10 TV Shows With Massive Budgets That Failed
1. Kings
This NBC biblical drama was a retelling of the King David story but set in a modern-day setting.
The original idea seemed great on paper, especially when you imagine King David being played by Ian McShane, fresh off his masterful performance as Al Swearangen in HBO's cult classic Deadwood. NBC were quick to give the green light to creator Michael Green, but things didn't exactly go as they hoped.
A lot of things were happening behind the scenes of Kings, and it was ultimately disagreements and odd choices when it came to marketing that spelt the end of the series. NBC opted to not include the show in their 2009 SuperBowl slot and, even though the show was clearly inspired by biblical figures and events, they decided to not mention that in any of the promotional material, instead leaving the promos intentionally vague.
This caused them to miss out on a potentially big target audience and essentially doomed Kings right from the start. With expenses quickly rocketing over $50 million, the network finally brought the axe down after only a single season.