Four Kings - Pilot (1-05-06) [Text View]

dswallow

01-05-2006, 09:52 PM

It had its moments. But overall, it's not going to last long. I'll give it 2 more episodes to see if it was just awkward for the writers to introduce the setup.

I immediately noticed the laugh track; it's a horrible part of the show. It definitely makes much of the humor seem forced.

nhaigh

01-05-2006, 11:06 PM

Sorry - I fell asleep in the middle of it. I guess that doesn't bode well for it in the future.

Chapper1

01-05-2006, 11:09 PM

I thought it was good. It will set up for an interesting dynamic with the 4 guys. But when they were waiting in the coffee shop, my wife said "Copy Friends much?"

jschuur

01-06-2006, 12:45 AM

I wasn't blown away. I didn't notice the laugh track at all, but it wasn't anything I couldn't do without.

Going to give it another 2 episodes though.

jurysch

01-06-2006, 01:42 AM

I hate to be too critical when basing an opinion solely on a pilot, but this was absolutely terrible. Personally I've never seen Seth Green more unfunny, although I frequently see him as the 2nd-worst (behind Meg) element of Family Guy. :down:

I knew just how difficult it was to watch when my fiancee turned to Dancing With the Stars for a while and I actually found it more entertaining. Like a few have already mentioned, I give it maybe a handful of episodes before I see a thread title listing its demise.

Donbadabon

01-06-2006, 07:10 AM

The laugh track is what made me remove it from my Season Pass. It is an overused crutch to compensate for mediocrity.

There were too many Friend's references, even the shot of the bridge was almost frame-for-frame.

And one of the characters reminded me too much of Kelso from That 70's Show.

SeanC

01-06-2006, 07:21 AM

I missed the first 16 minutes of this, I sure liked the last 14 though. I'm going to set up a SP tonight.

Bob Coxner

01-06-2006, 08:44 AM

I'm a big Seth Green fan but this was lame. It felt like a network attempting to clone Entourage - minus the sex, language and humour.

SparkleMotion

01-06-2006, 08:45 AM

I deleted it after 2 minutes. Couldn't believe James Burrows and Seth Green were involved in it. :down:

wouldworker

01-06-2006, 08:45 AM

Is Seth Green really that short or are they playing tricks to make him seem smaller?

Bojangling

01-06-2006, 09:00 AM

Is Seth Green really that short or are they playing tricks to make him seem smaller?

IMDB has him listed at 5 ft 4 in.

PJO1966

01-06-2006, 09:40 AM

I thought it was... OK. It got a couple of laughs out of me, but it just seemed forced... like we're supposed to instantly like these guys. I didn't, and I love Seth Green. Like others, I'll give it a couple more episodes, but it's at the bottom of my Season Pass Manager, so it'll get bumped when everything starts up. Oh well...

dtle

01-06-2006, 09:41 AM

I thought it was good. It will set up for an interesting dynamic with the 4 guys. But when they were waiting in the coffee shop, my wife said "Copy Friends much?"

And just like Friends, here's another show set in NYC, and yet not one minority is seen.

PJO1966

01-06-2006, 09:44 AM

And just like Friends, here's another show set in NYC, and yet not one minority is seen.

And just like Friends, one of them inherits a huge apartment from their dead grandmother. (Actually Friends had two dead grandmothers provide apartments).

DougF

01-06-2006, 10:28 AM

I didn't watch it yet, but it I did see about a minute sometime in the middle while the TiVo was on Live TV. The first thing I noticed was the laugh track.

canyonero!

01-06-2006, 10:58 AM

For what it's worth, it was a malt/shake shop, not a coffee shop. :)

busyba

01-06-2006, 10:59 AM

And just like Friends, here's another show set in NYC, and yet not one minority is seen.
To be fair, it is the Upper West Side. :D

nhaigh

01-06-2006, 11:00 AM

And just like Friends, one of them inherits a huge apartment from their dead grandmother. (Actually Friends had two dead grandmothers provide apartments).

At least it's realistic!!! How else does someone without a six figure income live in Manhattan :D :D

Royster

01-06-2006, 11:27 AM

Doh! I should watch my SP priorities better.

Jebberwocky!

01-06-2006, 11:32 AM

I deleted it after 2 minutes. Couldn't believe James Burrows and Seth Green were involved in it. :down:

at least you gave it a fair shot!

Uncle Briggs

01-06-2006, 01:02 PM

It was okay. I 'll keep watching if they occasionally have some girls in their underwear.

JYoung

01-06-2006, 01:46 PM

For what it's worth, it was a malt/shake shop, not a coffee shop. :)

It sure reminded me of the Coffee shop from Friends.

Not impressed with the show either.

SparkleMotion

01-06-2006, 01:51 PM

at least you gave it a fair shot!I was behind "real time" and had a friend whose opinion I trust on the phone who had just seen it advising me. I asked "does this thing get even a LITTLE better than this?" and he gave me a verbal thumbs down which was good enough for me.

The miracle of TiVo saved me the trouble of having to watch it myself. :)

spartanstew

01-07-2006, 06:41 AM

I deleted it after 2 minutes.

I almost deleted it while they were still in the opening birthday scene, but my wife wouldn't let me. She wanted to give it a chance. I thought it was horrible. I've never seen Seth Green funny, but liked the premise so I decided to give it a shot. Seth Green wasn't the worst part of the show (in fact he might have been the best), as others mentioned that damn laugh track was. Even ignoring the laugh track, however, there was only one time in the whole 30 minutes that I chuckled.

