KINGS

[LoganSnake]

Kings is a television drama series airing on NBC and Citytv, based on the Biblical story of King David but set in a fictional kingdom resembling the present-day United States.

Anybody else catch the premiere last week? Second episode is tomorrow, 7 central.

The only reason I checked it out is because PSN Store has the pilot episode available for free (in HD). I went in with zero expectations (haven't heard about the show at all until yesterday) and liked it quite a bit.

You can watch the two part pilot on their website as well:

NBC Video Rewind

[Fremen]

This a thread dedicated to World's King?

Seriously, it was ok. Looks like more soap opera bullpucky, but I'll tune in again til I can see one way or the other.

[JumpinJesus]

I don't think World's King would ever have a t.v. show of his own. He's too busy these days killing hookers and stuffing them in his closet.

[Jetée]

I enjoyed the pilot episode last week as well, and I had no idea that I was watching a new series until 30 minutes before it ended, as it was promoting next week's follow-up. I thought I was watching some obscure movie on network television, since I rarely have time to watch NBC on Sundays, so I had no idea.

The only thing that kinda offset my mind was that in the show, every time they brought up the topic of the butterflies and its relation to the kingship, I couldn't help but think of the other "The Monarch":

[Willravel]

I also tuned in with zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It'd be just another prime-time soap opera except it seems to have a dose of realistic politics. The the OC meets a less complex West Wing.

I'll tune in tomorrow, though considering the abysmal ratings for the series premier it may be one of the last episodes.

[JumpinJesus]

Having been the king of a medium sized nation, I have to say that this show glorified the monarchy and was less realistic than I had hoped for. It's not quite as slick as they portray it.

[guthmund]

Haven't watched the show, but my interest has been piqued.

Just stopped in to give kudos to Jet for "The Monarch" reference.

[Willravel]

Originally Posted by JumpinJesus

Having been the king of a medium sized nation, I have to say that this show glorified the monarchy and was less realistic than I had hoped for. It's not quite as slick as they portray it.

You did this before the homoerotic photography? I look forward to your memoirs.

[JumpinJesus]

Originally Posted by Willravel

You did this before the homoerotic photography? I look forward to your memoirs.

I have many finished works just waiting for publication. I need a fact-checker if you're interested.

[LoganSnake]

Watched the second episode today on NBC. I definitely like it. It would suck if they cancel it. It has some real potential.

[PulpMind]

I liked it for the most part. It could use a little more plot and a little less melodrama, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that (like most pilots) it'll get better before it gets worse.

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by LoganSnake

Watched the second episode today on NBC. I definitely like it. It would suck if they cancel it. It has some real potential.

That's what I, too, thought of the other short-lived series "Journeyman", also run on NBC. It took me about six months to realize that the show was not renewed, and it had been cancelled. Abit off-topic there.


Back to the show: I wonder who portrays the part of the princess, and what's so tantalizing about this 'vow' she's made?


--> Ah. Allison Miller as Michelle Benjamin


(hopefully I uploaded it correctly)

[Stare At The Sun]

I watched it on Hulu. I enjoyed it.

[SecretMethod70]

I heard Kings referenced a few times, and mostly positively, so I gave it a shot and watched the first couple episodes on Hulu. I was pleasantly surprised! It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good for a network TV show!

I'm a sucker for modern re-tellings of classic stories, and for the most part I think they're doing a good job with the King David story here. There are certainly moments and actors/characters that are a bit over the top, but it hasn't been enough to ruin it for me.

One nit to pick: Spoiler: I just watched the second episode, and there's no way you're going to convince me that the people at the Veteran's Affairs office (including David's mother) don't recognize the princess. That was just totally unbelievable.

Unfortunately, I don't think most network TV viewers are interested in a show that's not another NCIS/CSI/Numb3rs/Criminal Minds clone, and certainly not one that involves an alternate existence where modern times are met with absolute monarchies and fictional kingdoms. The ratings seem to support this so far, and I won't be surprised if this show doesn't make it past one season.

io9 has had some decent reviews of the show, including both praise and well-deserved criticism.

[yournamehere]

I TiVo'd the first 4 episodes, mainly 'cause I'll watch anything with Susanna Thompson in it (or thought I could). Also, there's nothing else worth watching on Sundays.

I deleted them all about halfway thru the second episode. I thought the storylines were stupid; and cared for none of the caricatures, er . . . characters.

