I was trolling around the TV dial for something to watch last weekend when I tuned into a show called “Merlin.” It’s apparently a retelling of the Arthurian legend that was filmed for the BBC and is being rerun on NBC for the summer. I thoroughly enjoyed it, which can mean only one thing:
It will be cancelled.
Why do I say that? Well, for those of you who don’t know me, I kill television shows. Ever since I was a kid, if I liked a program, chances were good it was going to get cancelled. My sister may tell you that this has something to do with my terrible taste in television and the fact that shows are cancelled because no one but me is watching.
Don’t listen to her.
Some of the shows I enjoyed most over the years?
- Voyagers
- Shadowchasers
- Covington Cross
- Bordertown
- The Sentinel
What? You haven’t heard of them? Of course you haven’t. I killed them.
In the mid-80s, I even briefly switched my soap opera allegiance from Guiding Light to Search for Tomorrow. Guess what happened?
Yup. Cancelled.
After 35 years on television, Jo, Stu and the rest of the Henderson residents got their pink slip less than two months after I started watching.
A few years ago when I found my current obsession, Supernatural, I tried not to get too attached. It had terrible ratings on a network that no one watched and every season finale was very likely its last one. There was no doubt in my mind it wasn’t going to last. Then something amazing happened this year – the ratings started to go up and it became more and more popular. These days it’s considered a bona fide success story. You would think I’d be happy, right?
Wrong.
I hated the show this year. I thought the episodes were erratic, the characters unrecognizable and the entire arc of the story veered from a focus on family dynamics to an epic, apocalyptic showdown (probably aimed at competing with True Blood, Twilight and other similarly themed vehicles.) I’ve yet to watch any summer reruns and am not looking forward to Season 5.
Apparently, whatever mysterious quality a television show must possess to attract my interest is the same quality that makes it wildly unpopular in the ratings. If one is lost, so goes the other.
So… give Merlin a try. Sunday nights on NBC. If I like it, chances are good that you’ll probably hate it, but that’s okay. ..
I don’t expect it to be around very long.
Laura Kilmartin - Books & Blog 
If you like Merlin, you might want to give the BBC version of Robin Hood another try. Series 3 should be shown on BBC America this fall and I just heard that after that the show has already been cancelled, so no pressure… you already know it is doomed before you start!! And it stars Richard Armitage and Jonas Armstrong, two other good reasons to watch!
Richard Armitage is pretty good incentive… Did the list of doomed tv shows look familiar to you?
I knew three out of five. Not sure I’ve ever heard of Shadowchasers or Covington Cross… I didn’t realize you were personally responsible for Search for Tomorrow being cancelled. Shame on you! You cost Matthew Ashford a job!
So do you take requests? Can you start watching John +/- Kate + Eight? Or maybe Chowder on the Cartoon Network- its melts brains.
Thanks.