MovieChat Forums > Kings (2009) Discussion > NBC dropped the ball.

NBC dropped the ball.

posted 15 years ago by benton-mcgrath
14 replies | jump to latest

It wasn't the acting, the writing, the sets.. It was not the show's fault for it's low ratings and subsequent cancellation. The fault for this excellent show being so undersold is solely the blame of the Network.

I am an avid movie fan, and the ONLY advertisement I heard for the show was the pre movie "First Look". I usually see a movie once a week, sometimes twice, and only from seeing the First Look of the show about 30 times was I prompted to watch it. Never once did I ever see any advertisement about the show other than that. Not only that, but went NBC decided to switch times, days... They did not let anyone know. I can think of two instances where I sat down to watch Kings, only to find it had been moved, to a new day/time or delayed for several months. Did I find out these answers from watching NBC? No, I had to research the answers myself.

NBC has pulled this move in the past. I love the Office, Chuck, and Heroes. I hadn't heard much, if anything about these shows until the were finished with the first or second season. If I hadn't bought the first season of the Office and Heroes on a whim, I would not be a fan of this show. If it wasn't for my Dad mentioning Chuck to me, I would not be a fan of this show. I also bought the first season of Life on a whim, and found it to be an excellent show, but this has been cancelled, much the same in the same Kings met its fate.

Finally, I must say that this show is so much better than other shows on the air. I watched the first two episodes of Merlin online and found it to be a horrible show. Flashpoint is stupid. Reality tv is nothing short of a trainwreck that so many people fall into the trap of looking and not being able to look away.
But quality, thought provoking shows such as Kings and Life fall by the wayside.

I am a sad Panda.

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[–] eyesky 15 years ago

They do this to most US shows aired here in Australia (exception being CSI, basically - ugh) - underexposure, shifting time slots that were awful to begin with, etc. - so I totally understand. I hope to see Kings on cable here or buy the DVD...I just love Ian McShane and the concept.

[–] rpi2001 15 years ago

It's easy to blame NBC for cancelling Kings, but I mostly blame the Nielsen ratings, which are completely out-dated and consistently bolster the lesser shows, usually on CBS. Reality shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars also hurt the excellent scripted shows out there. You're right that NBC doesn't promote its shows enough. The first time I heard of Kings was when I saw a poster of it on the train. NBC's problem is being too quick to cancel shows if it doesn't get hit ratings. They don't give shows time to breathe. They seem to act in desperation all the time.

Check out Sleuth: http://www.sleuthchannel.com/

[–] RomeoQQ 15 years ago

Yes, yes we know. NBC killed an amazing show :( If they would have had real brains on the marketing this would no doubt have been their #1 show.

Never been this frustrated about a cancellation, and I don't even like religion in any way...

[–] jarius 15 years ago

The first I heard of this show sounded pretty, well, terrible. So when I finally watched it I was hooked from episode one. Granted, I live in Sweden and other than U.S. viewers seldom count but they did truly drop the ball on this. It really was a gem, would have been great to follow it through.

[–] mikepyro 15 years ago

I head of kings, thought it was called King though, had no idea who was in it. then it was gone. after seeing McShane in deadwood, I decided to search it out.
brilliant show, shame it was so mistreated.

[–] woj6666 15 years ago

for the network that owns syfy to not put this on syfy and just cut it. Is absolutly stupid

[–] ezgoingkev 15 years ago

This was a really good show.

[–] Pixanaut 15 years ago

Yep. Agreed... I just watched the entire season and I gotta say I was really impressed.

The reason I didn't tune in earlier was the marketing - or lack of. Originally, I thought it was a two part mini-series (from the tv ads that I DID see), and based on that thought, I decided to just wait for the DVD.

Had I known the storyline a bit more (modern take on a Biblical story), and that it was indeed a series, I would have most definitely watched.

Sad to see it go. Would love to see a MOW to finish out the stories.

[–] Clemontine 15 years ago

I saw lots of promos for Kings before it premiered while watching Heroes each week. I was planning to watch it before it even aired. Am I the only one?

[–] DustinFulgencio 15 years ago

I'd never heard of it until I heard an interview with McShane on NPR's Fresh Air, which is of course heard by quite a few people, but then again I bet more than half of Americans know that there is public radio.

He talked a little about the show...just enough to get me to watch. But even that interview wasn't much of a promo, as they don't really do that on NPR. Plus, the season had already started and three or four episodes were done by then.

Looks to me like if NBC wants to make money, they'd continue to create shows like this but promote them better so that people like me (who don't watch much network television) would hear about it. Then they may actually get their ratings, and the shows would remain on the air. Oh, and Saturday evening programming is the fastest way to kill a show, too. I was able to catch up on Hulu and DVR new episodes, but not everyone will go to that trouble.

To me it was a flawed show but still very good, and definitely worth watching.

[–] ctina2277 14 years ago

I never heard about the show at all. I looked up Allison Miller because I saw her in some episode of Cold Case and I thought she was another actress. I looked up Allison Miller, clicked on some like that led me to an interview she did where she spoke of the show and I thought it sounded interesting. I watched the first episode and went out and bought the series.

[–] chickenthr33-831-197332 8 years ago

Yea I've never heard of this show, just came across this and disappointed it's only 1 season.