Kings
NBC | Release Date: March 15, 2009
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: It's corny, ponderous, literary, ambitious, obvious and, at the beginning at least, as slow as molasses, but continually re-energized by Ian McShane as King Saul, or, as he's known here, King Silas Benjamin Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Some scenes are brilliantly and subtly turned, some make you roll your eyes. Some are straight from the Soap Opera 101 playbook. Read full review
60
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: Despite a wonderful cast put to good use, a very well-designed parallel world and some marvelous turns of phrase, I can't help admiring Kings more than I actually liked it. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: Viewers will have to survive a rocky, at-times jarring first hour before the series begins coalescing into something interesting--flawed but unpredictable, with a characteristically intense Ian McShane at its core. Read full review
60
Washington PostDebra Leithauser
Season 1 Review: The acting at times is overdone, and some of the pivotal plot moments come across as downright hokey. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: The series itself seems divided: at times a supersize fable told with portentous, and even turgid, simplicity, while at others, a sophisticated spoof that uses ancient legend to send up modern politics. And when a series cannot be both, it ends up being neither. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf Smith
Season 1 Review: Kings, which also serves up melodrama and mystical happenings, is far more ambitious [than Aaron Spellings' shows]. Yet it can have the effect of a real sleep potion. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman
Season 1 Review: It's visually engrossing. Then it goes oddly flat in parts, only to kick-start itself with another clash of tones. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesTeresa Budasi
Season 1 Review: The language on Kings is similarly stilted but lacks "Deadwood" writer/producer David Milch's passionate and intellectual punch. King Silas may not be as deliciously Machiavellian as Al Swearingen, but McShane does deliver--and he cleans up well. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: Sadly, as so often happens, the grandeur and surprise settle toward soapiness when the show moves into future episodes, as various high-level evildoers battle each other for power, money, and hot sex partners, while the good-hearted folk fret and risk their lives for more noble causes. Read full review
40
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: NBC deserves points for trying something different, but the results are often pretentious and silly. The best moments belong to Egan, who handles his chores simply and directly. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily Nussbaum
Season 1 Review: Sadly, the show is carved out of pure phony gravitas--like "The West Wing," only more sanctimonious. Read full review
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