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.
this may help save it.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savekings/
this was my favorite show! i was just checking online to see when it was coming back on!!! :/ I think KINGS is awesome, i would love to see a season 2. Sure is sad to see one of the best shows around get cancelled… sheesh
This is an amazing show. I hated that it was moved to Saturdays because I did not have the time to watch it. So every Sunday I would watch the show online. It should have been placed at a better time slot. I think we should send a letter/email to NBC or all other networks. Send a picture of KINGS FLAG and type SAVE KINGS. If we all do this “together mountains can move”. Let’s all spread the swarm of butterflies.
http://savekings.org/
and join “SAVE KINGS” on facebook, twitter ect.
Agreed – should definitely consider bringing it back
This is such a great show, and to cancel it with such an amazing end to the season is a shame. Please bring it back. The traction on twitter right now is crazy, and have you seen the number of petitions? Bring it back!!
Here are two:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savekings/
http://act.ly/9v
An amazing show, with a great story. Not many TV shows have that much plot to write about yet they stay on for 5+ seasons. Even though marketing may have been horrible and never advertised to religious audiences, I believe that could be changed. This is one of very few shows I would make sure I was available to watch when on TV, or watch again on nbc.com. I am disappointed how bad the marketing was and nbc’s decision to cancel it, even worse by putting it in a sunday or saturday slot, which is sure to be an end… Read more »
This is typical of NBC. They finally have a hit series and they decide to pull it. If they did not charge so much for commercials ads, they could do with fewer viewers, but this is not about the # of viewers, rather the decision makers who would not know a hit if they saw one. They have not really given it a good chance because, as I remember it, they put it in on the off -season, so what did they expect. They finally got a hit or close to it in place of that GARBAGE, Apprentice, the REALITY… Read more »
NBC is pulling some more Star Trek’s lately. First they change the name of the SciFi channel and now they aren’t showing the best of their programs, namely Kings. They must be deficient in the “smarts” department, because they only seem to see the dollar line rather than the artistic lines.
Can we change their minds? I doubt it. They are stupid.
I got into Kings late. First I was in to House, then Heros, now Kings. I hope they do a second year. It became must watch TV for me on the second to last episode. I really didn’t know that much about it. Finally when I watched it I realized what a great show it was. NBC absolutely could increase the following by doing a marathon Kings weekend, but since it’s on a network, and not a cable channel, I don’t know if they would do that.
I love the show and hope they do a second season.
petition is at http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/kings-petition
Guys please don’t cancel the show it Rocks!! Love watching it. Kinda of good you moved it to Sat now I have something to watch on the weekends. Re amp it and give it a second season! I have friends that are also starting to watch in the 20-30 age group. GOOD SHOW KEEP IT PLEASE!!
I think the promotions for Kings were poorly presented. They must have been because I never saw one that I can remember. A friend told us about it after many episodes. Thank God for fancast.com which had all the shows for viewing. I watched the first few shows on fancast.com, the next few on ON-Demand, and the last ones on Saturday night NBC as they were shown. The cast is outstanding. McShane’s performance should earn him an EMMY. We have told all our friends to go to fancast and watch the entire season. I am looking forward to next season.… Read more »
WHAT A REFRESHING TV SERIES . WE ARE PRAYING THIS WILL REMAIN AND HOPEFULLY YOU WILL FIND MORE BIBLE STORIES TO MAKE . THE BIBLE IS FULL OF EXCITING AND VERY REAL TODAY ADVENTURES… JUST LOOK AT HOW SUCCESSFUL THE 10 COMMANDMENTS WAS AND STILL IS .
How can u even think about canceling a show like this? The advertisement was very poor for it! I have just recently heard about it and watched all 12 episodes in 2 days and when i heard that it was getting canceled just kinda ruined everything for me. This show is incredibly awesome. Why NBC WHY!!!!
NBC Please grow a pair. Yes that’s right, grow a pair. Even Jack grew a pair near the end of season one and so can you. Kings is a wonderful show that in my opinion was poorly advertized. The show is based on the Bible but yet you failed to sell it in that fashion. The US culture is primarily Christian based so why didn’t you push that in you advertizing and scheme? Honestly your marketing director is out of touch and needs to re-attended college; at the most spend more time in the real world. (feel free to pass… Read more »