Merlin renewed for fourth season; but....

[23skidoo]

(I know there's a Merlin thread underway - in response to the Consolidating Threads request; however that is about Season 3 of the series and discussing its plots, etc. This is for Season 4).

The BBC has announced it's bringing Merlin back for a 4th season. The catch is, due to the decision to split Doctor Who into two seasons next year, Merlin is being forced to have a "gap year" in 2011 and will air season 4 in 2012:

http://www.digitalspy.com/cult/s53/merlin/news/a283945/merlin-renewed-for-fourth-series.html

As a fan of Merlin, this is annoying (though remember this is British TV so it's not uncommon at all for a year or two to pass between seasons - something like 4 years passed between two seasons of Red Dwarf once). As a Doctor Who fan, all I can say is: oops!

Alex

 

[Jax]

Why not air Merlin inbetween the gap ?

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I tried watching Merlin, I really did. But I couldn't get past how silly and grating the characters and stories were in its first ten episodes or so. Does the series actually evolve from Seasons 1 - 3? Is it at all worth getting caught up before Season 4 (since I'll have plenty of time to now do so), if I thought the beginning of the series was so hokey and ridiculous?

 

[Sheep]

I tried watching Merlin, I really did. But I couldn't get past how silly and grating the characters and stories were in its first ten episodes or so. Does the series actually evolve from Seasons 1 - 3? Is it at all worth getting caught up before Season 4 (since I'll have plenty of time to now do so), if I thought the beginning of the series was so hokey and ridiculous?

I'd like to know the same thing. I've watched it summer downtime when the U.S. networks aren't airing anything worthwhile but it was basically a medieval version of Smallville, and usually not in a good way.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

It's been reduced to 10 episodes. It doesn't film until the spring, it won't be finished to fit in the gap between halves of Doctor Who series 6, so that's the reason for it being 2011.

Personally I think it has improved, it's not brilliant but it's fine saturday evening fluff.

 

[Mr Light]

Wow, BBC... have to skip an entire year because one 13 episode show is already airing that year? Would the airwaves ignite in fire if 26 genre episodes aired in one year or something?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Wow, BBC... have to skip an entire year because one 13 episode show is already airing that year? Would the airwaves ignite in fire if 26 genre episodes aired in one year or something?

No, what it is is that Doctor Who is being split in to a Spring series and an Autumn series. Merlin films in the Spring so the production wouldn't be finished until the Autumn so they can't air it in the summer and they can't air it in the Autumn because they are both in the same Saturday evening slot. You could say "Put them somewhere else" but the fact is they're not really suited to an 9pm slot on a weekday so they can't/won't do that either.

 

[Pingfah]

^ I would say "don't split Doctor Who into 2 sections" instead.

It was fine as it was, DW and Merlin fans are, I would imagine, largely from the same demo and would probably be quite satisfied with a season of DW in the Spring/Summer and a season of Merlin in the Summer/Autumn. The whole thing smacks of SyFy's habit of spreading things out to the nth degree to stretch the profits/lengthen the shelf life of a single season.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ I would say "don't split Doctor Who into 2 sections" instead.

It was fine as it was, DW and Merlin fans are, I would imagine, largely from the same demo and would probably be quite satisfied with a season of DW in the Spring/Summer and a season of Merlin in the Summer/Autumn.

That decision has been made though, at the request of Steven Moffat because he apparently wants to do a big cliffhanger and thinks expecting people to wait 9-10 months for the cliffhanger to be resolved is too much.

 

[Pingfah]

^ So he says, but it wouldn't surprise me if what we are seeing here is the real reason why the BBC decided to split DW, to give them a year off from producing one of their most expensive shows.

But then I'm a very suspicious and cynical sort of person

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^ So he says, but it wouldn't surprise me if what we are seeing here is the real reason why the BBC decided to split DW, to give them a year off from producing one of their most expensive shows.

But then I'm a very suspicious and cynical sort of person

Doesn't give them a year off though, they're still producing it, and if they make series 5 the most it will give them is a couple of months off. I think the reduction to 10 episodes is the budget saving here.

 

[Pingfah]

Doesn't give them a year off though, they're still producing it, and if they make series 5 the most it will give them is a couple of months off. I think the reduction to 10 episodes is the budget saving here.

Well unless Moffat decides he simply has to do another massive cliffhanger for DW the year after.

It didn't seem to bother him when he deliberately plotted a massive cliffhanger for Sherlock without even knowing if there would be a season 2, let alone when it might air.

Still, I hope you are right, time will tell.

 

[Kelthaz]

I tried watching Merlin, I really did. But I couldn't get past how silly and grating the characters and stories were in its first ten episodes or so. Does the series actually evolve from Seasons 1 - 3? Is it at all worth getting caught up before Season 4 (since I'll have plenty of time to now do so), if I thought the beginning of the series was so hokey and ridiculous?

Nope. Merlin is a formulaic, light and fluffy show that rarely upsets the status quo or takes risks. There was one big upset of the status quo in series two, but that was more of a "Finally!" moment than a "Holy Fuck, that was awesome!" moment.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Merlin is too much of a kid show for me. I'm waiting for the grown-up version: Camelot! Which sounds like it'll be up to its ears in violence and sleaze.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^That's because Merlin is aimed at young audiences. Supposed to be for family viewing but it's pretty much aimed at kids with adults as an after thought.

I hear Channel 4 has picked up Camelot here, so I'll be checking that out too.

 

[Starkers]

Merlin is squarely aimed at the same family demographic as Who--it's a show for everyone. I wouldn't call it a kids show in the same way Who isn't a kids show. It has its fair share of comedy episodes, but a lot of dark ones as well.

This mucking about with Who is really starting to hack me off. First it was the 'specials' (which weren't, IMO, particulary special) then the shifting timeslots (which in hindsight seem to have been to ensure the finale happened on the same day in fiction and reality) and now this split series malarky.

I hope they air Merlin early in 2012 (ie before Who) rather than making us wait until Autumn.

 

[bigdaddy]

Why not split Merlin too?

Have 5 episodes, that should be done, by the gap, and then finish the other 5 afterward.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Why not split Merlin too?

Have 5 episodes, that should be done, by the gap, and then finish the other 5 afterward.

The film in blocked of 2 or 3 episodes, they won't necessarily be filmed in order depending on actors/directors schedules.

 

[bigdaddy]

Why not split Merlin too?

Have 5 episodes, that should be done, by the gap, and then finish the other 5 afterward.

The film in blocked of 2 or 3 episodes, they won't necessarily be filmed in order depending on actors/directors schedules.

Ohhh....

Well at least there will be a fourth season.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Why not split Merlin too?

Have 5 episodes, that should be done, by the gap, and then finish the other 5 afterward.

The film in blocked of 2 or 3 episodes, they won't necessarily be filmed in order depending on actors/directors schedules.

Ohhh....

Well at least there will be a fourth season.

My typing is complete shit lately, but you got the idea.