It was only 5 days ago that NBC moved its otherworldly drama, "Kings", from Sunday nights to Saturday nights at 8pm EST. Consider the move a failure for anyone that had any tiny hopes that this series might still go somewhere. NBC said Tuesday that they would be pulling the series from their weekly lineup, "effective immediately." Despite the quality of the series and the positive reviews it recieved, it is all but canceled now, hardly even needing an official word from NBC.
The series, which stars Ian McShane as King Silas Benjamin and Christopher Egan as David Shepherd, hasn't done well connecting with its viewers since it premiered, with a season to date* average of only 4.5 million viewers. That puts "Kings" in a 7-way tie for 128th place, a position it shares with other canceled (or soon to be canceled) series such as "Lipstick Jungle", "According to Jim", "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", and "Wife Swap". The hope, from fans across the web, has been that another NBC entity, such as SyFy Channel, would pick up "Kings" for a second season, since the show's more hard-lined allegorical themes are a better fit for cable anyway. However, with these kinds of ratings, its hard to imagine even SyFy being interested in this show.
"Kings" has only aired 5 of the original 13 episodes ordered. Fans can find some small comfort in knowing that the remaining episodes will air, although not until after this season wraps up. "Kings" will air the remaining 8 episodes beginning on June 13, at 8 pm EST. The series finale will air on July 25.
Source: TVWeek
* Data provided by Nielsen Media Research as of 4/13/2009
[...] on one Saturday night. That was the first it scheduled for April 18. Effective immediately, NBC is pulling the series until June when it will air the remaining [...]
The show is actaully pretty decent, its definately better than all the cop drama/reality tv crap that is on tv these days. The fact that the show hasn't received a lot of viewers I think is on how NBC failed at marketing the show. Seriously all they had to do was move Medium to some other night and put Kings at 10pm on Mondays following the Chuck/Heroes Line-Up and NBC would have a monopoly on Monday Nights.
At this point after NBC has pretty much given up all hope on the show by putting it on the chopping block and throwing in the closet until summer just goes to show that they might need a few new people in place to design the line-up.
After being moved from the original Thursday slot to Sundays, and then to Saturday and then "post-poned" until June, the series would be best off going to one of NBC's cable channels such as USA or Sci-Fi with a relaunch of the original episodes to draw people in.
Well here's hoping.
I couldn't agree with you more Michael. I really liked the show, and NBC did horrible marketing, probably some of the worse I've ever seen. But also unfortunately, the majority of TV viewers in the world don't agree with what you and I like. Because those cop drama and reality tv crap is kicking butt for CBS ratings-wise. I can't stand that stuff!
The show is actaully pretty decent, its definately better than all the cop drama/reality tv crap that is on tv these days. The fact that the show hasn’t received a lot of viewers I think is on how NBC failed at marketing the show. Seriously all they had to do was move Medium to some other night and put Kings at 10pm on Mondays following the Chuck/Heroes Line-Up and NBC would have a monopoly on Monday Nights.
At this point after NBC has pretty much given up all hope on the show by putting it on the chopping block and throwing in the closet until summer just goes to show that they might need a few new people in place to design the line-up.
After being moved from the original Thursday slot to Sundays, and then to Saturday and then “post-poned” until June, the series would be best off going to one of NBC’s cable channels such as USA or Sci-Fi with a relaunch of the original episodes to draw people in.
Well here’s hoping.
I couldn’t agree with you more Michael. I really liked the show, and NBC did horrible marketing, probably some of the worse I’ve ever seen. But also unfortunately, the majority of TV viewers in the world don’t agree with what you and I like. Because those cop drama and reality tv crap is kicking butt for CBS ratings-wise. I can’t stand that stuff!
I agree with the above posters!
I really enjoy "Kings" and looked forward to catching the show on Sunday evenings at home or on hulu.com when they moved the show to Saturdays. I was just starting to really pull for David and want to find out why Michelle cannot be with him.
The reason that the show has done so poorly in the ratings is simply NBC's fault. I didn't even know about the show until I happened to by on hulu.com one day surfing around and saw the show on their main page. I was hooked from then on…now it looks like we'll get to watch the last 8 episodes and bye bye Kings.
What a shame…the story is great, I love the characters and the backdrop of another world is great!!!! Save KINGS!!!!
I had been looking forward to a new episode of Kings on Hulu for 2 weeks!! I decided to do a bit of research to see what the problem was just to find out that this amazing show was cancelled! Are you kidding? I don't even subscribe to television because quite frankly it is a waste of money given all the garbage that's aired. (Except for Lost, Heroes) So I, like the above poster, found this show on Hulu. I hadn't seen any ads for it, except maybe a few posters in the subway. But watching the first episode alone had me hooked. It's a great show! What's wrong with people? Do the references to God make people uncomfortable? I admit to being a little taken back at first hearing a character so openly refer to "God", but that's only because our society has us so PC because typically any mention of God instantly has someone screaming that you are repressing their right not to believe. I love the fact that the writers of this show weren't afraid. It was refreshing. And I'm no born again missionary type. Regardless of religious reference this show is great. But it's not a trashy reality or Gossip Girl type show which seems to be what people like. Pathetic.
