I missed last night’s premiere of the newly minted Syfy Channel’s Warehouse 13 — though judging by Ken Tucker’s take, I didn’t miss much — in favor of catching up with a couple of DVR’d episodes of Kings. You remember Kings, don’t you? That fantastic NBC show that reconceptualizes and recontexualizes the story of David, he who slew Goliath? The one that has Ian McShane melting a hole through the screen with sheer acting luminescence? The one nobody watched and is now being unceremoniously burned off on Saturday nights?
That Kings. So, as I was sitting there, basking in the plummy, almost Arthurian dialogue and the stentorian production design, I had an epiphany: Why doesn’t Syfy pick up Kings? Given that part of their whole name-change raison d’etre is to be able to program beyond the sci-fi spectrum, they could do far worse than roll the dice on a show as well-produced as this one.
Yes, I know, there is the whole “Kings had less viewers than my honeymoon video” problem. I firmly believe that isn’t the show’s fault; it’s NBC’s. They had no idea how to market Kings, so they mismarketed it: all those mysterious butterfly posters and trailers that told you nothing about the show besides that it was pretty and it had McShane in nice suits. Was it science fiction? An alternate reality? A soap opera? All of the above? John Rogers, executive producer of TNT’s Leverage, summed up the misfire — and missed opportunity — quite succinctly: “After years of the cultural Right bitching and moaning about how Hollywood doesn’t provide for them, NBC could have gone to every evangelical church in America and said ‘We’re serializing the story of King David in a modern, very relatable way. Here you go, a multi-million dollar series, in prime time, based on a Bible story. You’re frikkin’ welcome.’”
That’s still money left on the table, Syfy. Money that could be yours. The stink of failure would fade, in time, and you’d be left with one of the best shows on television, one that could fill the sucking vacuum left by Battlestar Galactica, and you could sell those DVD sets to church congregations, Sunday schools, and synagogues until kingdom come.
Just look at this clip; listen to the words, watch McShane work like the devil himself, and wonder why you don’t deserve more of this on TV:
Did you know about Kings while it was on? Would you watch it if someone levied some confidence behind it?
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I’ve been saying this since Week 3 of Kings’ NBC run, often on the EW boards.
Kings was an awesome show, it joins the ranks of Firefly, The 4400 and Pushing Daisies as shows I sorely miss
Kings is one of the BEST shows on tv, no matter the season. It is a damn shame this show has suffered this fate. Superb acting, great storytelling and goregous scenary. EPIC FAIL for canceling NBC.
Great idea. I love this show. I just don’t think that people want to watch quality programming.
With Eli Stone and Pushing Daisy’s gone, I have much more free time NOT to watch TV.
Networks – get a clue and bring on some quality shows.
Oh I am so there with you!!! I tuned in with hesitation but loved every minute of it. Good TV is going the way of the Dodo. This was so intelligent I don’t know when it would have made it. I haven’t been watching the summer episodes because I nabbed an early Amazon pre-order for 20 bucks (now it’s 45) so I’m going to watch on DVD in September.
I so wish SyFy (ick) would pick this up. Honestly it can’t cost too much. Just knock a few roles down to recurring status. Show that they’ll take a chance on something!!!
Wouldn’t hurt. Skiffy (they will always be “Skiffy” to me) shot themselves in the foot when they dumped SG1 and Atlantis for dreck like “Painful-to-Watch Jane” and “Flush Gordon”. I used to be a faithful watcher, now I look for “Eureka” but that’s it for this turkey channel.
Kings was one of those shows that I thought looked like something I would like when I saw the commercials, but for whatever reason I missed the premiere and first few episodes and figured I’d missed the boat. Too, now that it’s been canceled, I’m glad I didn’t commit my heart as always happens to me. If a cable station picked it up, I’d jump on board from day one, especially after viewing that clip.
episodes available still on Hulu FYI
And at NBC.com/Kings.
I just finished that brief little season over a week. What a spectacular show! This is the first time I’ve ever been inspired to find folks who want to bring it back. For the love of god, SOMEBODY bring it back. Even if it’s the stupidly-named Syfy. Make more!
In all fairness, Syphi didn’t cancel Stargate: Atlantis. The production company who made the show and sold it to Syphi, and other markets, for some reason decided to stop making it… I guess to focus on the latest incarnation, Stargate: Universe.
they need to bring that show back! that show was powerful!
I’ve never actually seen the show, but I do agree that “Syfy” needs to diversify – why would they change their name and then just start airing another sci-fi show? Sure, they want it to be the next x-files but people who don’t watch the x-files or BSG or LOST aren’t going to be watching “Syfy”, are they? I’ve also noticed they’ve been airing Pirates and National Treasure…why not go with a show like that? What was that old show that was cancelled pretty quick? Veritas or something? A kinda Indiana Jones-tv show? AIR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, SYFY. OY VEY.
Kings has been a truly amazing experience as a viewer, and quite frankly I would watch Ian McShane eat an ice cream sandwich. Kings is one of 3 shows that has made tv amazing this summer. The other 2 are Burn Notice and Harper’s Island.
