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.
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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.
Again BOOOOOO to the suits !!!
I am so sick of all these networks who setup their viewers to watch a particular show and never give these shows enough time to command an audience. Kings is an awesome show with complex characters and plots. Don’t put this show on a time slot that stinks, and expects it to do well. It would really suck if you cancel this show!!! Market the show to the audience who will watch it, and not dump it where it wouldn’t see daylight. Boooo to all the network suits !!! You suck BIG time !!!!!!
Reality shows are cheap to produce but I dont watch them, It is a shame that Kings has been cancelled I keep up with every episode. And yes when will the American public stop being such simple minded moraly challenged morons.
i agree with everyone … so far i have checked out about 5 dif message boreds on this and everyone who watches this show loves it .. i could go on and on about how great the show is.. with brilliant characters and plot and cinimitography. but everyone reading this already knows all that … the reason this failed is cus they chose some **** time slot to air this that plus a mixture of idiotic auidiance who would rather watch reality tv and cop shows and a complete failure to market this the correct way .. long since dead… Read more »
It’s ridiculous to blame NBC for cancelling the show. They had the guts and talent to make a quality show, but the moronic American public chooses not to watch it. They would rather watch Celebrity Apprentice. NBC makes shows to make money. If the boneheaded public doesn’t want quality TV, there’s no money in it.
This show was good but last week’s episode just kicked it into high gear. I’m glad I stayed around to watch it. This is a great story told in a brilliant way. It’s too bad our society is too retarded to get it. NBC can suck it…if they pull it.
I am trying to be descent about this…But NBC Executives are NOT THINKING!!! They cut shows that are some of the best…but keep idiotic shows like REALITY SHOWS.. because it doesnt really require that much money to be spent and they have a way to make more money(because they put out less on production cost and paying actors/no need to pay a reality star if they do not win or …) so they make more money that way from sponsors etc….The times and economy has drasticaly changed ..so people can not always be on their couch to watch shows (in… Read more »
What’s the matter with the traditional networks these days? Are they just full of stodgy old men or something? King is building an enormous following on places like HULU, which is where I watch it every Sunday. NOBODY watches broadcast television anymore in accordance with the network’s schedule, but that doesn’t mean a show is not a success and not worth investing in! Kings is one of those quality productions which should be supported, not because its good for you, but because its some of the best entertainment on the screen today! Wake up broadcast suits — this is tv… Read more »
Kings is such a great show and needs to be kept on nbc! How many reality shows do we need to forced to watch? Seriously, Kings is an amazing show and is different compared to all the other junk on nowadays.
I am so angry that Kings has been cancelled. I caught the pilot as a free download on itunes and i can’t count the amount of times i have watched it and the following episodes. I download the new eps as soon as i can (I’m in Ireland). This show is unique and refreshing in a sea of shows that are all basically the same, reality shows and cop shows. It’s disappointing that people can’t appreciate a show that dares to be different and that actually has a premise that stands out. I am just so tired of the fact… Read more »
Kings i will be very disappointed it they cancel this show. This season is off to a great start.Must see t.v.
If you love this show as much as I did and want to act upon this show being cancelled please join the cause for this show to be picked up or put back on. By joining this facebook group that wants to SAVE the Tv show KINGS. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/303952/3389310?m=c20bb5a8
If You could make A video of yourself saying why you think it’s a disappointment of canceling the show or why you disagree or How much you loved the show please post it on the cause or send it to my email Ashleyw1423@yahoo.com I will be sending this to the network companies.
I loved this series. I hope it gets picked up on a another local station, I don’t have cable. I can see where it parallels with the bible, loosely, but its there.
Hey, I liked Kings too, but they don’t have nudity on NBC. Maybe they showed a hiney once?
we should totally have a petition for this not to be canceled! i loved this series..the cast is amazing well written plot and beautiful scenes.