Kings: TV Show Review (Television Addiction)
This is part of my "Television Addiction Series" which I explained about HERE. The Television Addiction series is part of my so-called "Scripted Review Series", which I explained about HERE. For the original 2013 post on which this is based, see: Television Addiction Part 2: Oh the TV Shows I’ve Seen!
Links to the articles I mentioned:
The Hollywood Reporter (Not Variety, as I said in my review. I misremembered) https://web.archive.org/web/20090316044946/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/tv-reviews/tv-review-kings-1003951110.story
The only other Youtube I could find (am I missing something?): https://youtu.be/GlZ4Gjn5020
In the video I said that the King David story was the only epic story in the Bible. This was an omission, because the Moses story is also an epic. The Moses story is different for several reasons:
* Moses belongs to the age of Myth, whereas the King David story is quasi-history
* The Moses story is wrapped up in the The Deuteronomist's Yahweh polemic. (Worship Yahweh and prosper, worship other gods and suffer) whereas the succession narrative in King David forgets about the Yahweh polemic in favor of focusing on dynastic struggle.
But despite these differences, the Moses story is also an epic story by any reasonable definition.
For more discussions about epics in the Bible, see: https://bibleasliterature.wordpress.com/lesson-3/
In the video I said that the King David story was the only epic story in the Bible. This was an omission, because the Moses story is also an epic. The Moses story is different for several reasons:
* Moses belongs to the age of Myth, whereas the King David story is quasi-history
* The Moses story is wrapped up in the The Deuteronomist's Yahweh polemic. (Worship Yahweh and prosper, worship other gods and suffer) whereas the succession narrative in King David forgets about the Yahweh polemic in favor of focusing on dynastic struggle.
But despite these differences, the Moses story is also an epic story by any reasonable definition.
For more discussions about epics in the Bible, see: https://bibleasliterature.wordpress.com/lesson-3/
Kings
This TV show came out when I was in Japan, and was completely under my radar. I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it in the DVD shop.
(I’m curious, how many people back home knew about this show? I know it didn’t last past its first season, but was it a big deal when it started?)
The premise is that it’s a retelling of the King Saul and David story, set in a modern setting in a fictional kingdom. It did very poorly in the ratings, and was cancelled after one season.
Slate.com gives the series a rave review, and laments that it was cancelled after one season [LINK HERE.]
The AV Club has an episode by episode guide that is mostly positive [LINK HERE].
My own thoughts are this: it’s a really cool idea to make a TV show out of the King David narrative. This was always my favorite story in the Bible, and it has got enough complexity here to sustain a TV show.
But unfortunately in the medium of television, execution is everything, and a good premise will only get you so far. Some of the episodes were better than others, but I felt like I was watching some cheesy teen drama most of the time, not a mythical epic.
Plus the way they chose to portray David was a mistake. He just came out so bland. The character in the bible had a bit more of an edge to him—he could be a malicious trickster when he wanted to, and he knew how to look out for his own interests (such as when he defected to the Philistines).
I believe a better TV show is possible with the same source material. Maybe in another 20 years, someone will give it another shot.
(I’ve actually got some ideas on how I think the King David story should be filmed, but I’ll save that for the next post.)
No comments:
Post a Comment