Programming note: TV marathons of The Simpsons, Falling Skies, Camelot and The Walking Dead coming to Fox Entertainment, FX over Christmas.

Massive TV marathons of The Simpsons, Falling Skies and Camelot are coming to Fox Entertainment (TopTV 180) over Christmas, with a marathon of The Walking Dead early in January on Fox FX (TopTV 110).

The Simpsons Christmas Hamper will run from 16:00 to 18:15 on 24 December on Fox Entertainment with 6 very special Simpsons Christmas episodes.

On 26 December TopTV subscribers will be able to gorge on what Fox Entertainment calls ''Boxing Day Box Sets": a TV marathon of the first season of the great new Steven Spielberg produced sci-fi drama Falling Skies, with episodes that will run from 13:30 until 21:00.

Camelot will follow after that, with the first season's set of episodes that will unspool back-to-back from 21:00 to 04:30.

The Walking Dead also gets a quick daily-repeat cycle. All the episodes from the first season as well as the first half of the second of The Walking Dead will be shown on Fox FX from 1 to 6 January from 21:15 every night before the second half of the second season's episodes start in February in America and which will again be shown in South Africa a few days later.

''The exclusive screeing of the second season of The Walking Dead on FX on TopTV showed that Fox International Channels (FIC) is serious about bringing quality, edgy, winning entertainment shows timeously to South Africa,'' says Thandi Davids, Fox Africa director.

''We beat the broadcasters with this one. In 2011 we kept the show locked on FX exclusively for TopTV subscribers, now we give them a unique experience early in the New Year,'' she says.

''This is good news for fans who want to play catch-up. We'll be showing the entire first season and the first part of season two. A series that will be going into a third season next year.''

The Walking Dead will have the following January broadcasting times:
Season 1, episodes 1 – 3: Sunday, 1 January, 21:15 – 23:45
Season 1, episodes 4 – 6: Monday, 2 January, 21:15 – 23:30
Season 2, episodes 1 – 3: Tuesday, 3 January, 21:15 – 23:45
Season 2, episodes 4 – 7: Wednesday, 4 January, 21:15 – 00:15

TOLDJA! Camelot to start on Fox Entertainment on Monday 3 October at 20:00 as a high-quality reimagining of the Arthurian legend.

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In July I broke the news RIGHT HERE that Fox Entertainment has snagged the rights to the epic drama Camelot, and now I can exclusively dish that Camelot is set to start on Fox Entertainment (TopTV 180)on Monday 3 October at 20:00 (South African time).

In July when I broke the news sources gave me a starting date of 18 October for Camelot's 10 episodes, but the starting date of the show with Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower and Eva Green filmed on location in Ireland has now been moved up to 3 October. Sadly Camelot was cancelled after the first season due to several logistical issues, but it doesn't mean the show following the life of a young King Arthur isn't great.

Camelot is yet another high-quality TV drama that's now been snagged by Fox, with the broadcaster definitely proving its mettle when it comes to bringing South African viewers and TopTV subscribers premium first-run shows and content - and incredibly quickly. Camelot follows high-buzz, critically acclaimed shows like The Walking Dead (of which the second season is starting on Fox FX on Tuesday 18 October at 20:15), Falling Skies and The Listener.

EXCLUSIVE. Camelot coming to Fox Entertainment from 18 October as the legend of King Arthur filmed in Ireland gets a lavish re-imagining.

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I can exclusively break the news that Fox Entertainment (TopTV 180) has scored the first-run pay TV broadcasting rights to the lavish, big-budget TV drama Camelot with Joseph Fiennes as Merlin Jamie Campbell Bower as Arthur and Eva Green as Morgan with Fox Entertainment planning to start broadcasting Camelot from Tuesday 18 October in South Africa.

Camelot is now the latest hot show going to a TopTV channel and not a DStv channel, following big-buzz dramas The Walking Dead, Falling Skies and quite posibly, also soon the new Dallas. (M-Net did score the hottest one of them all, the new Terra Nova.)

The big-budget Camelot telling the tale of a young Arthur who's not yet King Arthur, was filmed on location in Ireland. The terrific adult drama filled with sex, sword-fighting, sorcery, comedy and excellent production values started on the Starz channel in America in February. The first season of Camelot retelling the Arthurian legend with several mysteries, twists and fascinating plot developments besides some quite breathtaking scenery (and I'm not talking about Eva Green's breasts) has 10 episodes.

Due to hefty production hurdles, the ambitious show announced at the end of June that there won't be a second season of Camelot although the show started off strong and viewership went up s the season concluded its last episodes. ''Due to significant production challenges, Starz has decided not to exercise the option for subsequent seasons of Camelot with our production partners GK-tv, Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions,'' the production said in a statement.

The elaborate costumes, props and magnificent sets of Camelot contributing to the million dollar per episode budget, as well as the intricate scheduling conflicts amongst some of the show's main stars, led Starz to throw in the towel. Camelot is however definitely worth watching.