TVSquad

Were you hoping to find out if David was able to reconnect with his family or why William Cross' son had a high heeled shoe in his room? Tune in two months from now to find out.

NBC's Kings has been moved to the middle of June after just four episodes, the last of which was moved from Sunday to Saturday just as Macaulay Culkin made an intriguing special appearance.

This just spells even more gloom and doom for the show that has suffered from low ratings and a juggled time slot since it hit the air. A two-month hiatus is the television equivalent of the "I just want to be friends" dump.

(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.

(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.

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.

A few weeks ago, I was invited, along with a number of writers from websites and blogs (including our friends at AOL TV), to screen the two-hour premiere of NBC's new Blblical-themed fantasy soap, Kings. The show, which premieres on Sunday, March 15, has gotten a lot of hype since the Peacock network introduced it last summer. That hype was mostly due to its star, Ian McShane. Everyone knew that the former Deadwood star would bring a stern intensity to the show; heck, his orneriness during the summer TCA session for the show alone made people look forward to his performance.

Alas, the bloggers wouldn't get a chance to question McShane during the post-screening Q&A; they did get a chance to speak to creator Michael Green and co-stars Susanna Thompson, Allison Miller, Dylan Baker, and Eamonn Walker. Some choice quotes and video of the session are after the jump.

Can I be a little bit cynical here? I'm watching the preview of the new NBC drama Kings (after the jump), and I can already tell this is probably going to have a hard time making it. Looks like it has a great cast (including Ian McShane) and a plot you don't usually see on primetime television (a small town guy becomes a war hero and rises to power in a city with the help of people behind the scenes pulling the strings - based on the story of King David).

But it also seems like a show that might be hard for viewers to grab hold of, especially in this day and age of networks wanting quick hits and large numbers of viewers. It seems rather complex and epic, and yet another show with a continuing storyline.

Oh, and it's on NBC, which means that they'll probably put it on Monday night at 10, and we know what happens to shows that debut there (NBC has not announced a premiere date for the show yet, only that it's sometime in 2009). NBC already failed with Four Kings; what makes them think they can succeed with one? Take a look at the video and let us know what you think.

Tell you one thing about Ian McShane: he doesn't take any guff from anyone. Say something that he thinks is a load of crap and he'll tell you in no uncertain terms.

So, you can imagine what happens when you combine McShane's orneriness with a group of cranky critics who've been put through a long day by the folks at NBC on the last day of the press tour (there will be a day of set visits on Tueday, but no ballroom press conferences). The last panel is for McShane's new mid-season show, Kings, and the critics have been made extra cranky by the fact that, like all of NBC's new shows, they haven't seen the pilot for it yet. Mix in a somewhat hard-to-grasp premise. Stir liberally, and you get some momentary fireworks that woke up the collected critics at the very end of a long day.

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?)