Kings

I had a chance to watch Kings last night and a little bit this morning. I must say, it is a fantastic show.

Kings is based on the Biblical story of King David but set in a world resembling the present-day United States. The two-hour pilot aired last night and was the last pilot NBC ordered before the 2007 Writer's Strike. It was created by Michael Green who worked as a producer and writer on Everwood and Heroes; two shows that I really enjoyed. Francis Lawrence who has directed I Am Legend and Constantine directed the pilot, as well as the third and fourth upcoming episodes. When Green pitched the series to NBC, he told them, "I want to take one of the classic stories that no one has ever retold and find a way to re-conceive it while still being faithful to the original material but at the same time exploring the themes, modernizing it in every way."

After the first episode, you can already see the characters and their Biblical counterparts coming out. David = David (duh), King Silas = Saul, Allison = Michal, Reverend Samuels = Samuel, etc. There is even a blunt encounter with a tank called "Goliath". The characters are portrayed wonderfully and are lead by Ian McShane (Deadwood, Kung Fu Panda, Coraline) as King Silas and Christopher Egan (Eragon, Resident Evil: Extinction) as David.

The show plays like a movie and the dialogue is extremely artful. Early reception has been more than positive. I don't think I've heard a single TV critic who didn't enjoy the show. I feel like this is a show most people would pay to see on HBO or Showtime. It's truly great and I look forward to watching more. I highly recommend it at this point, but who knows what it'll be like sometime down the road.

You can watch the show on Hulu here, or catch it on NBC Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.