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[Iduno]

You thought a BBC show was going to be not terrible?

Warriors.

Okay, that one was good.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Il Palazzo]

Not 'The Warriors', nor 'Warrior', nor many other films or series of similar or same title that had little to do with BBC.
This one: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/warriors_peacekeepers

[Reelya]

Since when has the BBC has a record for only producing terrible shows?

"Ideal", "Being Human" and "Life on Mars" are relatively recent BBC shows that come to mind, all pretty good, and I'm not even that much up on TV shows.

[TD1]

Was Merlin BBC?

And Dracula was good too.

[ChairmanPoo]

I dont know if it was but Merlin was like supernatural... v low budget B series with unexpected success...

[Il Palazzo]

The one with Sam Neill? I'm pretty sure it was Hallmark's.
I'm not sure about very low budget, though. They did hire a bunch of good actors.

[ChairmanPoo]

The one with Sam Neill? I'm pretty sure it was Hallmark's.
I'm not sure about very low budget, though. They did hire a bunch of good actors.

I meant the one with rhe guy from buffy

The one with Sam Neil was actually good as far as I recall. A bit made-for-tv, but good enough.

[scriver]

The Sam Neill one was fucking awesome, I loves it despite the ridiculous CGI griffons and the awful ending. It hit like 97/100 of all the right notes and most importantly it didn't change the most important parts (if I recall correctly): Arthur and Lancelot are the ones who cause the fall of Britain, nobody else

[Reelya]

The one with Sam Neill? I'm pretty sure it was Hallmark's.
I'm not sure about very low budget, though. They did hire a bunch of good actors.

Come on, we're talking about the BBC here, it doesn't take rocket science to google it and realize there's a British series by that name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(2008_TV_series)

My ex was obsessed with that show, also obsessed with Supernatural, it is the sort of thing appealing to the same audience. The BBC one has a much younger cast, it reimagines it as Merlin and Arthur being contemporaries growing up. The twist in the plot is that Arthur's father King Uther Pendragon has outlawed magic on pain of death (anti-sorceror pogrom basically), and Merlin is (Prince) Arthur's squire / manservant, who in secret is being trained in magic. Merlin generally ends up saving the day, while the blockheaded Arthur gets all the credit, and everyone considers Merlin to be a buffoon.

[Iduno]

Not 'The Warriors', nor 'Warrior', nor many other films or series of similar or same title that had little to do with BBC.
This one: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/warriors_peacekeepers

Yes, that's the joke.

Since when has the BBC has a record for only producing terrible shows?

"Ideal", "Being Human" and "Life on Mars" are relatively recent BBC shows that come to mind, all pretty good, and I'm not even that much up on TV shows.

Like most channels, their quality has consistently fallen over time, and the majority of what anyone knows they produce is bad. The main exception seems to be anything taped in Canada, where they produce 1-2 good seasons of a show, and then 10 more with a different tone because it's cheap to keep producing them.

[Rolan7]

Come on, we're talking about the BBC here, it doesn't take rocket science to google it and realize there's a British series by that name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(2008_TV_series)

My ex was obsessed with that show, also obsessed with Supernatural, it is the sort of thing appealing to the same audience.

I am too!  The similarities aren't quite obvious to me, but I guess they're both supernatural monster-of-the week with a close pair keeping secrets from each other.  Mostly.

The difference being that I never shipped Sam and Dean

The BBC one has a much younger cast, it reimagines it as Merlin and Arthur being contemporaries growing up. The twist in the plot is that Arthur's father King Uther Pendragon has outlawed magic on pain of death (anti-sorceror pogrom basically), and Merlin is (Prince) Arthur's squire / manservant, who in secret is being trained in magic. Merlin generally ends up saving the day, while the blockheaded Arthur gets all the credit, and everyone considers Merlin to be a buffoon.

Okay I joked about shipping, but that's actually doing the show a disservice.  Merlin's secret isn't just that his nature is criminalized, he's also bound by destiny to look after Arthur's life.  It's hard to explain but it hits the notes of a closeted homosexual love while remaining platonic, in a good way.  It's a very nice show.

[Reelya]

I think the similarities are demographic: two youngish male leads in both shows. Female viewers tend to lap that stuff up. Then, you have stuff they make that women are "supposed" to like, such as the Sarah Connor Chronicles, with a bunch of "strong female leads" and you find that there aren't nearly as many women even tuning into those shows.

Really, they don't get it. For example, they gave a bunch other roles to Kristen Stewart from Twilight. Literally none of the fans were tuning in for Kristen Stewart, she's just a blank slate/self insert potato. It's the guys in the shows that the fans would tune into other stuff to watch. But, the dolts are "girls like Twlight, Kristen Stewart is in Twilight, so lets put her in other things then girls will watch those too". It doesn't work like that.

[Il Palazzo]

I think you're being unfair to Stewart. Much like Pattison, she's been doing artsy-fartsy films after Twilight. with some fine co-actors and directorial clout. The only thing I can think of that could count as a studio cashing in on her popularity is Snow White and the Huntsman, and that made its money back twice over.

[itisnotlogical]

All Department of Transportation buildings in my state are closed, can't do my drive test or renew my permit.

This is what happens when you put things off for years at a time, stupid old me...

[Yoink]

Speaking of Merlin (I watched a fair few episodes of it back when it was originally on TV and my family still watched free-to-air), I saw the guy who played him in a movie the other day. Legend, with Tom Hardy.
Made me do a double-take, since I'm not sure I've seen him in anything else.

As for the show itself, well, I remember it being pretty crap but with just enough of some kind of goofy charm to keep one from changing the channel immediately.
Of course, it may have helped that there probably wasn't anything else remotely decent airing at the same time.