Wondering why Kings didn't get more (or more appropriate) promotion on NBC? Blame God, according to show creator Michael Green. Well, God and some nervous network executives, that is.
Talking to Newsarama.com, Green said,
They were very confused with how to market our show... And I think, ultimately, I think it's one of the reasons they lost the desire to make a success out of it. It's very easy to say, 'we have a nice cop show we executed really well for you.' It's harder to say, 'we have a character-based soap that's got some bizarre elements to it.
One of those bizarre elements, of course, was religion... Not that you would've known that from the trailers for the show. Green explained why none of the trailers really explained what the show actually was:
I found that in the development of the show, on the creative level of what the episodes and their content would be, I got nothing but support and interest in the religious or magical or somehow belief-inspired storytelling. When the time came for the marketing, there was a very deliberate, outspoken, loud desire articulated by them that, 'We are not going to say King David.' They were scared to say King David. They just felt that that would be detrimental to the show... I thought it was the clearest way to express what the show was about, and I thought it might actually generate interest. But there was a fear of either backlash or marginalizing or pigeonholing. There were a lot of reasons they had. They wouldn't go near it in the marketing, but they never had a problem with it on the creative level, which is why I was so baffled.
With the series looking unlikely to be renewed - or, for that matter, to finish its first season anytime soon - you have to wonder how much blame marketing blames for the show not being as successful as it could've been. Damn you, NBC marketing department... although, if God exists, maybe he/she/it's already taken care of that.
God Complexity: 'ELI', KINGS, the Almighty & Network TV [Newsarama.com]