Agreed. “Kings” is a powerful series propped up with strong writing and talented – make that extremely talented – actors and it’s reduced me to misty eyes (even an occasional tear) on more than one ocassion. Ian McShane rocks in ANYTHING!
It seems as if NBC didn’t want this to do well at all! They barely advertised and then switched the airing time witout a word to anyone.
SyFy (why?) would get a breath of fresh air with this show, only one problem: NBC U. owns Syfy.
I could forgive the name change if they put on Kings and The 4400.
I have been watching Kings since the first episode and I am still watching it. Ian McShane is so great in this role. I would love to see this show continue on another channel, but I don’t think we will be that lucky.
they need to bring that show back! that show was powerful!
I absolutely love Kings; I started watching it when it first came on and I’ve kept going, keeping up on Hulu now that the show airs on Saturday nights. It’s really unfortunate that the show was cancelled, as the episodes just keep getting better, the characters more interesting and the writing more complex. I would love it if SyFy (and yes, I hate the name too) would pick it up and give this wonderful show the chance it deserves.
This is truly one of the best shows I’ve seen in years. After every episode my wife and I turn to each other and say three things in succession: “That was amazing. I cant believe there arent going to be any more episodes. Do you think Silas is good or bad?” LOL every week its the same comments. Do people even want to WATCH good shows? Swingtown, Kings, Virtuality not even being picked up to go to series.
Kings was/is great. Ian McShane (and the rest of the cast) is fantastic. And good taste, along with a network with the cajones to stand by something is dead. Sigh.
I’ve been catching up on Kings on Hulu, and I’m smitten. The heightened language doesn’t come across as pretentious, and it’s so engaging that it’s prompted me to revisit the scriptures that it’s conceived from.
I gave Kings a very positive review when it premiered and it remains one of my picks for best shows of the 08-09 season.
Everyone cries about how there’s no original TV programs but when they get them, they choose reality TV?
What the frelling frak is up with that?
I’ve been watching “Kings” on my DVR every week while NBC burns off the series. What a wasted opportunity. Not a big surprise from NBC, though, considering what they did to “Life” and almost did to “Chuck.” I guess that the operating premise of the network suites must be that America can never get enough of the “Biggest Loser.” Ick!
Syfy seems like a good place for this series, if it was ever to be resurrected. There is so little quality left on the networks at this point. Most of my viewing focuses on USA for shows like “Burn Notce”, “Psych” and “Monk.”
I like Kings, I really do, but you have to admit the “Authurian dialog” is WEIRD. When Ian McShane says it, it sounds cool. When the rest of the cast talks like that, it sounds ridiculous.
It reminds me of Deadwood… weird language for the sake of being artsy. It doesn’t really help the story at all.
I love Ian McShane, so I watched the first episode of Kings. It was quite good, so I stopped watching Kings.
With good actors, a complex storyline, and plots that would only unfold in time, I would not allow myself to (again) get caught up in a storyline that idiot TV Executives could cut off at any time, like Jericho, Firefly, Surface, ect. No more evening “soap operas” for me!
“Fool me once, shame on me….”. If TV programmers want to sell shows with continuing story lines to an increasingly skeptical public, they need to commit to a definite story end point. Like the 5 year commitment to Lost, or 12 episodes, two years, etc. Give the public a reason to stay with a series while it develops the story. Japan did this a few years ago and TV viewership jumped.
I really enjoy Kings – they keep moving it round – I think it might be on Sat now…just a couple more – hope they tie up loose ends. Everyone is very good in this show….especially McShane – he is the King.
I agree. Anything to keep the show alive would work for me. Scifi’s a great alternative and it does actually give me BSG vibes, even though it’s not really science fiction. It feels similar, so it could work.
I love how this show makes you THINK – no wonder anyone will watch it. I would be so happy if it was picked up on another network.
While I really liked Kings I don’t see this possibly happening at all. Kings had an enormous budget of somewhere around 4 million per episode (and the pilot cost 10 million). No cable network can afford that. And to cut the budget is to lose the look and feel that made the series really good.
By comparison the budget of an episode of Burn Notice seems to be just a bit over 1.25 million.
I think Syfy *did* show a few of the episodes of Kings earlier in the spring. This show would be perfect for the “new” Syfy. I think watched the first 2 eps on Syfy and some on Hulu, and the rest I just read the detailed recaps on NBC.com. (I want to see what happens next, but I don’t have the patience for all the machinations that go on in each episode.
That would be cool. Kings looked interesting to me but I never got around to watching it and it didn’t help that it died off quickly. Putting it on a channel that could use more variety in its programming would be awesome, and I might actually start watching. That is, if there’s anything to watch.
ian mcshane is fabulous, as always, but you’ve got to admit sebastian stan is pretty awesome as well. hopefully syfy (or somebody) will pick this up…otherwise, it looks like it’s back to the ues for mr stan…and he’s way too good for monday night cw.
that would be super awesome. Kings living on would be amazing!