[SecretMethod70]

Originally Posted by yournamehere

I deleted them all about halfway thru the second episode. I thought the storylines were stupid; and cared for none of the caricatures, er . . . characters.

I imagine a lot of viewers have had a similar reaction, but it's kind of like watching Romeo & Juliet and saying it's cliche. It is cliche now, yes, but it helped create the cliche.

At times it does bug me how nearly perfect the character of David is... except that's exactly what he's supposed to be in this story. The biblical David, before he became king, was a relatively innocent farm boy. After all, in the story world of the bible and of Kings, there is a god, and David is right with him. Maybe we're no longer able to appreciate stories that are less grounded in reality, I don't know, but I don't mind it. I understand why others may not though. It's a shame, because if the show were to stick around for a little while we might get to see David become less pure and more of a womanizer.

[Fremen]

I read on AICN (unofficial source) that Kings was probably canceled.

It was something like, "Now that Kings was most likely canceled, Ian McShane needs to try out for the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott's new Robin Hood movie."

Anybody heard about it being canceled?

[SecretMethod70]

It's as good as gone. After 4 episodes, they moved it to Saturdays which is where TV shows go to die. Nothing official though.

It's a shame, because it had plenty of potential, and a big reason for its low ratings is that NBC did a terrible, terrible, terrible job promoting it. The showrunner even had about 5 years of plot arc planned out (which is easy considering it's the retelling of a specific biblical tale).

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

It's as good as gone. After 4 episodes, they moved it to Saturdays which is where TV shows go to die. Nothing official though.

It's a shame, because it had plenty of potential, and a big reason for its low ratings is that NBC did a terrible, terrible, terrible job promoting it. The showrunner even had about 5 years of plot arc planned out (which is easy considering it's the retelling of a specific biblical tale).

It took me two weeks to realize this sad fact. GathDammit! It's "Journeyman" all over again!


Here's the official:

April 07, 2009

NBC pulls 'Kings' from Sundays


NBC is replacing freshman drama Kings on Sunday nights, yanking the struggling allegorical series after four episodes.

Kings will be swapped out for another hour of Dateline, which will now run for two hours starting at 7 p.m.

Sunday's Kings episode was seen by 3.6 million viewers and received a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49. Yet Dateline had a 1.5 rating in its half hour leading into Kings. NBC suspects an expanded Dateline will provide a better lead-in for 9 p.m.'s Celebrity Apprentice, which has seen some audience erosion in recent weeks that might be attributed to Kings.

The remaining eight episodes of Kings will air on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. starting April 18.

The situation is a shame because, as nearly every TV critic pointed out, NBC took a chance here on an imaginative idea with a strong cast. Kings, which retold the story of King David in modern times, wasn't another police procedural, it wasn't a cynical programming move. Some may harp on NBC for airing Kings on Sundays at 8 p.m. -- it's a weak slot for the network -- but if the network had misjudged the show and it was truly effective its ratings would not have sunk week to week.

Incidentally, over on iTunes, the most-recent episode of Kings currently ranks as the most-downloaded TV show.

Oh, and just in, it's been completely yanked off now:

April 21, 2009

NBC moves 'Kings' to summer

By Nellie Andreeva

NBC's "Kings" is on the move again, this time to summer.

After originally scheduling the midseason drama on Thursday, launching it on Sunday and moving it to repeat-laden Saturday night after four low-rated episodes, the contemporary King David drama has been pulled off the schedule.

Starting this Saturday, NBC will air reruns of "Law & Order: SVU," freshman cop drama "Southland" and "Law & Order."

"Kings" will return to its Saturday 8 p.m. slot June 13 and will finish its run through July 25.

[Willravel]

I can fill you in on what happens for the rest of the season. King Silas gets in some political shit, David does something brave but incredibly stupid and naive but somehow prevails and earns a look of approval from the king, Prince Jack tries to get some power but gets owned (then is gay a little), Princess Michelle is really, really serious about universal health care (foreshadowing for either a sickness or a disaster) and wants to jump David's bones but for her secret (she's destined for a nunnery), and William Cross is sneaky. Also, things about religion and/or God peppered in to taste. Oh, and I'm sure one or two more things with Gath and Port Prosperity. And $100 says that David's dad died in unusual circumstances, if he's dead at all.

Eventually David becomes King, but because he's so idealistic he's borderline retarded he'll screw it up.

