- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 15, 2009
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Critic Reviews
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So far, that universe is pleasingly treacherous, though not ?wholly formed, a work in progress that's worth seeing through to completion.
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The dialogue is just so artful and poetic, the characters are so appealing, the whole damn package is so original and daring and lovely, that after watching the first four hours, it's impossible not to feel inspired and cheered by the fact that a drama this ambitious and unique could make it onto network TV.
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Happily, this generally well-told tale of a modern-day king and his restive court has more going for it than a charismatic performance from the dependably wonderful “Deadwood” star.
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The show sparkles with imagination. But Kings may be too campy for some, not campy enough for others.
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Kings is a worthy enterprise that will deeply puzzle millions of viewers.
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Kings does dip in and out of predictability, when familiar Spelling soap operatics and political machinations break through the show's unique surface. But it still is a fascinating effort.
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NBC, which could have ripped off yet another "reality" show for 8 p.m. Sundays, instead bought into something imaginative and intriguing and, yes, a little crazy.
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Kings begins with a refined approach and grows more pedestrian in subsequent episodes. Still, there's plenty to love about this series that dances with symbolism--the butterfly on the Gilboa flag is not a mere adornment--and replaces clandestine backrooms with windowed board rooms.
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Combing broad strokes and detailed color on an extensive canvas, Kings makes the rewards and costs of ambition plain for all to see.
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Kings is fascinating pretentious hoo-ha.
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Kings is a mess, but for a few weeks, anyway, it promises to be a fun, fascinating mess, the kind of "can you believe they're doing it" show you want to discuss the next day.
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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
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Some scenes are brilliantly and subtly turned, some make you roll your eyes. Some are straight from the Soap Opera 101 playbook.
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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.
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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.
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The acting at times is overdone, and some of the pivotal plot moments come across as downright hokey.
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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.
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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.
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It's visually engrossing. Then it goes oddly flat in parts, only to kick-start itself with another clash of tones.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Sadly, the show is carved out of pure phony gravitas--like "The West Wing," only more sanctimonious.
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If only Green had not made such a cold, bland stew of such rich and tasty ingredients.
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Pretentious and far too taken with its own sense of menace, the show casts every line of dialogue as a pronouncement, every action as an uppercut to the chops.
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Just about everybody is having sex with everybody else: Kings is one giant raging id of a show.
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Kings is oddly tedious, thanks to a supporting cast of uninteresting characters and a script loaded with heavy-handed analogies to health-care reform, Halliburton and the Clintons.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 149 out of 166
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Mixed: 5 out of 166
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Negative: 12 out of 166
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H.ColeJan 3, 2010
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Apr 17, 2018
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Dec 21, 2013