Last night was the premiere of NBC’s much-hyped new series, Kings. Though the series has an impressive cast and big production values, few viewers tuned in to watch. Based on the initial ratings, will interested viewers get a chance to see the whole season?
Kings is a modern retelling of the classic David and Goliath story. It’s set in a modern world that closely resembles our own, except for the fact that what looks like the United States is ruled by a king. Kings is billed as an epic story of greed and power, war and romance, forbidden loves and secret alliances — and a young hero who rises to power in a modern-day kingdom.
It stars Ian McShane, Christopher Egan, Susanna Thompson, Michael Patrick Crane, Allison Miller, Sebastian Stan, Eamonn Walker, Dylan Baker, Wes Studi, Joel Garland, Jason Antoon, Sarita Choudhury, and Macaulay Culkin.
The two-hour premiere got off to a rocky start last night, to put it mildly. The first half hour attracted a poor 6.5 million viewers and a 1.6/5 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. By the time the last half hour had aired, only 5.5 million were still watching with a 1.7/4.
 Loading ... |
Those numbers placed the debut firmly in fourth place among the big networks. It performed significantly worse than Celebrity Apprentice had the week before and proved to be the network’s second worst premiere of the season, behind last week’s Chopping Block.
NBC has committed to 11 more hours of the series which are set to begin airing next Sunday night. With a complicated premise and a little-watched premiere, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which even fewer people will tune in next week. With so few viewers, NBC will have little choice but to make a change in their schedule. What’s likely to happen?
In the past, NBC probably would have simply pulled the show from the schedule and opted to leave a bunch of unaired installments sitting on the shelf. In these tough economic times however, that’s not a very viable option. As was the case with Crusoe, they’ll likely move the remaining episodes to Saturday nights to burn them off.
No matter what they decide to do with the existing episodes, unless viewership radically improves, it’s impossible to imagine that the series would be renewed for a second season. Long live the king? It appears, not so much.
Image courtesy NBC.
I think it’s another soap & when they cancel, there won’t be an ending. Don’t waste the time.
Sorry, but this is a good show. Really is better then the reality and cop show. I give 5 stars to NBC for trying to get a great show that is not about cops. The show is great, and I think that the American people are kind of like ok, I have to think so it is a bad show. They rather watch Dancing with the Stars, or some Bachelor show, it is sad. Please NBC keep this show on the air.
CR: Go to the hulu.com site. The previous episodes of “Kings” can be found there — including the two-hour premiere (about 90 minutes when seen off the Web). It’s well worth watching.
I had wanted to watch this series. When scanning thru the channels-it was already too far into the show that I thought it might not make sense to me. I looked to see if this first episode was on another night (like so many new shows seem to be doing lately) and could not find a listing. Sunday night seems like a really odd time for this show. My major network tv viewing does not take place on the weekends.
Weekends consist of rented movie viewing. That is probably why I missed it.
i agree with a majority of the viewers of this show. it’s about time that “regular” television has started to show some actual substance, instead of shows – like “the apprentice” and others – of the “5-minute attention span” variety. i hope that this show is cancelled, as it actually gives me a reason to watch anything in addition than sports on sunday evenings. a great engrossing storyline, which keeps me on my toes (like heroes does on monday nights!).
Unfortunately, it is too deep for most people who just want have TV wash over them. I’ve watched the premier three times and each time see another angle worth exploring. The second episode has so many layers, the writers could spend three years exploring all of the subplots. This is a great show and I like it. Too bad, I liked Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip also and that practically ensures a fast cancellation of Kings.
People not watching this show don’t know what they are missing! “Kings” is a revelation for basic broadcast television – it is so well crafted and the acting is A-one. I just can’t imagine NBC just pulling it. I have gotten at least five people to watch it and they all LOVED it and will continue to watch. I agree that the promotion of the show has been shitastic and the time slot is awful. I’ve watched the pilot three times and the first show at least twice, and it never gets old. Ian McShane is so, so good, and… Read more »
When is 5 million viewers not enough? So what if a huge number of idiots want to watch Celebrity Apprentice, do we all have to watch that kind of crap instead of well produced drama with great cinematography? Does this mean you too will carry low budget “reality” shows that appeal to the worst in all of us? Please say no and stick to your guns and continue to bring good drama.
I love Ian McShane, it’s an ok show but the ratings are going down hill fast 6.47 million in the opener now down to 4.62 million. If the ratings slide continues I don’t see it lasting which is too bad because it’s a good show not the greatest but watchable and ten times better than the copy cat show Lie to Me (which will probably get cancelled too)
Loved this show! Don’t have T.V. reception so I watch all my favorites on-line, mostly through Hulu. Great shows like Kings, Firefly, Pushing Daisies– those should get air time, not crap like Dancing With The Invalids, The ******* Bachelor, and other garbage reality T.V. Wake up Networks!
My vote is to keep Kings and do a better job of promoting it. *keeping fingers crossed for this one.*
I Love Ian McShane and love the show. However, the orange butterflies and have got to go! Orange butterflies looks to matriarchal, and not the royal colors of a king. Especially with Ian McShane as the king! The orange butterflies are laughable. When I was in ‘Nam the VC would laugh themselves to death if we had orange butterflies on our uniforms!
I wanted to watch but forgot aswell like some one else mentioned. They need to re air the pilot on saturday like they do everything else, get new viewers. It sucks Drama tv is taking a beating I hate reality tv taking over three and four days of the prime time.
Frankly, I don’t have the time (considering I work a 2nd shift) to sit and watch a t.v. show. However, I was recommended to take a peek at it on the Zune Marketplace & instantly fell in love with it. I may not be a religious person, but the story of David is surely a strong one and something fiercely inspiring. The dynamics of this show was truly exquisite – between the beautiful images, along side the wonderful acting. The cast seems to have really clicked and nothing feels out of place. I hope the executives reconsider seeing as this… Read more »
I wonder if the ratings weren’t skewered by the goofy advertising campaign. Frankly, if they would have stressed the biblical parallel, they’d lure the curious. I certainly was only marginally attracted to the show by the ads. However, I changed my mind after reading a review that explained it was a retelling of King David’s story. And I rely on my digital video recorder to time shift, so I didn’t watch the show until days later. Perhaps we need to send “Thank you” messages to the advertisers for their support of the show. At least they’d feel appreciated for their… Read more »
Nielsen actually does measure the DVR viewings and online viewings and other things like that. It’s just that those numbers don’t come out overnight because (obviously) a lot of those viewings happen a few days later. Hopefully the numbers for Kings will improve when those come out, because I suspect that having a two-hour premiere episode on a Sunday night might have caused a lot of people to delay watching it until a more convenient time. I just finished watching the premiere myself, and I thought it showed a lot of potential, even if there were some flaws as well.… Read more »