[mrklixx]

They should've aired it on HBO or Showtime, so we couldv'e seen some nekkid Bathsheba goodness. But seriously, it's a shame. And with such a strong Jewish presence in TV/Movies and specifically NBC, I figured this show was golden.

[SecretMethod70]

Originally Posted by Willravel

I can fill you in on what happens for the rest of the season. King Silas gets in some political shit, David does something brave but incredibly stupid and naive but somehow prevails and earns a look of approval from the king, Prince Jack tries to get some power but gets owned (then is gay a little), Princess Michelle is really, really serious about universal health care (foreshadowing for either a sickness or a disaster) and wants to jump David's bones but for her secret (she's destined for a nunnery), and William Cross is sneaky. Also, things about religion and/or God peppered in to taste. Oh, and I'm sure one or two more things with Gath and Port Prosperity. And $100 says that David's dad died in unusual circumstances, if he's dead at all.

Eventually David becomes King, but because he's so idealistic he's borderline retarded he'll screw it up.

It's pretty easy to know what will happen in general terms considering it's based off a known story And actually, King Silas will eventually get back to disliking David and try to kill him some more, Jack and David will eventually become friends, David will go into exile to avoid Silas' attempts at his life, he will also eventually marry Michelle, and with 5 years or so planned out, they probably planned on getting into David being king, which he will screw up not because he's idealistic but because he turns into a philanderer with all that power.

Anyway, sometimes it doesn't matter if you know what happens. It's still interesting to watch.

---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:25 PM ----------

Originally Posted by mrklixx

They should've aired it on HBO or Showtime, so we couldv'e seen some nekkid Bathsheba goodness. But seriously, it's a shame. And with such a strong Jewish presence in TV/Movies and specifically NBC, I figured this show was golden.

If they had bothered to market it, it would have been golden. Kings was originally supposed to air on Thursdays at 10PM ET, but NBC's scheduling was taken over by a new person recently and she doesn't like Kings, so she moved it to Sundays and the rest is history.

[Willravel]

Last night's episode was really entertaining. On the one hand, you have Princess Michelle really growing into her caretaker roll in a personal way, risking her own life. Queen Rose finally demonstrated that she was a human being in basically saying, "If it means saving my children, kill my brother... kill anyone you need." It was nice to see her facade crack around the edges a bit. S

ilas had to make the hard choice about General Linus after recognizing the *sign* of a candle blowing out (I'm glad our justice system employs deductive reasoning, though).

The most important story, though, was Jack's life being saved by David, who had to kill for the first time. I knew it was a matter of time before Jack finally came around and couldn't be jealous of the almost too pure David, and this was a very good vehicle for that change.

The scene where Silas greeted and embraced both Jack and David as his sons was really intriguing. I suspect it's paving the way (more directly than previous situations) for David's positioning as Silas' eventual successor. I only hope we get to see King David before the series ends this July.

[SecretMethod70]

Every new episode, I get more upset that this show won't last more than one season.

The good news is that it will tie up most threads, so I'm trying to think of it like a British show - it's not uncommon for a show to be made over there with only one 13 episode season in mind. If I can convince myself no one ever intended to go past one season, maybe I'll be less annoyed.

Anyway, each episode is better than the last. I've never watched Deadwood... never really been interested, but Ian McShane has changed that. Deadwood is officially on my list. (Yay, yet another show for me to get into that got canceled before it's time.)

---------- Post added at 03:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Willravel

Silas had to make the hard choice about General Linus after recognizing the *sign* of a candle blowing out (I'm glad our justice system employs deductive reasoning, though).

Yes, but we also don't live in a world where there is freqent intercession by a higher power

[Willravel]

I agree, I was kinda freaking out last night, especially toward the end. This thing is headed toward a great series ender.

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by Willravel

I agree, I was kinda freaking out last night, especially toward the end. This thing is headed toward a great series ender.

Really? I've missed the past two week's episodes, I think (unless they decided not to run a new episode on July 4th weekend).

The last episode I recall fully is the one where the power outage takes hold, and the embodiment of "death" appears to Silas. it was a good episode because it provided more backstory about the Princess' vow, and why she made it in the first place. I caught some of the follow-up episode where David loses the camera in which he shot the Princess "personally", but I didn't finish it up. For some reason, that scenario brought the idea about in my mind that perhaps this series is better off cancelled, if this is how the writers stir up drama in the kingdom.

I suppose I need to hit Hulu for some catching up, because I don't know if NBC online even wants to recognize this show as still airing, so i might or might not find streaming episodes hosted there.

