Kings Is Dead, but Still Kicking

that's gotta rank up there with the worst post titles I've thrown up here over the years, sorry.

NBC's Kings, the loosely-based on I&II Samuel drama, is dead. While that's unofficial, such was clear as soon as NBC moved it from Sunday nights to Saturdays. But NBC is doing the classy thing, and rather than just yanking it from the schedule, they're airing the all the completed episodes. Which came as a relief, because to have this very impressive show yeanked without some sort of resolution would be criminal (however much resolution they had in mind for their season--now series--finale).

The writing is compelling--and makes a great case against all my friends/acquaintances who reflexively assume that nothing good can come from Hollywood, or television. It is epic in scope, and delivers in a way that little else has for years. It actually reminds me of the mid-80's heyday of mini-series (like The Winds of War).

The casting is good--not great, but good. The characters, however, resonate, and while David Shepherd and Michelle Benjamin, might be on the bland side, you pull for them (all the while relishing in the morally questionable king, queen and prince). I absolutely get why people rave about Ian McShane now--all the name conjured up for me were memories of Lovejoy on A&E and Code Name: Diamond Head from MST3K (quite the enjoyable episode, as I recall). But as the mercurial king Silas, he's just great to watch--his is one of those performances it'd be worth watching a mediocre show just to see him do his thing (see Ray Wise on about 2/3 of The Reaper episodes and John Noble on early Fringe episodes).

I'm not recommending you set aside some time next Saturday evening to watch it, or to program your DVR to watch it for you. If you were to watch episode 6, "Brotherhood", without the five before it, you will probably be disappointed, lost, and not want anything to do with it. This right here is, of course, one of the reasons it's doomed--you have to watch all of it (at least the first three hours) to get any of it. But I'm sure it'll be coming to DVD soon--when it does, rent/borrow/buy it, it'll be worth your time.

I will say this--with the writing on the wall (oops, sorry, jumped ahead a few centuries from II Samuel there), as it was for the people behind Life on Mars, I can only hope that the finale doesn't reveal David to be a seminary student who fell asleep during a performance of Shakespeare in a contemporary setting (like say, Henry IV in the Cold War). If they pull something like that I will repeatedly kick any nearby (and hopefully inexpensive) objects.

Updated: Ugh. So much for class, NBC is shelving Kings 'til June 13 (or never).