KingSilas-related stories
Posted Apr 6th 2009 7:45AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Kings
(S01E04) - Lives are more important than livelihood. A major political leader's daughter has been kidnapped by militant insurgents and only one government insider can save her. Throw in a pair of electric nipple clamps hooked up to a car battery and a ticking clock, and it sounds like you've got an episode of
24.
This, however, was last night's
Kings. Episode four takes a seemingly innocent decision to give Port of Prosperity to rival Gath and almost turns the whole affair into the white hot embers of a growing civil war within Shiloh.
King Silas' decision to give Gath the Port of Prosperity returns to bite him in the ass when its residents don't like their leader's use of eminent domain. So Silas puts our hero David Shepherd back in the spotlight to quell the growing insurgency and test his loyalty.
Continue reading Kings: Insurrection
Posted Mar 23rd 2009 1:33PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Kings
(S01E02) - "You're just one boy. What good can you do here against all that?" Kings is a show about a lot of things: love, money, greed, power, guys in suits that cost more than one year of college tuition. Mostly it's about action and consequences. So if the show's
premiere episode was about war as a consequence, then naturally the next episode should be about its root cause: politics.
We finally get a taste of the aristocracy from the inside in the second episode. All the scheming and conniving that makes the greatest primetime soap operas and dramas like
The Shield and
The West Wing so great to watch. The fun comes from figuring how people like Vic Mackey and President Bartlet are going to get themselves out one bear trap without chewing their own foot off and choking on the marrow.
In
Kings' case, however, the plot seems to have found its way out of one bear trap and inadvertently stepped right into another.
Continue reading Kings: Prosperity
Posted Mar 15th 2009 10:34PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Kings
(S01E01) - "We give up what we want when we want power."The two-part premiere of NBC's new political morality drama
Kings kicks off in ways you would expect.
It's not just a political soap opera. It's a war epic. It's a family drama. It's a historical fantasy, even though such a thing sounds completely improbable. At times, it's even a comedy. All of these genres get their chance to shine in the show's first episode, "Goliath," and not all of them work, but they make for an interesting mix of television conventions.
Continue reading Kings: Goliath (series premiere)
Posted Mar 13th 2009 9:01AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Early Looks, Reality-Free, Kings
My television has missed Ian McShane since
Deadwood went buh-bye. His cunning and devious but seemingly moralistic portrayal of Al Swearengen made for a great complex character who could be a villian or an angel, depending on the situation and how evil you are.
He's born to play gruff badasses with gravely voices and icy cold stares that could land a bruise without him lifting a finger. That complex character has returned in McShane's new utopian morality drama
Kings, much more toned down, of course.
After all, this is NBC, network television. They have enough
money troubles without having the FCC breathing down their neck.
Continue reading Kings -- An early look
Posted Mar 30th 2008 6:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Casting
Chances are the NBC censor will not have to worry about Ian McShane's mouth this time around; he won't be playing Frank in
Deadwood. No, the new role he's tackling is a much more majestic kind of guy. What am I talking about?
Ian McShane has been cast as one of the title characters in NBC's new drama Kings.
McShane, who was a memorable, dirty-mouthed proprietor of a seedy saloon on HBO's
Deadwood, will be King Silas on
Kings. The Universal project is said to be set in modern times, although its based on a story from the Old Testament, King David (remember Richard Gere in the movie of the same name?)
Continue reading Ian McShane cast in royal drama for NBC
The Prisoner -- An early look
Sesame Street's 40th: Five funniest characters
Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
