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Kings

croxiscroxis I am the walrus
in Zocalo v2.0
[URL="http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2009/03/17/why_aren_t_you_watching_kings"]Kings[/URL] is the latest show that has started on NBC and so far my fiance and I like it a lot. In fact after watching the two hour premier he is now more excited about it than I am. The basic premise is the biblical story of David. The first ep was a little heavy handed with all the possible points of contention for the series, but with the worst part being the CG butterflies (and the fact he needs to learn to fake play the piano better), it was a good 2 hours wel spent.

The other reason why i like it? [URL="http://never7.net/pivot/entry.php?id=288&w=my_weblog"]THE PRETTIES[/URL]

Oh, it is also on Hulu.

(And I found the chicken and egg scene to be far more hilarious than it was probably intended to be)

Comments

  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    I heard the ratings weren't very good at all, but placing it on a sunday night opposite Fox and ABC's strong viewership seems like a way to make it fail. Based on the plot and some of the elements, it seems to me Kings would be a much better fit next to Heros...

    Jake
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Well, I'm not really sure this modern day kingdom stuff works for me. I mean you put someone who looks like a Godfather out of a mobster movie and give him the title of king and have a bunch of uniformed extras run around looking mightily somber and important and pepper the whole thing with a bit of [I]Saving Private Ryan[/I] and [I]Will and Grace[/I] and you've got yourselves a show called [I]Kings[/I].

    It's too early to tell, but it might just work, mainly depending on the writing. Just like cowboys in space worked in [I]Firefly[/I], mixing medieval politics and modern warfare is a bit odd but not mutually exclusive. But if nobody's watching, all may be in vain.
  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    So, what is it? Im not very fond of male physiology, but it might be good anyway. :p
  • rcmodelsrcmodels Ranger
    I thought the show was decent and will get better once they stop beating you over the head with the fact that they have a king. We know, its in the title. I think it has a lot of potential and I'm really interested in knowing more of the back story as the show evolves. I'll keep watching.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=Messiah;180305]So, what is it? Im not very fond of male physiology, but it might be good anyway. :p[/QUOTE]

    Neither am I. Spoiler: The son of the King is gay... and the King has a problem with the heir apparent to be hanging out with guys instead of girls.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Kings is basically the biblical story of King David with a modern twist. Allison Miller is the eye candy for the rest of you.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I'm not sure I follow. What does [I]Kings[/I] have in common with cutting a baby in two (that would be King Solomon, son of King David, I always get the two mixed up...)? Or is there more to the story and we weren't told about the juicy parts in school?

    I do fear for the life of the King as the corporate scumbag may convince the prince to do something... unethical.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David[/url]

    Spoiler alert?
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    You've got to be kidding me... proof positive that they've run out of ideas... so was the tank, Goliath, and the rocket launcher, the sling? Saul is the actual king? :D Must be some good stuff the "writers" were smoking.

    So who's the suit?

    All of a sudden, [I]Lost[/I] doesn't seem so far fetched....
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Goliath was written on the tank.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    I'm a genius! :D I figured it out without seeing all the cue cards.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE=Stingray;180325]You've got to be kidding me... proof positive that they've run out of ideas...[/QUOTE]

    Let's be fair. Adapting a story from the Bible to a modern setting isn't that unoriginal, compared with most of the stuff they churn out these days.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=Biggles;180342]Let's be fair. Adapting a story from the Bible to a modern setting isn't that unoriginal, compared with most of the stuff they churn out these days.[/QUOTE]

    No, it's not unoriginal, but why did J.R.R. Tolkien even bother when he could have just lifted plot pieces from a centuries old story? :D

    Let's see how it evolves, if IMDb is to be trusted, 13 episodes have already been green-lit and/or produced. A pilot is definitely too little to go on.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I don't exactly call Tolkiens work great literature either. Fantastical world building. But story and character development? Seriously?
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Is the Bible any different? :D
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I don't think the Bible ever claimed to be a work of great literature. :p
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Just absolute truth!
  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    [QUOTE=Stingray;180416]No, it's not unoriginal, but why did J.R.R. Tolkien even bother when he could have just lifted plot pieces from a centuries old story? :D [/QUOTE]

    I hope youre joking, because at least 80% of Tolkiens work is lifted from The [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda]Eddas[/url] and the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala]Kalevala[/url].. ;)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=Biggles;180426]I don't think the Bible ever claimed to be a work of great literature. :p[/QUOTE]

    I never saw a book proclaim anything of that sort... you only see talking books in Disney productions. :D

    [QUOTE=Messiah;180434]I hope youre joking, because at least 80% of Tolkiens work is lifted from The [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda]Eddas[/url] and the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala]Kalevala[/url].. ;)[/QUOTE]

    That's why I put a smiley at the end. :D (just in case...)

