Watching NBC these days feels like betting on horse racing. At times it is very exciting, at other times a little confusing, and by the end you are not sure who to put your money on.
In case of new dramas, those who bet on Southland will be happy to hear that their show has been picked up for 13 more episodes by NBC, which means that it has a second season in the works. Breath easy, another cop show has been saved. For those of us who invested in Kings, well, heavy are our heads who tried to support the crown.
In mid-April, NBC announced that Kings, which was receiving high critical marks, but low ratings, would be moved from Sunday night to Saturday night, because we all know that people stay in on Saturday nights to watch intense dramas before the long-winded jokes on SNL.
Shocker: this move did not raise the number of viewers so NBC decided to table the rest of the series--apologies, "season"--to July. That's right, just when Kings was taking off and showing how worthy it was to be watched, its network makes the call for banishment to the badlands of summer television.
With this exile to July and Southland getting the green light for second two, it can pretty much be betted on that Kings will be just another television show to die on the table because a network did not let people give it a chance.
After all, this is a show with a stellar cast--Ian McShane, Dylan Baker, Marlyne Afflack , Susanna Thompson, Eamonn Walker and Brian Cox, to name a few--a unique premise of America as a monarchy, and an absolutely beautiful way of presenting itself. It acts as royalty rather than demanding for others to recognize it as such.
But enough talk about that; instead, let's try to find a way to fix the problem. For Kings to have a chance it needs to look to another empire that left too soon and a small town that will survive to see at least five seasons.
HBO's Rome was probably one of the smartest, intriguing, and brilliant series ever on television (also, very educational, depending on how one looks at it). It was also incredibly expensive to produce, which was the reason it did not last beyond season two. Though there has been talk about resurrecting the great ancient city through some tricky plotting, Kings should take note that if a show, on premium cable, no less, is going to be big in presentation, then it needs to go small in other ways. Do six to eight episodes, instead of twelve, or even ten. Make it closer to a mini-series than a full fledged program. And look to the BCC's way of doing things if this sounds implausible.
Viewers are scared to commit to a new show where too much is laid out for them to digest ("I'm already so confused by Lost! How can I make time to learn everyone's story in a futuristic kingdom!") and need some coaxing in. Once they've been hooked, pull out the big guns.
NBC's Friday Night Lights was as good as gone by the end of the first season. Then came the second and the latest third (arguably the best) season, only to have NBC re-order of two more seasons. While FNL is nowhere close to the budget of Kings, it is still costly to put on all those football games and pay all those actors. So what did the show do? Have NBC and DirectTV split the budget, allowing the latter to air the episodes first and then have the former do the same in January. Guess what? It worked. Probably because FNL got a solid game plan for how season three was going to work (Coach Taylor betrayed by his own school!) and getting rid of some problem story lines (no murders this season, thank you). In short, it proved that it was worth saving. If more budgets for shows were split between networks, with deals on syndication adding into the mix, more shows could gain life beyond just five episodes. But it is the show itself, first and foremost, that must outline a course of action to demonstrate why it should be kept in production.
Will NBC take measures to save Kings from the land of the damned? Something says to not put money on that pony. But perhaps by taking a page out of Rome and FNL's book, they can learn to still bet on the underdogs and have others do so in the future.