The first season of Merlin is lovely - more a fairy tale for young adults than anything else. It treats the source material very loosely, and some aspects simply don't make sense, but it has a unique charm, and the young actors are very likeable. And, of course, they have Stewart Head as Uther Pendragon, which is great. After I stopped looking for Buffy, I enjoyed his performance very much.

Season 2 is still quite lovely, but later on the show loses its footing, IMO, and the main turning point, Morgana turning evil, is totally unconvincing. I couldn't buy that, and as a result I couldn't really buy anything that came afterwards, but the whole thing is still enjoyable. And Colin Morgan is simply amazing.

Camelot is closer to the original legends, save for the fact that there's no Lancelot, or rather that the love triangle is turned upside down. There is a lot of gratutious sex and nudity (it is a SyFy show, after all), and none of the main characters are even remotely likeable. Sir Kay is cute, but everyone else is a jerk. Still, it is an interesting approach, even for women. I'm told that the guys mainly watched it for Eva Green's boobs that are revealed while practicing evil magic.

No wonder the show only lasted one season. It ended with a semi-cliffhanger, too, annoyingly enough.