Skip to main content

Talk Back: NBC's "Kings"

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown."

By now, you've read my advance review for the first few episodes of NBC's newest drama offering, Kings, which launched last night with a two-hour pilot episode.

But, now that Kings has aired, I am curious to know what you thought of the first episode.

Did you like the alternate universe/vaguely futuristic setting of Shiloh City? Were you turned on or off by the pseudo-religious imagery, Biblical retelling of David's story, and the war-torn setting? Did you love Ian McShane as the morally corrupt King Silas Benjamin? Were you captivated by the story of David Shepherd? Or amused by the vaguely Shakespearean royal retainers? And most importantly: will you be watching Kings again next week?

Talk back here.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I thought it was OK. Not great and unrealistic at times and REALLY slow. Seems more like a cable show than NBC. Would give it one more shot before deciding whether or not to keep watching.
3/16/2009
Page48 said…
I'll bet the King of Gilboa couldn't sit thru 2 hours of that, so what chance would I have?
3/16/2009
Anonymous said…
Meh. I watched the first 20 mins and then started to fall asleep. BORING!
3/16/2009
Anonymous said…
I liked King Silas and was impressed by his son, but I really didn't like David. They should've cast a better actor. The show was a bit too unrealistic as well. In this major war the enemy completely takes their eyes off the front line, there are no mines in no man's land, and there's no security around the two hostages?
3/16/2009
Mazza said…
@Mrs James Ford YES! Someone agrees with me! :) I didn't like Chris Egan AT ALL. Thought he was dull as David and I didn't feel invested in him one bit. Plus someone needs to do something about his skin. ICK.
3/16/2009
Anonymous said…
I thought it was great. I was completely captivated the entire time. Definitely a deliberate pace, which is nice. I'm tired of seeing everything happening at rocket speed on network television. It definitely does feel like more of a cable show, but since so much network TV is becoming more and more irrelevant, that's a good thing.

Can't wait to see next week.
3/16/2009
technotory said…
Wow, another "gay is bad" show on primetime. Just what we needed.
3/16/2009
R.A. Porter said…
Liked it enough to watch a few more, mostly for Ian McShane's scenery chewing. I think if they don't tone down the biblical parallels and tell a difficult story, this could be interesting enough to stick with.
3/16/2009
Page48 said…
@Chris, you were just tuned into the wrong network, dude. ABC has the "gay is the way" story covered with their snoozefest, "Brothers & Sisters".
3/16/2009
tony libido said…
I can see the potential for some fun here, but it also felt loaded down with too many cliches and general nonsense.

The business about re-starting the war after the truce because of the evil dick cheney-esque dude.

and when our aw shucks, down home mechanic sat down to play a flowery Liszt piano piece I lunged for the remote.

Gonna pass.
3/16/2009
Anonymous said…
I tohught this was a perfect 2 hours of TV. For awhile I was had a rank of favorite TV shows:
Lost
Jericho
30 Rock
The Office
Heroes

and now Kings is #2 behind Lost what an amazing show!
3/17/2009
Brian said…
It reminded me of a a low, low, low-rent version of HBO's Rome. Rome was good; Kings, not so much.
3/19/2009
Anonymous said…
The best new show of the season. I loved it from start to finish. Well almost, that speech David gives the Goliath towards the end was over the top cheesy and I had to look away from the tv. But overall it's a great show.

I love the setting and I love the twist on this old story. I fear it may be canceled as most good shows, like HBO's Rome, end up.
3/20/2009
shinas said…
I loved Kings through and through. The soundtrack was amazing and the plot and acting was superb. Personally, I loved the cast.

Had heard some time ago about Kings not getting picked up for a second season so already went through the 'withdrawal' stage, but...

If Kings came back next season I would definitely watch every episode!
7/26/2009
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.
253 comments
Continue reading full story...

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season
135 comments
Continue reading full story...

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj
55 comments
Continue reading full story...