Under the reign of Ben Silverman, NBC spent a whole lot of money on Kings — about $4 million an episode. Unfortunately for the peacock network, most viewers weren’t interested and the network lost a lot of money.
After three weeks of low ratings, they shuffled the series off to die on Saturday evenings, when viewership is typically lower anyway. While many devoted fans tuned in each week to watch actors like Ian McShane, Christopher Egan, Allison Miller, Susanna Thompson, Sebastian Stan, Eamonn Walker, and Dylan Baker, the numbers weren’t enough for the show to go back into production.
Not only won’t Kings be returning for a second season but NBC isn’t planning on taking that kind of ambitious risk again. The network’s President of Primetime Entertainment, Angela Bromstad, said this week, “It was a great production, but our challenge now is, you need to sell something. People want to know what something is about.”
Bromstad continued, “Kings was a complex idea. It was originally developed when I was [at NBC] before. We didn’t make it [then] because we thought it was a little too high brow and too difficult to sell in a 30 second slot. It doesn’t mean we’re not looking for big ideas [but] they have to be big ideas that the audience can grab on to.”
What do you think? Was the concept too much for the audience to grasp or did it fail for another reason? Too good for network TV?
Image courtesy NBC.
It is sad that a show that develops characters and actually tells a story is canceled, only to replaced by reality shows that are mindless and talentless. But it is no longer about acting and storytelling it is about money.
it was a cool show. liked the cliffhanger ending
Just one question? How did that decision to cancell Star Trek work out?
I really felt this was one of the better shows on TV. It not only touched upon all of the big issues that are important now, wars, the economy, factions within a government, but it did a really wonderful job of reimagining the premise of Kings in the bible. Not that you have to believe in the bible for an allegorical tale to be enjoyable. The problem was the advertising. The back of a guys head looking at a crowd for 5 seconds is INSUFFICIENT. The promo’s needed to let people know that this is a retelling of an historical… Read more »
Kings was too high brow for NBC, not that NBC is a bad network they just don’t do shows that make you think. I love Chuck and Heroes they are fun to watch but honestly the dialogue just isn’t there, the character development just isn’t there. Kings should have been an HBO or Showtime show from the start. Look at the shows they have put out in the past; The Tudors, Dead Like Me, Deadwood, Dexter, Carnival, Oz, etc. These shows were about the characters much like Kings. The audiences that like these shows just don’t watch primetime basic cable.… Read more »
Kings was one of the best shows on TV. I can’t believe they’re keeping Merlin (pile of stinking dragon-crap that it is) and canceling Kings.
Can’t they just cut the budget and keep the show going?
This was a great show. As an athiest, I could care less about the bible, but was hooked by the depth of the characters and complex interactions with each other.
I hate watching TV when things are broadcast because I refuse to be bound by anyone elses schedule –> hence TiVo and Hulu being my watching media.
If NBC took Hulu and Itunes ratings into account, this show would have been in the Tues night lineup!
You Really NEED TO GIVE THE SHOW MORE TIME TO DEVELOPE AN AUDIENCE you YOURSELF ADMITTED THAT you DO HAVE a LOYAL audience GIVE it more time to GROW. AND Take A LITTLE BIT OF that $4 MILLION DOLLARS AND ADVERTISE aBIT MORE.
Great show. Hopefully someone else will pick it up. NBC has become way to cancel happy. They don’t let shows develop an audience anymore
I’ll tell you why it was cancelled. Worst. Show. Ever.
Best thing on tv! It kept you on the edge of your seat in every episode! I can’t believe it was cancelled! Somebody didn’t do their job in promoting it or something!
Just another reason NBC is trailing – no commitment to good programming. At lease CBS picked up Medium – maybe a cable net will pick up Kings. Very good program, watched live or DVRd all episodes. One of the few with a good storyline.
This is complete crap. EVERY SHOW worth watching is cancelled after a few episodes or 1st season. How do these idiots at the networks get their high paying jobs thinking that people are interested in all this reality b.s.? Who gives a sh*t about those crappy shows. This is what they dont have a clue about….WE LIVE IN REALITY EVERYDAY!!!!! we know what goes on, we watch tv TO ESCAPE REALITY, not to..live, breathe & be reminded of it everywhere we turn. How do idiotic shows like big brother & such make it year after year, everyone watching tv these… Read more »
Well, I can tell you why I didn’t watch it: because I don’t trust the networks. I’ve had my heart broken too many times by getting into a show only to see it disappear after 3 or 4 (or less!!) episodes. Before I’m going to commit to something with a complex plot line I want to be assured that a) there will be a real ending not a cliffhanger and b) the network is going to show all of it. And no, streaming it online does not count as ‘showing all of it’. In spite of the failure of that… Read more »
Battlestar was lucky it made it through 4 years. Shows like Kings, Jericho, Virtuality or Defying Gravity are too intelligent for network television or television at all and will eventually have to find its genre settling for viewership on advertising backed nternet sites in years to come