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.
There may still be hope!
NBC’s ‘KINGS’ website refers to tonight’s show as a ‘Season Finale’ … not a Series Finale… seemingly keeping their options open. Perhaps if enough people ask (with a bit of passion) that NBC consider a second season… well, who knows what might happen.
once again veiwers are left hanging after the season finale by another ratigs hungry network. we are left to wondr what might have been. this show had excellant acting and entertaining plotlines.it just needed a consistant time slot to build a fanbase.no wonder nbc is always in last place,i dont think they will ever move up due to these type of decisions.come on hbo or usa network pick-up some loyal kings fans and take more ratings away from deadlast nbc.
PLEASE KEEP THE “KINGS” SERIES! This is an absolutely fabulous story. The plot and characters are so intense. My husband and I anxiously look forward to each week. Tonight we watched the season finale and will pray that NBC (or some other network) returns this show to TV or cable so we can see the further exploits of Silas, David, et al. Don’t leave us hanging, please! It is too captivating! Thank you!
I really hope the show is picked up by a network that has the balls to market it! I saw ONE commercial that explained this was a show based on the bibilical story of David and Goliath, that aired during the day on a Thursday. Had I not just given birth to my son, I would not have seen the plot and been interested. Since then I have been totally taken by the show and its character. Having been a HUGE deadwood fan I seriously doubted a character could ever make me forget Swearengen, and I was completely wrong. I… Read more »
I really hope another network picks up this show. The show needed to build up the characters. It is hands down THE ONLY SHOW I watch regularly on regular network television. This one needs to move to HBO or Showtime. They are known for edgy shows like this. NBC average viewers don’t want to take the time to get into show. They need that instanst gratification.
I think Kings is a fantastic show, one of the best I’ve seen on TV. It’s deep, complex, gripping and very touching. And the acting is superb. I would love to see this series continue.
This is by far one of the best shows I have ever seen on cable. I feel like every episode is its own motion picture. I hope HBO picks it up because it is a true gem amongst all the crap they put on TV these days.
Unfortunately, brand specialist know that people over 35 are already fixed to a product. TV is geared to the 18-35, and the need for one to focus on a terrific show like this doesn’t exist in the 20 somethings, sorry. This show would do very well on HBO, where creativity and good acting mean something. Intelligent shows rarely make it on prime time network. Only cheap laughs. Another very good show bites the dust.
Hey – give this great show another chance to shine. Great writing great actors – I had to watch online to catch up as the show was moved around too often and missed nights for other shows/specials to be aired. No wonder it did not get the attention it deserves. Try a week night and see how great it is!
Too bad about ‘Kings.’ I haven’t enjoyed a show this much in ages. The acting is fabulous and the story is fascinating. You don’t need to know anything about the Biblical story of David to enjoy it and maybe that’s part of the advertising problem. My 17 year old son watched it with me and he’s really liked it, too. Give us some credit! Now, I missed some episodes because of hockey season but have caught up and can’t wait to see tomorrow’s show. I’d say please reconsider NBC
i was soo glad when i realized that the show was based on King David..i’m so disappointed that it’s been cancelled. please reconsider..the shameful thing about the 18-49 year ods is that they’ve been watching too much Reality TV..this same age group if which 2 of my chilkdren are in and 4 of my grandchildren have not seen the likes of the Ten Commandments, David and Goliath etc.. please we need these types of Shows., letting this age group know theere is redemption., that all is not lost .. that we need to forgive ad love another.. at leaset hav… Read more »
I was not really into the whole biblical analog. I mean I’m all for getting stories on the cheap, and after the writers strike I can see some executive deciding “they” weren’t going to deal with some 2 bit writers, when we can just reboot parts of the old-testament! Unfortunately, what you quickly realize is that ALOT of what made sense 3000 or 4000 years ago, just sounds contrived and situational, and at worst just not relevant. Certainly folks had most all of the same problems we do, back then, and in most all of the cases there are moral… Read more »
Everything that happened with Kings shows exactly what is wrong with the current American culture. The characters were loquacious and the storyline was dense and multifaceted. So, the critics all hated it because it was “pretentious” and “full of itself.” Classic American anti-intellectualism. No wonder the rest of the world laughs at us and calls us fools. We are fools.
I guess I’m not the only person wondering where on of the better shows on tv disappeared to?? I really thought they held off on it because of the playoffs and all that but it seems like they thinkin bout droppin it. That would be pretty stupid. I understand that most shows (especially on NBC) are fairly stupid but this one is thought provoking, interesting and was just gettin into the thick of things! Now if I didn’t DVR the show, commercials would make me just turn the tv off! With that said NBC need to go ahead and get… Read more »
This show was so intense and the lead Ian McShane such a commanding performer that it actually required people to pay attention to it. If the viewer had been raised under some aetheistic or agnostic rock somewhere, then the story of King David would be a foreign concept to them and all they would see was a show with a military government, lots of death, adultery, betrayal, accountability and suffering before redemption. It is not a show that can be taken lightly, but I’m certain that viewers in Appalachia, inner-city L.A., Philly, New York and other bastions of commonly banal… Read more »