What made you watch in the first place why did you like it so much

So I was thinking, what drew everyone to watch merlin in the first place and after watching what made it so fantastc to keep watching and made us all full in love with it. Now i have to admit i didnt start watching until last year "Sigh" I know late bloomer , anyway I saw an add for it back in 2008 and over the years ,however it was shown on sunday nights and at the time I had just finished uni and was trying to get a job and then start my life. thus no time and i never really watched normal telly we always had foxtel. So aventually when i got some time off as between all those years their were two new jobs,holidays,losing a job, getting married and family deaths sigh very hectic. anyway I always thought that merlin looked like a show i would like, always loved fantasy and magic. thus i got a copy of season 1-4 and sat down for a week and did nothing else. I was hooked I loved the characters and stories and i kept wanting more complete escapesium. So I fell in love with it and became a crazy obsessed fan :). The reason I like it so much is that its the type of shows i love to watch, great characters , every things works out in the end  *cough cough ending* anyway plus the boys where hot my view is that its got all the elements that harry potter did but the actors are a) same age as me meaning its not weird i think their HOT and b) they are georgeous looking people hehe much better eye candy than harry potter. So why did all of you start watching and what made you keep watching?