I realized how bad it actually was when I followed it up by watching My Name is Earl and then The Office back to back. More laughs in 30 seconds of each of those shows than in the whole 30 minutes of Kings.

Wife wants to give it one more shot, but I think I'm done.

dansee

01-07-2006, 07:36 AM

I gave the whole thing a shot, and actually liked some of the scenes with the guys. Had a few chuckles. But the girlfriend vignettes were abysmal, and some of the attempted "clever" stuff fell totally flat. I don't know if it was me, but I continually thought they were trying WAY too hard... the writing just felt stilted and awkward.

I'll give them another shot, now that the setup is done, but am rather lukewarm about the show at this point.

Miro127

01-07-2006, 11:26 AM

I'm keeping an open mind about it. I think it has potential and the guys are kinda nice to look at. ;) There were definite parallels to Friends, but I'm ok with that. Some good laughs, too. Time will tell ....

lambertman

01-07-2006, 11:32 AM

It was okay. I 'll keep watching if they occasionally have some girls in their underwear.

Which begs the question...why did the other guys feel they had to break up with their two girlfriends, anyway?

Jebberwocky!

01-07-2006, 12:30 PM

Which begs the question...why did the other guys feel they had to break up with their two girlfriends, anyway?

they were moving cross town ??

busyba

01-07-2006, 12:36 PM

And since they were upgrading to a much nicer apartment, they figured they would be able to upgrade to much nicer girlfriends as well. :D

spartanstew

01-07-2006, 12:59 PM

It was okay. I 'll keep watching if they occasionally have some girls in their underwear.

You need to get laid.

busyba

01-07-2006, 01:19 PM

You need to get laid.
Who doesn't?

jamesbobo

01-07-2006, 01:35 PM

busyba

01-07-2006, 02:38 PM

Promoted as "from the producers of Will and Grace." Trouble is, I never liked Will and Grace and I didn't care for this one either. I didn't laugh once, or even smile. Four Kings? Four jokers is more like it. But unfunny jokers.
Awww, see... the joke you should have gone for is:

From the producers of Will and Grace? Well, I suppose Four Kings would be the natural sequel to Four Queens.

:D

dswallow

01-07-2006, 02:44 PM

Awww, see... the joke you should have gone for is:

From the producers of Will and Grace? Well, I suppose Four Kings would be the natural sequel to Four Queens.

:D
Four Kings sure is better than four Jacks. Even these Kings.

busyba

01-07-2006, 03:06 PM

The negative review in the Daily News had the headline, "Four Kings deserves a Straight Flush". :)

dswallow

01-07-2006, 03:18 PM

The negative review in the Daily News had the headline, "Four Kings deserves a Straight Flush". :)
Oh my... I agree with the Daily News.

busyba

01-07-2006, 03:29 PM

Oh my... I agree with the Daily News.
Coulda been worse... coulda been the Post. ;)

rizzlebizzle

01-10-2006, 11:28 AM

it was aweful...but i will give it another chance to. I agree with the girls in underwear comment...

PJO1966

01-10-2006, 12:49 PM

I was going through the To Do list and my partner saw it scheduled to record. He said "we're not watching that again, are we?" That's all I needed to hear. No argument here.

Steveknj

01-10-2006, 01:29 PM

OK, I'm in the minority on this one too. I kind of liked it. Not the best I've seen, but certianly not the worst. I did laugh at a few scenes, more than I did with Emily (Heather Grahams show) which I think I watched with a straight (albeit ogling) face the whole time. The problem with the show, is that it IS trying to imitate Friends too much, when the trend is going away from that premise. I'll keep my SP for now, since it's not conflicting with anything until Survivor comes on...

dswallow

01-10-2006, 01:50 PM

If you're gonna imitate Friends, what I'd do is take the cast of "Reunion" and toss them together into the same apartment building in NYC as a bunch of actors whose show was just canceled. And then the show would be about their relationships with eachother and trying to get new acting parts (or jobs as waiters).

MickeS

01-11-2006, 12:08 AM

I like "Joey" (fills my quota of old-fashioned, predictable sitcoms...), so my standards are low, ;), but this was dreck.

Not a fresh angle to be seen anywhere, and stale jokes you could se coming from a mile away. Maybe James Burrows should just retire from making sitcoms now, I think he's simply out of his element compared to today's new creative forces in TV.

Steveknj

01-11-2006, 07:26 AM

I read in another thread that:
One of the main characters was going to have his sexual orientation changed after the pilot, any idea which one?

PJO1966

01-11-2006, 10:29 AM

I read in another thread that:
One of the main characters was going to have his sexual orientation changed after the pilot, any idea which one?

I'm guessing the one who had to tell his trainer that he was going to another gym

busyba

01-11-2006, 10:30 AM

I read in another thread that:
One of the main characters was going to have his sexual orientation changed after the pilot, any idea which one?
Not really a spoiler. One of the 4 was supposed to be gay and they abandoned that idea. That's what the "change in sexual orientation" was, potentially gay back to just straight, not a future plot where one of the 4 goes gay.

It was almost certainly the only one of the 4 who wasn't shown having a breakup scene with his girlfriend, but with his personal trainer instead. That scene and the line in the first scene in the laundry room ("you've know me all your life and all you can say to describe me is 'I work out'?") was probably a set-up for the revelation in a future episode had the idea not been abandoned.

Then again, maybe the fact that it was abandoned is just speculation....