[SecretMethod70]

Get thee over to Hulu.

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

Get thee over to Hulu.

Yeah I'm there now, and I was stunned to see in the starting recaps to Ep. 8 that Silas stabbed Wes Studi. When did this happen?! Must've either been in the beginning of the last episode, or somewhere within the story of "Brotherhood". I must admit, I always seem to forget around midweek that Kings is still on the air, and I somehow uncannily remember all over again the night a new episode premieres, although I'm always around 15 minutes too late in recalling this.

[SecretMethod70]

It happened at the end of the episode where Jack and David go into Gath. I forget if that's Brotherhood, though I think so.

[Jetée]

That was great. Episode 8, "Pilgrimage" was by far the best episode of Kings I have seen in the past five months.

Onward to Episode 9! (and afterwards, a replay of episode 6, since I missed the most critical part of the story there.)

[SecretMethod70]

Yeah, I really enjoyed Pilgrimage quite a bit. After watching such a great budding relationship between David and Silas for most of the episode, the ending was pretty painful. In the best way.

[guy44]

Damn me and my tastes in tv shows. I just started watching Kings from the beginning this week and now I get two more eps before it goes off the air forever. Awesome.

It's really pretty good.

[Jetée]

We should totally send this thread to the head of NBC and force him to recognize that 'Kings' is a class-A series that did not get a fair shake at succeeding because it was poorly-marketed, and therefore, received too small of an audience. It's not because the scipt, plot, and/or acting are anything close to lackluster; just the opposite, this show could go onto winning many accolades this upcoming awards season, and they'll finally realize their mstake at letting this perfect wine of a show die on the vine.


The one minor detail I'd omit though, is my responses in this thread, because I yet again forgot to remind myself to watch the show this Saturday, so I'll probably be watching tonight's episode sometime Tuesday morning on Hulu. It's probably due to less-enthused fans like me who miss the premiere episodes that caused the failure of the show

[guy44]

"Neither you nor he nor any vagrant opinion will interrupt - now you've got me doing it!"

That line alone is better than 75% of the shows on TV. Too bad we only get one more episode.

[Willravel]

Since we've been treated to a season finale in the stead of a series finale, I propose we create a new season in text. Next week, I'll post in here season 2, episode one of Kings: "Valley of the Shadow". If anyone's interested in contributing, please pm me or email me (Willravel@gmail.com).

[SecretMethod70]

Or you could just read the bible story

On one hand, I'm totally pissed that the series has ended Spoiler: without David as king.

On the other hand, the season ended exactly as it should have, Spoiler: leaving the second season (which, of course, will unfortunately not happen) to tell the story of David in exile.

I have such mixed feelings about this finale! It was excellent, but left me wanting o much more!

[Willravel]

Pssh, there's no William Cross in the Bible. And very little about Jack... errr Johnathan. I've already outlined the second season and I'm finishing up the first act of the first episode of season 2.

Why should the network get to decide when a good story gets to end?

[Jetée]

I'd be totally in favor of this moving to the NBC-affiliate, USA Network.

The likelihood of this happening is less than 15% in my mind, but you got to have hope, and a lobbyist's mentality.

Originally Posted by guy44

"Neither you nor he nor any vagrant opinion will interrupt - now you've got me doing it!"

That line alone is better than 75% of the shows on TV. Too bad we only get one more episode.

Haha.. I just got the funny. That was probably my next best favorite episode, besides "Pilgrimmage".

I know I've seen the actor who plays 'William Cross' in other popular works, but my mind is not doing well retrieving any of those other instances. He is a great foil in the series, through and through.

[SecretMethod70]

Far less than 15%. There's no way the affiliate networks could afford a show that costs $4 million an episode.

Now that I've had time to sleep on it..... GAH! I'm so annoyed that it got canceled like that!

[Jetée]

Originally Posted by SecretMethod70

Far less than 15%. There's no way the affiliate networks could afford a show that costs $4 million an episode.

Now that I've had time to sleep on it..... GAH! I'm so annoyed that it got canceled like that!

Now you know how I felt when they just pulled the rug from under yet another promising NBC series, Journeyman.

Damn, that had some really good potential, and it had one of the most memorable season (series) finales in recent memory.

Curse NBC and their snootiness. They took away my Moon Bloodgood too suddenly (though they do have her filling some kind of 'righteous foil' in the series Burn Notice now).