By now everyone is familiar with Firefly and how it wound up getting canceled. An excellent show that had so much potential cut short by a network that didn’t know how to market it or inform viewers of schedule changes. Not to mention airing the pilot at a much later date, throwing the audience into a world they had no familiarity with instantaneously.

One might imagine no other network would again make that mistake after seeing how large of a fan base the show adapted after its release on DVD. Yet NBC had done it again, cutting a series short in the worst possible manner. Kings had so much room to grow, yet it was cut to nothing by a network that didn’t know how to deal with it.

The premise of the series is a re-imagining of the story of David from the Bible. The tale was placed in modern day with modifications to characters and situations to keep relevant to modern times while retaining many of the key ideas. It allows an old story that everyone knows to be retold in a fashion that will keep viewers guessing.

Yet when it came time to advertise the show, the marketing team wanted to stay away from all hints of religion and faith. It seemed too risky, and that such an act could get a major backlash from religious and non-religious viewers alike. So instead of taking a risk they tried to make it seem like some alternate modern day science fiction, which only caused it to seem generic. The modern world as a monarchy? Not a very strong way to pull an audience in. The hook isn’t meaty enough.

The second problem was a lack of advertising. The show aired on NBC in March of 2009. How many viewers had been following the drama of Heroes or even a humorous show like Chuck? Would that not be the ideal time to try and garner interest in a brand new drama? I personally had only seen a single commercial for the show, and it had not been on NBC. Even long after I stopped watching Heroes I tuned in, my friends and I gathering for a new episode of Chuck each week. Yet never did we see an advertisement for Kings.

After airing four episodes, NBC suddenly decided to shift the time slot to Saturday. No matter what a sudden change in time is going to hurt a show’s ratings. Unless fair warning is provided for weeks, it will confuse viewers. In addition, only one episode aired on Saturday before NBC chose to hold the rest of the season off for the summer. What results is an audience that is now confused as to the sudden absence of a show, and with no way to garner interest until it is too late. Naturally, the series was canceled.

This is about as great of a shame as the loss of Firefly. The audience for it would have been drastically different, but it would have been large in its own right. While the series was very prominent in its inclusion of God, what with being based on a Biblical story, it was not preachy. No one ever got on a soap box and said “this is what must be done”. In fact, it gives a proper idea to real Christian philosophy. How God can help man do great things, but no matter how great they are they are merely a man. How hard it is in life to truly do the right thing.

Yet the show is not intended to be a traditionally Christian show. Such a series would have limited appeal, interesting Christians and only Christians (or in fact Jewish, since, well, this is David we’re talking about). In fact, there is a possibility that the series strays too much in many ways. For example, in the Bible David is good friends with the king’s son Jonathon. In the series, however, Jonathon is often jealous and angry towards David. Not to mention that Jonathon is written as a homosexual, tugging on speculation some have had on the Old Testament relationship. Yet these changes allow the show to tackle issues relevant to modern times.

In fact, Kings is probably one of the only shows to actually approach modern issues intelligently. Healthcare reform is strongly opposed, but it gradually passes. When it does, the hospitals are way too crowded and there are simply too many sick to be taken care of. A later episode the King begins focusing on forms of alternative energy, but the smallest problem can develop great issue that is costly. It recognizes that there are many positive improvements that can be made, but there is no panacea. These things are good, but they aren’t a miraculous panacea. Yet Kings doesn’t approach them with a radical right-wing hatred or a naïve left-wing soap box. It’s neutral and realistic.

This only comes in second compared to the various social issues. The parents in the show love their children, but often they are also the ones responsible for turning them into such flawed human beings. Much is said about the political nature of any government system, no matter how different they all may seem.

Ultimately there is much more to Kings than merely being based on an old Biblical story. At best the Christian values are used as a backbone of morality, but that’s even a stretch. No matter how wretched any one character becomes, none of them are easy to hate. It is easy to see how anyone can stoop to such low levels, or understand how difficult it is to be above them.

If you have Netflix or any other means of viewing the show, do so. It may not be your cup of tea, but it would at least be worth giving it a try. Unfortunately, while the end reaches a sort of conclusion, there are just too many directions for the show to have gone. That NBC had canceled it so easily without making an honest effort to show it off marks it as an equally great tragedy as the loss of Firefly.

P.S. After this and Kung Fu Panda, I’m pretty sure Ian McShane’s voice is the epitome of bad assery that gets a +10 to all charisma based rolls.

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