility to be a great genre show while still appealing to a much wider audience. If this show doesn’t get gunned down in its first season I think NBC might have a winner.

I skipped over the nine new comedy pilots that NBC has picked up because none of them really appealed to me and I have never been impressed with the comedies on NBC (with Community the exception that proves the rule). However, I encourage you to check them out by following the link above because with nine different offerings there seems like there is something in there for everyone.

What do you think of NBC’s fall schedule? Which shows are you excited for and which ones do you think will be duds? Let us know which shows you are looking forward to in the comments and we will let you know what we think when these new offerings hit in the fall.

Do You Like Scary Movies?

I have never been a fan of horror movies as a genre. I spent most of my life telling people that horror movies were cheap and lacked substance, most of them just serving as an excuse to gross people out with excessive amounts of gore and to this day I still maintain that that is mostly true. However, the main reason I don’t like horror movies is that they are scary and frankly I don’t like to be scared. This changed last week when the cover of Entertainment Weekly featured a story on Scream 4 and after reading their article I decided to go back and give the original Scream a try. I did this mostly because I realized after reading the article that the Scream movies were not just horror films, but were also murder mysteries, a genre that I love. I was pleasantly surprised when after completing the first Scream movie I immediately barreled through the entire trilogy in two days. I felt that these movies spoke to the film fan in me and featured a cast of characters that were savvy to pop culture, they acted the way I would if caught in a scary movie situation . . . albeit with a little less crying in the fetal position. After having my scary movie marathon, I realized a couple of things:

The first is that the murder mystery genre is sadly lacking in both movies and television. I love a good mystery, the act of following the plot and trying to figure out whodunit before the dramatic reveal is something I find very rewarding both when I figure it out and when I am completely surprised. Now I know what you are going to say, “But Ryan crime procedurals are the single largest grouping of shows currently airing and aren’t they basically just mysteries?” Well my answer to this is yes and no. Yes, the slew of crime dramas on TV are basically hour long mysteries and that is just the flaw. One hour is not enough time to build all the components of a good mystery. Sometimes TV pulls this one off, but most of the time there is not suspense and development to lure the audience down the twists and red herrings to make the reveal at the end truly dramatic. That is something that can only be accomplished with the long form of a feature film or a series. The last good murder mystery that I saw prior to Scream was a one season show called Harper’s Island. The premise of the show was very slasher-film like in that every episode at least one character would be killed by the murderer until the final episode when the big reveal occurred. This was an amazing series that allowed the necessary time to invest in the characters and explore those characters enough that everyone became a suspect and the ending was a truly epic reveal. This was how I felt about Scream as well. I thought the film did a great job making every character that we met seem like they could be the murderer, even if just for a second. In novels and plays, mysteries make up one of the largest share of all genres, but in TV and movies mysteries seem to be downplayed and I cannot even tell you the last major blockbuster that was billed as a “mystery” film as opposed to a horror or thriller. So get in the game Hollywood and bring mysteries back as a genre. I know it might actually require some good writing for a change but seriously it’s about time that came back too.

The second thing that came out of my foray into the Scream trilogy was some contemplation on horror as a genre. I understand that many people enjoy being scared and even if I do not count myself among them I can appreciate the fact that many people pay to experience haunted houses at amusement parks and to see scary movies. I have never really liked to be scared and anytime I watch a horror movie I view the fear as a cost of doing business. I really liked the murder mystery aspect and feeling the sinking feeling in my stomach when Ghostface pops out from a closet was just a way to keep the tension up and prevent things from getting boring as I tried to figure out who was the killer behind the mask. However, a couple of days later I was still on edge from watching the movie. Every time my house would creak or my dog would open the door to my room I would have a little moment of surprise before I realized that it was a normal occurrence that would not have caused me to even react the previous week. I get the same way when I play FPS games for too long and feel the need to react quickly to things that occur in my peripheral vision. So in the days after my horror movie marathon when I was still very jumpy I began to realize just how cool a situation that it was. How many times does a movie have an effect on you after you leave the theatre? I think most movies are like water in a pool, when you are in the pool and actively experiencing it you are aware of it, but the moment you step out all the water runs off you and very little about a film tends to stick for long. A comedy might make you laugh and a heartfelt movie might even move you tears while you are watching it, but for the most part as soon as you leave the theatre the movies ability to effect you vanishes, except in the case of horror movies. Even a mediocre horror film will leave you with a pit in your stomach and your nerves on edge for some time after the film is over. I believe the job of a good film is to create a reaction in its audience. This could be to cause the audience to think, to laugh, or cry, or even scream and even though I may not like horror movies as a whole I cannot deny that they create a powerful reaction within their audience.

I am looking forward to the latest installment in the Scream franchise and hope that it will bring back what I loved about the original film and that this in turn might lead to a better class of scary movie and chase away the torture porn that made me turn away from horror as a genre during my formative film watching years.

I want to hear what you think so hit me up in the comments. What do you think, is horror a genre worth having or just a quick way for studios to make a buck? What do you think of Scream 4 and of course what’s your favorite scary movie?

