As a kid, I looked forward to “staying up late” in the summertime to watch TV, even though programming tended toward reruns, baseball and filler, with the quadrennial Olympic coverage for variety. Today, summer’s a “real” season, with new – and even innovative – shows.

In summer 2007, I was totally devoted to “The Starter Wife,” an entertaining miniseries that became a vapid regular season show (now mercifully departed).  This summer I’m into “The Closer” and “Saving Grace,” as well as the new design competition of “The Fashion Show.”  (And I can’t wait ‘til August for “Project Runway.”)

I WAS looking forward to a summer show from the BBC called “Merlin.” I’ve been a fan of the tales of King Arthur since I first saw “The Sword in the Stone” in 1963.  “The Elements of the Arthurian Tradition” by John Matthews is in my summer reading stack.

I love (most of) the movies about the knights of the Round Table. One of my favorites is “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” (OK, I hear you laughing.) Indy’s quest for the holy grail in the third Raiders movie made it a huge hit for me. As lame as “First Knight” was, I loved the idea of Sean Connery as an aging Arthur. And I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen “Camelot,” either in cinematic form or performed on stage. (Richard Harris remains my favorite king of Camelot, a title he held long before he ruled over Hogwarts.)

So, back to “Merlin.” I settled in to watch the latest version of the epic tale and discovered a whole new story. Merlin, rather than a wise and wizened tutor to his king, is a young wizard-in-training; he looks like he should be studying for an algebra test. Arthur is a mere prince; his father, Uther Pendragon, reigns over Camelot. Lancelot, the legendary knight of little modesty and immense talents, is reduced – in this version, anyway – to faking his way onto the Round Table and winds up in prison. He’s not even French. And Guinevere is a lowly seamstress.

Picture me surprised and NOT in a good way. “Merlin” owes less to T. H. White than to “A Knight’s Tale,” with a dash of “Harry Potter” thrown in. (And frankly, they should send J.K. Rowling an apology.)

American viewers, including that all-important teen demographic, are equally disenchanted with the show.  Despite a few positive reviews (at scifiwire.com and monstersandcritics.com) recent Nielsen ratings revealed that RERUNS of “Million Dollar Password” and “Cold Case” got 50 percent more viewers than NEW episodes of “Merlin.”

Maybe we just aren’t ready to have a 1500-year-old classic turned into “The Medieval Life of the British Teenager.” To steal a line from Heidi Klum, “Merlin, you’re out!”