(of biblical, not burger, proportions)

Making its debut in the second half of the year, NBC’s Kings is truly this year’s best new show.  From the previews, I had it all wrong and wasn’t all the excited to see what the show was about. So I waited and let the DVR fill up with 4 weeks of episodes before sitting down to give it a chance.  Somehow I thought it would be some socio-political movie about if Barack Obama asked for full totalitarian power of the U.S.  Or perhaps what the US would be like if the American Revolution recognized a new king instead of a President.  I did not do my homework.

Kings is a drama based on the biblical story of King David in a kingdom that only culturally and technologically resembles the present day United States.   This drama is based on more religious and divine-power storylines, than that of straight politics.  Sure, the plot focuses on common themes such as war, economics, and social patterns of a monarchy … but there is a deeper connection to the biblical heritage that the story projects on you without even realizing it.  I was almost through the 2 hour pilot before I even realized the significance of the names and characters to the stories I’d heard in Hebrew school growing up.  This story is not about the what the U.S. would be like with a King.  This story is about King David,  the Kingdom of Israel, and what they would be like today in today’s world.   And I’ll admit, the Ryan Phillipe look-alike actually does a good job playing the good samaritan and would-be King David, and from the very beginning, you feel a higher power leading his decisions.

Do yourself a favor and Hulu the first 4 episodes to get caught up.  The show airs on Saturday nights now, so you better have a DVR in order to watch it hungover on Sunday.

Update:  Apparently Kings has been canceled.  F*** me!  Studio 60, Pushing Daisies, Kings … why do I always get hooked on the losers…