God is apparently not saving ’Kings’ |
by Kristine Steakley |
I guess we can't use the excuse that we were all at Sunday night services and forgot to set the DVR:
The thing about working in Hollywood is that at some point you really get tired of hearing how godless you are, and how if you and the rest of the heathens in Tinseltown would put more God-centric shows on TV, people wouldn't be abandoning prime time in favor of their Bible study classes.
If that's true, then why isn't NBC's Kings the biggest show in the history of humanity?
Good question. I'll admit I'm not one of the measly 4 million viewers this show nets. Are you watching? Tell me what I'm missing. If, like me, you're not watching, why not? (I'm watching The Amazing Race, for the record.)
(Image © NBC)
I've watched every episode. I think it's very good but sometimes a bit slow. It also really has very little to do with David & Saul although it seems to be marketed that way. I think marketers expect to slap a "Christian" label on something & we will all coming running. That is obviously not the case here. Also, didn't "Kings" premier during the NCAA tournament? Probably not the best time to launch a new series.
Posted by: Lori | April 16, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Lori has a point about the Christian label. It's a worldview issue -- something that goes deeper than just "This is a Bible story." If Hollywood people get tired of being called godless -- and I know some of them do have legitimate reason to be tired of it -- I think Christians in "flyover country" sometimes get tired of being told "Here, look! This is Christian! We made it just for you!" and then being fed heavy doses of the same old worldliness with a Christian veneer on it.
That's more cynical than I usually sound about the entertainment industry, I know. But I've been feeling more cynical about it lately.
Posted by: Gina Dalfonzo | April 16, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Cheer up Gina, there has always been junk floating around. It's just the junk of the past doesn't survive because people sooner or later come to the conclusion that it is junk.
Though admittedly sometimes it becomes Great Art thereby becoming enshrined, even though it remains junk.
Posted by: Jason Taylor | April 16, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Personally - the ads made it seem to much like Revelations to me - things I don't care to watch - so I completely ignored it; nor did I see anything calling labeling it as 'Christian'. I think it wasn't until I read the little excerpt in the TV-guide showing the TV-listings that I had even heard anything remotely relating it to Saul and David.
If it was suppose to be a modern-day take on Saul and David, then the marketing certainly did not do it justice, and they should rethink the whole marketing approach.
So chalk it up to bad marketing at the least.
Posted by: Benjamen R. Meyer | April 16, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I don't watch it because my husband watches The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Haha. And I'm usually at Bible study on Sunday nights anyway, so... It's just not a good TV night for me.
Posted by: Leann | April 16, 2009 at 01:10 PM
The previews didn't appeal to me. Looked like another prime time soap. In fact, it looked so soapy I would have had to rinse the television screen!
Posted by: becky | April 16, 2009 at 02:49 PM
Well, if it's supposed to be about Saul and David it's not exactly "Christian" now is it. And they just HAVE to throw the homosexual thread in there, don't they. (Sorry about two rhetorical questions in a row.)
Gina is totally correct, that it is a worldview issue. Until there are more actual Christians producing, writing, directing and acting then we can't expect much of a biblical worldview to be correctly shown in any dramatic way.
Posted by: Mike D'Virgilio | April 16, 2009 at 04:11 PM
I don't know what the case is with this show, since I don't know it, but I can tell you as an insider that the mistake Hollywood always makes when they decide to do a "Christian" show is that they need to get a Christian to write and produce it.
And after that, they have to make it GOOD and not expect Christians to watch it just because it's "Christian."
Posted by: Karen Hall | April 17, 2009 at 03:34 PM
I watched one and a half episodes and thought it something like David and Goliath meets 1984. (Goliath was a tank). The Biblical roots are well and truly covered with the usual modern vulgarity.
Posted by: Dave | April 18, 2009 at 02:51 AM