    Originality is very hard to come by these days, because we already have such a big library of works to be inspired by and since most great authors probably read a book or two before ever writing anything, they most likely got their ideas from somewhere along the way.
  • MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
    [QUOTE=Stingray;180439]That's why I put a smiley at the end. :D (just in case...)[/QUOTE]

    I thought so, but you can never be sure with the internets.. :p
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    My wife and I sat down and watched the second ep last night. I haven't seen the first yet, since we didn't DVR it, but that's on Hulu, so I should be able grab it when I have some time.

    Anyway, definitely an interesting show. There doesn't seem to be a lot of wasted dialoge and the it's nice to see that producers have finally figured out that they do not have to spell out the entire back-story in the first couple eps.

    When I first started watching Ian McShane seem off, but the by the end of the ep, his character seemed pretty engaging.

    Jake
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Yeah, saw it too, but don't really know what to think. Looks like it's going to be like [I]Dollhouse[/I]... forcing myself to give it yet another chance.

    A definite sign that I like a show is when I can't wait to see the next episode. I'm still waiting for this to happen on [I]Kings[/I] or [I]Dollhouse[/I] for that matter.
  • FreejackFreejack Jake the Not-so-Wise
    I am to that point on Dollhouse, but in the case of Kings, not quite there yet. Of course with Dollhouse, there is source material I can refer to so, no way to read ahead so to speak.

    BTW, if anyone interested the story of David is from the books 1st and 2nd Samuel in the old testement, so if you are interested in some of the back story and infromation on the characters, it might be worth looking into. I think you'll find the overall story to be quite operatic, including war jealousy betrayal infidelity murder, etc

    Jake
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Having a show being able to hook someone in is a lot more rare than we think. The suits use to give shows a couple of seasons to find their voice and audience but that time table is now rendered down to half seasons. I think it was Seinfield that took a couple seasons to finally engage its audience. If it was new now the show would of never made it.

    Back to my point. People in general will recall the times the series was at its maximum engagement, but not how it was at the start. Even the first season of Babylon 5 didn't hold my interest and i stopped watching it for a couple of weeks.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    The way I see, with all news footage about war we see on TV every day, it takes a little more today to get use hooked than say, yet another war.

    Take [I]Lost[/I] for instance, they could have made it about some people who went to sleep one night and woke up on a tropical island the next morning. But they chose to make their plan crash on the island instead. Notice the difference?

    Well, that's how I see how shows have evolved. Instead of going down the [I]I Robot[/I] route, [I]BSG[/I] just went all nuclear on [I]Caprica[/I]. Here also, notice the difference?

    Added to that the trend to make shows darker and grittier. I'm sure if they made a [I]Blade Runner[/I] series set in a place we saw in [I]Dark City[/I], I'm sure it would be a big hit, and I would watch it. :D
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I don't agree with that. If anything "yet another war" makes the show more identifiable and relevent. Novelty alone is not enough of a hook, there has to be an emotional hook. A plane crash triggers much more emotion than just people going to sleep and waking up elsewhere.

    The mood is, in a gross oversimplication, a reflection of the times by either reflecting it or being the exact opposite. Movies and television became dark and gritty because the world was becoming dark and gritty. The mood of a BSG remake 10 years ago would be different than what we saw, and would be different again 10 years from now. Just take a look at the batman movies from the 1990's!

    In each of the cases you gave I find the alternative worse than what we got. An Irobot scnerio would be great if we still had slaves, but then what would be the point of galactica/fleet leaving to find Earth?
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=croxis;180498]A plane crash triggers much more emotion than just people going to sleep and waking up elsewhere.[/QUOTE]

    Um, if you read again what I wrote, I'm agreeing with you on that. That's why we got the plane crash, because it's shocking. Going to sleep and waking up elsewhere isn't (even though that has been done too). The same goes with nuking an entire planet. If that doesn't get your attention, I don't know what does.

    Unfortunately, [I]Kings[/I] didn't have that moment yet. Standing alone in front of a tank has been done before, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tianasquare.jpg"]in China[/URL], and much better if I dare say so. I suppose it's not that type of show, but then perhaps I'm not its target audience.

    [QUOTE]The mood of a BSG remake 10 years ago would be different than what we saw, and would be different again 10 years from now.[/QUOTE] David Eick commented on that fact in the last fracking special. He "credits" 9/11 for influencing the mood of the show.

    [QUOTE]In each of the cases you gave I find the alternative worse than what we got.[/QUOTE]

    I did that on purpose. I'm glad you noticed. :D

    [QUOTE]An Irobot scnerio would be great if we still had slaves, but then what would be the point of galactica/fleet leaving to find Earth?[/QUOTE]

    Again, I'm agreeing with you, [I]I Robot[/I] was much too tame.

    I guess I wasn't clear in my explanation.
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