I agree with the above posters!
I really enjoy “Kings” and looked forward to catching the show on Sunday evenings at home or on hulu.com when they moved the show to Saturdays. I was just starting to really pull for David and want to find out why Michelle cannot be with him.
The reason that the show has done so poorly in the ratings is simply NBC’s fault. I didn’t even know about the show until I happened to by on hulu.com one day surfing around and saw the show on their main page. I was hooked from then on…now it looks like we’ll get to watch the last 8 episodes and bye bye Kings.
What a shame…the story is great, I love the characters and the backdrop of another world is great!!!! Save KINGS!!!!
I had been looking forward to a new episode of Kings on Hulu for 2 weeks!! I decided to do a bit of research to see what the problem was just to find out that this amazing show was cancelled! Are you kidding? I don’t even subscribe to television because quite frankly it is a waste of money given all the garbage that’s aired. (Except for Lost, Heroes) So I, like the above poster, found this show on Hulu. I hadn’t seen any ads for it, except maybe a few posters in the subway. But watching the first episode alone had me hooked. It’s a great show! What’s wrong with people? Do the references to God make people uncomfortable? I admit to being a little taken back at first hearing a character so openly refer to “God”, but that’s only because our society has us so PC because typically any mention of God instantly has someone screaming that you are repressing their right not to believe. I love the fact that the writers of this show weren’t afraid. It was refreshing. And I’m no born again missionary type. Regardless of religious reference this show is great. But it’s not a trashy reality or Gossip Girl type show which seems to be what people like. Pathetic.
I think it is a shame NBC will end the series KINGS. We should be able to view a few episodes soon until July. Such a great show with great actors, great characters. I don't understand why this show is not given a chance! Five episodes to decide if a show is popular or not is simply ridiculous!
NBC did not renew the "Medium series" either. CBS picked it up however, perhaps CBS can do the same for "King"?
Hail to the Kings!
Hey Nicole, sorry to shoot down your hopes, but Medium was actually produced by the CBS television studios. When NBC canceled the show, CBS stood to lose money on the syndication market, so they picked it up on their network in order to get their episode count up, which will allow them to make a fortune in syndication. Kings, however, is produced by NBC (Universal Media Studios to be exact)so it had little chance of being picked up by CBS. The only shot Kings would have would be either on USA or on SyFy channel, networks both owned by Universal, however both of those networks seem to have plenty of new content. As much as I enjoyed it, I really think that this series is pretty much dead. :(
I think it is a shame NBC will end the series KINGS. We should be able to view a few episodes soon until July. Such a great show with great actors, great characters. I don’t understand why this show is not given a chance! Five episodes to decide if a show is popular or not is simply ridiculous!
NBC did not renew the “Medium series” either. CBS picked it up however, perhaps CBS can do the same for “King”?
Hail to the Kings!
Hey Nicole, sorry to shoot down your hopes, but Medium was actually produced by the CBS television studios. When NBC canceled the show, CBS stood to lose money on the syndication market, so they picked it up on their network in order to get their episode count up, which will allow them to make a fortune in syndication. Kings, however, is produced by NBC (Universal Media Studios to be exact)so it had little chance of being picked up by CBS. The only shot Kings would have would be either on USA or on SyFy channel, networks both owned by Universal, however both of those networks seem to have plenty of new content. As much as I enjoyed it, I really think that this series is pretty much dead. :(
It really is a shame that NBC couldn't manage to take a series that stars Ian McShane and have it be a hit. Anyone who saw him in Deadwood knows what incredible depth he brings to his performances. I couldn't wait when I heard about the series (by accident of course, as NBC wasn't trying to get the word out) and saw that McShane would be in it.
As mentioned above, it is true that the Achilles heel of any good show is that it is not crap, and crap appears to be what the majority of people watching TV demand. Display all your dirty little secrets on TV and the world will line up to watch, but combine good writing with a solid narrative and top notch acting and your days are numbered (see Firefly and now Kings if you don't believe me).
Vaya con Dios, Kings, we hardly knew ye.
It really is a shame that NBC couldn’t manage to take a series that stars Ian McShane and have it be a hit. Anyone who saw him in Deadwood knows what incredible depth he brings to his performances. I couldn’t wait when I heard about the series (by accident of course, as NBC wasn’t trying to get the word out) and saw that McShane would be in it.
As mentioned above, it is true that the Achilles heel of any good show is that it is not crap, and crap appears to be what the majority of people watching TV demand. Display all your dirty little secrets on TV and the world will line up to watch, but combine good writing with a solid narrative and top notch acting and your days are numbered (see Firefly and now Kings if you don’t believe me).
Vaya con Dios, Kings, we hardly knew ye.
[...] Saturday night scheduled for April 18. But the new came today that, effective immediately, NBC is pulling the series until June when it will air the remaining [...]