NBC’s an also-ran. Why its management doesn’t recognize that this is the chance for the network to redefine ITSELF rather than try to become like everything else out there is beyond me. NBC should try to become the network version of HBO, not a stupider version of the CW.

I’d also say that NBC dropped the ball a bit (or perhaps in this case blame needs to be placed directly at the feet of the scribes) with the pilot: It’s TV/Movie 101 that you have to catch viewers in the first minute if you want to keep them, and the KINGS pilot didn’t really do a very good job of that.

Of course, I might just be making arguments for no reason other than the fact that I don’t want to believe that morons are now the official majority. I want to believe in smart people, viewers who will be drawn to intelligent, well-put together shows, and… oh, hell. Who am I kidding. We live in an age when “birthers” (those who believe our president wasn’t born in this country) get more air time than does the health care reform debate.

We’re doomed.

To all the people that read this, forget whether you liked the show yourself. Just think about all of the people you know. How many of them would really appreciate a show like this? Can you even think of one person? Now think about how many people you know that watch something simple like American Idol or exciting like 24. It’s a big difference.

Everything NBC said kind of makes sense. If a show cannot be pitched in 30 seconds, then something is wrong with it. Even a complicated show like LOST can be easily simplified into a 30 second commercial.

I think the NBC marketing department dropped the ball with the KINGS promos, but it was probably intentional. They knew the show’s appeal was limited and cut their losses wherever they could.

It’s hard to believe that NBC is the network that used to have The West Wing on it. I think Fear Factor was the show that first opened the door to NBC being a less intelligent network.

Network executives seem to make their decisions based on the assumption that the viewing public is stupid. When viewing the results of those decisions, we, in turn, think the net execs are stupid. I wonder what it will take to break the cycle of assumed stupidity and whether NBC will ever be the best network again.

But I could not agree more with everything you said. The ads that NBC aired for the show were HORRIBLE. They pretty much told you nothing about the show other than there was a king and he was mean. Instead they should have treated it like a movie trailer and given you little snippets of the actual show: David saving Jack, Jack’s jealousy, Silas’s secrets, the love story b/w David/Michelle, the manipulation by the Queen/her brother… So many things and just from the first episode! It’s like the person that made the promos didn’t even watch the show before deciding what to focus on.

No matter how they promoted it, I don’t think Kings would have become a big hit. The reason cable and pay channels are able to air these shows is because they require a lot less of an audience to be called a “hit.”