America Cinematheque is going to be showing Riget on march 27 and 28 if any one is interested in seeing it.

I'm usually quite fond of Stephen King fare but this premiere just didn't do anything for me. Given the already over-crowded Wednesday night viewing schedule, I'm inclined to pass from now on.

I thought it was decent but the 2 retarded folks were just annoying. And the anteater thing kinda bugged me too (no pun intended). I'll watch the next episode but it's not enough to keep me away from the new South park stuff in 2 weeks :)

[hijack]ahem. I never said I was watching UK. I was watching UL return to form. :) UK looked pretty sharp though when I switched on commercial breaks, they look to be a threat in the tournament.[/hijack]

You made a wise choice, my friend. This was just plain bad. There were so many scenes that came accross as horribly forced, like Hook in the OR, and Stegman parking his car. When you go into a Stephen King television series, you have to put away your brain and accept that it will be often silly, rarely suspenseful or scary, and have a huge letdown in the final act; but I foolishly expected that since the source material wasn't his own, this would be somewhat different. Sadly, the term "paint by numbers" only begins to describe this premiere. I mean, really ... the Down Syndrome cafeteria workers -ohbfrank- At times, it felt more like a parody of these types of mini-series than anything else. Worse, like others have mentioned, there wasn't anywhere near 2 hours worth of material. Between the double-length commercial breaks and the repeated material, 90 minutes would have been stretching it.

I may watch another episode or two out of morbid curiosity, but I really don't find much about it intriguing. Besides, it seems as if the ABC flash-forwards have pretty much laid out where this story is going anyway. I know many people adore King's work, and I too have enjoyed many of his stories (in print), but he really needs to stay off television, apparently even when he's just pimping his name for the teleplay of someone else's source. If only they could have gotten Stephen Spielberg to "present" it ...

das

Funny cause it was lifted in its entirety from the original. :lol:

The original is much better. I found the talking anteater to be annoying. McCarthy's character acted like a fool during surgery.

I did like Diane Ladd.

All of those elements were in the original.

I thought it was so-so but Ill stick with it (big king fan).

I forgot about new South Park though :(

I am serious, and no I'm not going to spoilerize it. I don't think minor side stories to a 10 year old foreign miniseries need to be spoilerized anymore than the fact that

This show is a remake, and people are going to reference the original to this one as the show progresses. And, if you really want to watch the original Kingdom and not have it spoiled, you shouldn't be watching the remake anyways, as it will most assuredly give away too many things.

It's not like I'm posting all about how or any other other major points from the original.

I do have to wonder if this show is going to incorporate parts of Kingdom II, or just stick to the first one? Seems like it would be natural to use both since

Hey, it's not like Comedy Central doesn't repeat SP over and over again.

all I can say about it right now is that
the casting is surprisingly right on
with Andrew McCarthy, Diane Ladd and Ed Begley jr, all fitting into their (lead) roles well.
Mostly though all it has elicited in me is fond memories of the original, despite the hand held, sepia tinted, subtitling it was a much more engaging program ( I watched it twice through at least)
All that being said I will still stay tuned to this.
I am also wondering if this new version is adapting both KINGDOM I and II which would explain its fifteen hour length.

For those who have seen the original, do you think the Amercian version will have the balls to include ?

I wish! But I think the storyline is going to go a different direction.

Kingdom Hospital (3/10): Death's Kingdom
 

Dr. Hook... zip up your pants already!!!!

is it just me, or does this show have way too many commercials. makes it unwatchable almost. I'll have to use alternate sources.

J

I would suggest getting the original as an alternate source as this version looks like it brings only the suck.

Too many comercials and simply not that good so far....I may stop watching it. May give it one more shot next week.

From what I'm reading, I guess I'm happy that I decided to pass on this. I loved the original, and I'm a big fan of Stephen King, but this whole project seemed unnecessary.

One reviewer (TV Guide?) said he's seen hospital food that was scarier....

If he's looking at only the scary I think he's missing the point.

I can't recall the last time I watched a show that was funny and scary in the way this show is.

Hook's fly being down: Hysterical.
Hook seeing the girl in the elevator shaft: Terrifying.
The dog talking after teh guy fell off the roof: Hysterical.
The anteater: terrifying.

Back and forth, back and forth.

I think it's a cool show.

Well, I think the terms hysterical and terrifying are a bit extreme there.

I'm enjoying it so far.

Yes, lots of commercials. It seemed like way too many commercials for an hour show. Enough commercials that it was detrimental to the show, I thought. As soon as you started to get into it... bam.. another commercial.

Overall it seemed like a transitional episode where nothing major happens, but things get set up for the next show.

I dunno, the talking animals seem to be pretty lame if you ask me. It's like feeding a starving man some scraps after dragging them along for a while. Of course they will tell you it's the best thing they ever had.

And the Anteater being terrifying? IT'S A FREAK'N ANTEATER!! if the animal was suddenly called "Maneater" then I would agree.. but no, it's a freak'n ANTeater.

When the anteater barred his teeth and ripped the tube of the crazy guy, I was quite freaked!

But what the dog said after the guy fell off the roof was hysterical... "Great, who's gonna feed me now?"

I like the show so far. But yeah, way too many commercials to really make it enjoyable. It's like every 10 minutes there's 4-5 minutes of commrecials. It seems like a 35 minute show with 25 minutes of commercials. With the new season of South Park starting next week, I may have to ditch this show, but I'd most likely get the inevitable DVD box set :)