Camelot: A Post-Mortem

As I write this the last two episodes of Camelot are sitting unwatched on my DVR. With the recent news from Starz Network of Camelot‘s cancellation, they might never be watched. What went so wrong for the freshmen series that pulled 1.1 million viewers for its premiere, the highest audience for a Starz original program to date?

First off: timing. It is, as they say, everything and Camelot suffered because of it. Premiering in early April, it looked a lot like the other cable options on tap. Right out of the gate it was competing with Showtime’s papal corruption romp The Borgias and HBO’s heavily anticipated Game of Thrones. Both these series, in addition to being generally better shows overall, shared a lot of common DNA with Camelot. Suddenly there were a number of shows on cable sporting sprawling landscapes, sword battles and men in elaborate garb. These programs were doing a lot of what Camelot was doing and they were doing it better.

Like most pay cable shows Camelot was selling itself not only on its story, which was infinitely familiar, but also on its ability to show sex and violence. But even in these arenas it was being beaten. Want to see a horse beheaded or watch two prostitutes go to town on each other during expositional scenes? Then Game of Thrones is the show for you. Want to see a guy get cut in half by a cannonball and be scandalized by sexy papal indecency? Then you might want to tune into The Borgias. Other than a truly hilarious and ridiculous “say my name” sex scene, Camelot didn’t sport anything to make it stand out of the pack.

Starz citied high production costs and actor availability as the reasons the network didn’t pick up the show for a second season. This is ironic because the beautiful castles and verdant landscapes were the one thing the show always got right. At some points the scenery porn felt like Camelot‘s most redeeming value.

For my money though, I’d blame the cancellation on the lackluster story and miscasting. For a show about Merlin and King Arthur, about magic and honor, it was completely lacking in both. It was also almost entirely humorless and mostly dour. In this case the BBC production Merlin had it beat as a fresh retelling of the legend. While cheesy and over the top, at least Merlin was doing something new with the story.

Camelot seemed to swing back and forth between being a serious period piece and being 90201 with swords. But the love triangle felt forced and irrelevant from the moment it was introduced and far too much time was spent on it. I also had a hard time believing Guinevere would pick Arthur over Leontes, played by Philip Winchester of Fox’s Fringe. Sure Leontes was for some reason sporting a ye olde Justin Bieber haircut but at least he looked to be the legal drinking age.

Camelot also wasn’t helped by a cast that seemed tonally out of place at times with the show. Try as he might, lead actor Jamie Campbell Bower never seemed like a good fit for Arthur. Numerous times I wondered exactly how he would grow up to be the king of legend when he currently looked like a lost Hanson brother. While the show might have been attempting to emphasize the’ boy’ in boy king, Bowers never felt charismatic enough to carry the part.

Likewise Joseph Fiennes played Merlin as stoic and humorless as possible. As the show progressed he showed some interesting moments, like when Merlin went A Beautiful Mind in his room, tacking up drawings and writing everywhere. Sadly these moments of interest were much too few and far between. Merlin is an iconic character and one that could be taken in a million different interesting directions. Instead the show chose to make him stodgy and boring.

This isn’t to say that there weren’t stand outs in the cast. Eva Green’s Morgan was easily the most interesting and dynamic character in the whole show. From the premiere onwards it felt like she was carrying Camelot on her sly and plotting shoulders. It’s probably an issue when you find yourself rooting for the villain to win. Likewise Claire Forlani, who played Arthur’s mother Igraine, managed to make the most of the material and bring out interesting sides of Merlin. When the hero’s biggest enemy and his mom are the most compelling characters, there might be a problem with your show.

Was Camelot the worst show on television? Assuredly not. It did have its moments, few and far between as they were. I’ll miss seeing Eva Green scheming and communing with animals looking fabulously crazy. But I can’t say I’m all that broken up about Camelot‘s cancellation. It had a lot of potential and in the right hands might have been great. Unfortunately the finished product was more of a hit-or-miss affair.