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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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80The 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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The show sparkles with imagination. But Kings may be too campy for some, not campy enough for others.
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75Happily, 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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75Kings is a worthy enterprise that will deeply puzzle millions of viewers.
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70Combing 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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70Kings 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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70NBC, 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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70Kings 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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67Kings is fascinating pretentious hoo-ha.
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63Kings 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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60Some 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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60It'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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60Viewers 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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60Despite 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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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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50It's visually engrossing. Then it goes oddly flat in parts, only to kick-start itself with another clash of tones.
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50The 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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50Sadly, 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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50Kings, 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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40NBC 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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40Sadly, the show is carved out of pure phony gravitas--like "The West Wing," only more sanctimonious.
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30Just about everybody is having sex with everybody else: Kings is one giant raging id of a show.
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30Pretentious 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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30Kings 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.
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30If only Green had not made such a cold, bland stew of such rich and tasty ingredients.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 82 out of 91
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Mixed: 2 out of 91
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Negative: 7 out of 91
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