Though NBC had high hopes for its ambitious Kings drama, the series has just not lived up to expectations. You know things are bad when a network ships a series off to Saturday nights. You know things are incredibly bad when the networks pull them from Saturday nights!
Kings revolves around the fictional nation of Gilboa, a United States-like country except that it’s ruled by a king, Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane). Based on the biblical tale of King David, the series features the talents of 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.
After a lackluster premiere and poor subsequent showings, the peacock network decided to send the drama off to Saturday nights, the least-watched evening for network television. Last Saturday night, April 18th, was the first airing. It attracted a dismal number of viewers; 2.24 million and a 0.5/2 rating/share in the desirable 18-49 demographic.
That apparently isn’t enough for NBC and they’ve pulled the show from Saturday nights effective immediately. Repeats of Law & Order: SVU will fill the timeslot, at least for the time being. Fans of the show will have to wait until June 13th to see their show return to the Saturday at 8pm timeslot.
Despite a devoted following and a big budget, it looks like Kings is going down in the history books as one of this season’s biggest failures.
Image courtesy NBC.
I can’t believe you are giving up on this great series. I love this show. If i hadn’t been out of town I would not have missed the first Saturday showing, By the second Saturday it was gone. I am very disappointed. You really should give it more time. Please put it back!!!!
I was suprised when NBC moved the show to Saturday – which is a typical “were about to pull the plug” signal. I think Kings is one of the best dramas on tv. The acting, story line, locations, etc, are as good or better than anything you find on tv. I hope that NBC will give it another chance or at least release it on DVD so we can see the rest of the episodes. Some shows are just too intelligent for regular tv. Maybe Kings could find a home on USA, with Monk, Psych, and House. I miss the… Read more »
the networks are going to go the way of the automakers. they should leave serious projects to the ‘heavies’ of cable. networks can keep their reality shows (Crap) and mindless soap-opera types (Desp.housewives). Can you imagine if they had tried the Sopranos on network tv? I did fall for Lost and that too would have played out better on cable… networks have it so chopped up on breaks and commercials. The next time NBC hypes a new show,they can keep it. Not playing anymore!
It was poorly advertised by NBC. This intelligent drama, the retelling of the biblical story of King David, can also be applied to current politics and war. It should have been on HBO or Showtime all along.
I am sooooooo tired of TV being aimed at 18 year olds. These people don’t even watch TV. They are twittering! When are the networks going to realize that their audience has grown up.
Pleast put Kings back on; we enjoyed it so much. You didn’t give it a chance. We are so disappointed!
Ugh NBC you piss me off…. Kings was fantastic – and as I’m sure many others have said – we were not even made aware that it was moving to the Saturday timeslot and then you rip it out from under us before we get used to it… what on earth were you thinking?????? Why do you think it’s just stuffy intellectuals who are sick of reality TV? EVERYONE I KNOW IS SICK OF REALITY TV!!!!!!!!!!!! Give me Kings and more like it stop injecting reality bile in the minds of our youth.
NBC!
Please reconsider bringing this back before June!! I think you are not giving this one enough time for WOM (word of mouth) to get around about it. This is one of the VERY FEW shows that can stand up against the cable series i.e.; Dexter, True Blood, Deadwood, etc., etc., etc..
PLEASE reconsider and put a good show back on the air sonner than June!
M and G fans of Kings
Thanks for posting this.. I keep going to Hulu to see the next episode and now I see why it’s not up. I really enjoy Kings and appreciate their efforts to (somewhat) mirror a Biblical story. Guess I’ll be waiting til June.
omg i’m going to be so sad if this show gets cancelled 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
I am really ticked off that Kings got pulled. Typical network bull—-. How can viewers even trust a prime network when they know that their favorite series is at the mercy of the fickle whims of marketing and programming execs? Why even bother to get hooked? My husband and I were thinking, Now here is a really substantial show with great writing and great acting. Decent plot, albeit a little far fetched. We got hooked. Sad to say… when and if it comes back, or when and if we see another tempting listing for the peacock network… we will just… Read more »
You guys are breeding a generation of morons. When you have a great show like “KINGS” you dump it before you give it a chance to find its audience. Yet, you continually spend money on reality tv. You are dumbing down america. Its your fault this kids are souless and clueless. Shame on you.
Give us something good to watch again…otherwise you leave us nothing to do but go to cable tv for the intelligent broadcast we crave. Cable gets it–STOP THE INSANITY, KEEP GOOD SHOWS ALIVE. KEEP KINGS ALIVE.
Really liked the show. Appreciated the parallels to the Bibical accounts and watched with interest to see where the writers were going with it. Clever.Too bad NBC didn’t give it much of a chance. I knew when I heard that it was being moved to Saturday nights that it was DOA. Too bad.
I thought the first episode was horrible, the 2nd was a little better, then the 3rd started to grow on me…. and by the 4th, I was looking for it on TV, but couldn’t find it… I have watched all the episodes on NBC.com – It would be good to see the show given a chance to develop – the writers need to be careful about every character speaking in the same prose as Silas though… I think he should be the only one who speaks like this, but that is just my .02
I have many friends who watched the show because we loved Deadwood and since Ian McShane was on it, we watched… and we liked!! Then they SKIPPED EASTER which was really idiotic on their part, because everyone was like WTF where did it go, then put it on Saturdays, where everyone I knew who watched it didn’t even know it was on, so couldn’t watch. Why is it the Nielsen ratings have never ever once called me? Who are they calling exactly? Dipshits who like reality TV apparently. Hey NBC if I recall, the first season of Seinfeld was nothing… Read more »