NBC Banishes “Kings” to Saturdays – Big surprise? Not so much. Big bummer? You betcha.



Well, it isn’t a surprise, but NBC has pulled Kings from Sundays, effectively immediately and will air its remaining 8 episodes on Saturdays at 8pm beginning Saturday, April 18th.

The numbers on Sundays have been (unfortunately) abysmal for the series, with the most recent episode (probably the best so far) drawing only 3.6 million viewers and a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating.

Kings, which at one time been slotted for Thursdays at 10pm, finished 4th in its first four weeks of airing. This is in spite of the debatable job NBC did in promoting the series as well as the choice of timeslot which has been found to be the fault of new NBC Entertainment President Angela Bromstad who knocked Kings off of Thursday in favor of the John Wells-series Southland premiering tomorrow.

Reviews were mixed, but mostly positive from critics and new fans alike, while the most recent episode “Insurrection” is currently one of the most downloaded episodes on iTunes, ranking #1 yesterday.

Saturdays this season seem to be where good shows with potential go to die on NBC. Earlier this season, NBC sent its also ambitious Crusoe to end its 13 episode run on the night after low numbers in its original Friday slot. The network finished out the low rated runs of My Own Worst Enemy and Knight Rider in their regular Monday and Wednesday timeslots, respectively.

While NBC reps are saying Kings is not cancelled (with also a possible advanced save face move of saying Kings was only meant to be a 13-episode miniseries a few weeks ago), there seems to be no hope that the series will make it past its 13th hour.


And that is a shame.
It is really a shame when good shows don’t find an audience. And even more disheartening when its an excellent show like Kings.

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