A First Look at Camelot

For those of you that don’t know me, I spent some time moonlighting as a high school English teacher. So when I heard that Starz was doing a new series about the King Arthur legend, I was rather excited. However, when you are covering a story that has been told so many times, you have to do something new with it to set it apart. I started to think about all the ways I would set a new King Arthur show apart. You could change the time period or setting, tell a more realistic/historically accurate version of the tale, or edit a part of the story to see how the whole would be changed. The new Starz series does none of these things.

Camelot is an almost textbook retelling of the King Arthur legend right from the first episode. After the murder of King Uther Pendragon, his evil witch daughter, Morgan, believes that she will rule England. However, the mysterious Merlin goes in search of Arthur, the secret heir to Uther’s throne. Merlin this time around is played by Joseph Fiennes (FlashForward) and is a carbon copy of any stereotypical wizard you may be familiar with pre-Harry Potter. Although Fiennes’ Merlin doesn’t bring anything new to the table, he is definitely the best in a sea of mediocre actors. Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who, interestingly enough, has a small role in the final Harry Potter movie as the wizard Grindalwald. This and a role in Tim Burton’s version of Sweeny Todd are his only acting credits but in the pilot he seems to do a decent job portraying the boy who just had the weight of the world dropped onto his shoulders. The pilot spends most of its time setting up the story, which is unsurprising because even though it’s a well-known story, there is a large cast of characters. Merlin tells Arthur of his birthright and takes him to a ruined city known as Camelot which Merlin hopes to transform into the seat of Arthur’s power. Merlin also reveals that not only is Arthur the son of the king, but his very birth was all a plot orchestrated by Merlin to create a good king. Merlin used magic to allow Arthur’s father to rape the wife of a rival lord, which as strange as it may sound is actually Arthurian canon. Merlin demands the child that was the product of the rape as payment and whisks him away to be raised by good common-folk so he can learn humility and kindness. This entire back story comes off as rather tedious, and unless these past events become more important to the plot I question how necessary all the exposition was. However, the die-hard Arthur fan-boys will be happy to note that the circumstances of Arthur’s birth are textbook, literally from the old French and English stories.

As a pilot, the episode did a good job of setting up the beginning of the story and introducing us to the cast of characters; note that I said introducing and not developing. If Camelot hopes to succeed it has to do more to develop the rest of the characters because at the end of the pilot they still all seem very flat. This is to be expected though with the large amount of plot that had to be set up in the series and I almost admire how they were able to condense the first act of the Arthur story into a single episode. I had high hopes for the rest of the series and was going to readily suggest it until I got to the last couple minutes of the episode. Not to spoil anything, but Starz seems to be taking a note from HBO’s series True Blood. Anyone familiar with True Blood knows that no episode of the show can just end; it needs to have a twist or a death that sets up the next episode. The writers of the show probably call it a cliffhanger ending. I however call it a poor excuse for writing. An episode of television should be self contained and have a beginning, middle, and end. The writers of Camelot, in the pilot at least feel that their first episode was not good enough to keep people coming back so they took the first couple minutes of the second episode, and tacked it onto the first in an effort to keep people coming back next week to see the resolution. As much as I do not like this style of ending, the rest of the forty some odd minutes of the show were good and I will be giving it a tentative spot on my DVR for the first season.


Update:
You should never judge a series by its pilot, which is funny because the point of the pilot is to give the viewer an idea of what the series will be like. As I stated above, the pilot for Camelot was not bad but it certainly was nothing that had me excited. My two biggest complaints were the ending and that nothing had been done to alter or deviate from the classic King Arthur myth. I wanted to see the show put its own touch on the story. It is a good thing I did not post this until the second episode aired because the second episode was amazing and did the job the pilot should have done by getting me really excited for the show. This episode focused mainly on the “sword in the stone” part of the Arthur myth. If you stop a random person on the street and ask them why Arthur was the king of Britain . . . well they will probably just look at you funny because public education does not stress European myths nearly as much as it should in the curriculum. However, if you stop a random person on the street and they happen to be a student of comparative English literature they will tell you that Arthur is king because he pulled the sword from the stone, a legendary feat that could only be done by the rightful king of England. In Camelot’s second episode, Merlin tells Arthur that to win over the people and gain enough support to stand as king he must do something legendary, such as removing the sword of the gods from a stone. Legend says that the sword was placed there by the god Mars and no one has ever been able to remove it. So far, sounds word for word like every other Arthur story, but this time around the stone with a sword in it is not placed in a nice peaceful field where just anyone can tug at it. The sword of Mars is placed in the middle of a river at the peak of a waterfall. This means that just getting to the sword to try to pull it out means climbing up a freaking waterfall. This is what I wanted when I first heard about the series. The classic tale of King Arthur with a twist and if the rest of the series follows then I will happily tune in.

What do you think of the newest take on King Arthur so far? What other shows are you most enjoying? Leave a comment and let us know what you want to hear more about.