Kaamelott

First, I must say that I'm far from being a fan of french humour or french comedies. But this TV-show, in spite of its shortness, is brilliant. Some of its lines have already become mythical, as the "For example, you take the present day, you wait for a week, well you'll end up with the same day as today! But be careful, you might make a mistake, it's not an accurate science..." (approximately translated). Perceval, King Arthur and Leodagan are real funny characters. I have rarely met such smartness on words, on images, I recommend this show to any amateurs of parodies and besides the costumes and sets are great and well used.

I have been watching Kaamelot since it came out. It is probably the funniest TV Show ever made (even compared to the US TV Shows). It describes King Arthur's Legend with great sense of humor and a really nice way of filming it. Don't even think in terms of respecting the history here or you will be disappointed. But my point is this : as old the show gets as old it getting better in terms of content and realization. I've heard that about 15 countries have already bought the project for local diffusion and Ican't do nothing else than encourage people to turn their TVs on whenever that show airs. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

With this sort of 3minute episode type series, with constant breaks and transitions, the creators have a highly dynamic platform to operate on and keep the format fresh.

Now add to that the dialog and show in general are very well written; the characters are written with depth however grotesque, and the episodes avoid rehashing... Finally, the humor is contagious. The only way to dislike it is to absolutely hate the comedy on display, as even casual fans who've seen episodes here and there spreadout will admit it's a contagious show with good humor and good fun to be had overall.

It should be said none of the actors were big time actors, at all, and most of the main ones were small time actors, and yet, the acting is absolutely superb, at times it's almost uncanny how authentic. The mustached peasant, Guenièvre the queen you'd think play as themselves (aren't really actors) and all of the others are really very good, or outright excellent.

The thing is beyond the mere language barrier, the humor and spirit of the show are typically French. This is not to say they cannot be understood or processed and appreciated as such by non-French individuals, but the constant references to food, the way of messing with language, the indulgent self-satisfied mood, in fact the moodiness itself...just the spirit of it may not be for anyone in the world, and might not be interpreted in its own right by fault of being too foreign in nature and exclusive to the French culture and mindset.

This is raw, pure French humor (of this current modern era at least). That's for certain.

It could be added as criticism that the final season, occurring in Rome in a much less comedy-oriented atmosphere/much bigger production, is fine work in its girth but ends on a very disappointing note and the viewer is left hungry. After such a wonderful ride, such a lackluster ending ? Really ?

Another criticism is the implicit publicity creator Alexandre Astier gives himself through the writing of the character he plays, King Arthur. His character always aligns with fairness in a terribly obvious way, an overt sense of justice...basically the cool relaxed lenient good guy who's really really 'nice', and he's taken all the promotion from the image he's given the people through this character. Everyone has associated the man with this role he's written for himself. One could say there's a very partisan, politically biased aspect in the writing of that character.

Anyways. Really good job. 8/10.

Imagine the legend of the Grail, arthur, broken in pieces by the Monthy Pythons, but in french. Awesome comedy. Very french I admit.

What if the Great King had to deal with everyday people, everyday trouble ? What if his knights were politicians, or cowards, or idiots ? That's King Arthur for you here.

What are they rioting about ? "sire, we can't take it any more !" "more of what", "We don't know, but it's big"

This is on my opinion one of the best comedy show ever made on french TV. Each episode contains unforgettable lines that you will quote with friends for the rest of your life, told by tremendous actors that just perfectly fit to the dialogues. It's a glorious tribute to the most cherish comedy writers (Goscinny, Audiard...) with fantastic characters that quickly become your best friends, even the most unlikables. The two last seasons are very different from the.former four, becoming much darker as King Arthur is slowly drowning in nervous breakdown. I know they loosed a lot of audience expecting the same kind of slapstick comedy as before, but I love them as much as the others as it relates to the writer/director - who also plays King Arthur - burning out after 4 years of intense work. The only limit I see is that it's a very french show that maybe will not have the same appeal outside the borders, especially if you expect something serious like Game Of Thrones, Walking dead, or Last kingdom :)