For reasons I can’t fathom, I tend to enjoy TV shows about religion (insofar as I enjoy any TV shows). “Bibleman” is of course a favorite, as are Joel Osteen and repeat showings of Left Behind. The latest discovery on this front is NBC’s “Kings”, an attempt to retell the biblical story of King David in an alternate-history present.
It is best if you don’t think about the show too hard, as it immediately raises a number of unanswerable questions, like
* in a world where “America” instead consists of the quasi-religious kingdoms of Gilboa and Gath, why are there still Beethoven sonatas, Liszt concertos, and Mercedes automobiles?
* how is it that a civilization capable of building a modern-NYC-caliber city from scratch has so much trouble figuring out how to destroy what appear to be WWII-caliber tanks?
* haven’t any of these people read the Bible (I am sure that Beethoven did, for instance) and realized that their names and lives are exactly the same as those of the Bible characters?
In any event, I am willing to overlook these flaws, both because the acting is appealing in an oddly-Shakespearean way, and because the Michal character is cute, and because I am curious to see how they incorporate all of the relevant Biblical plot points, many of which are truly bizarre.
In particular, I am oddly excited for the “Philistine Foreskins” episode, which I can only hope airs before the show gets cancelled on account of no one besides me liking it. (Which is the same thing that happened to the show about the grumpy priest who doesn’t really believe in god, the show about the history professor who doesn’t really believe in god, and the show where Jason Bateman and David Garrison try to kill each other in every episode.
Please, won’t you watch it? Foreskins!
I am doing my part. I did not even realize it was based off religion. I knew it had some religious aspects, but a re-telling, I did not know.
It is still an interesting story. I highly reccomend it. Anyone who wants to catch up with the first two episodes can find them on Hulu.
I love it.
If you look carefully, you might note there is no evidence that the characters are aware of, say, Christianity. I believe the setting is not necessarily self-coherent any more than a version of “Hamlet” set in modern Denmark would be.
Personally I’ve viewed their faith as Israelite. After all, the king and the reverend – who represents a High Priest, IMHO – discuss blood sacrifice and the apparent church of the reverend seems to be distinctly not-Christian. Seems to me you take the setting too seriously.
And yeah, it’s really fun and I *really* don’t want it cancelled…