Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands, but alas, Of Kings and Prophets didn’t slay ’em in the ratings when it premiered last night.
The first episode of the Old Testament series was watched by only 3.32 million people — fewer than A.D. The Bible Continues had at its fewest last year — and it got a low 0.8 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic. As Deadline puts it:
That was below the underwhelming start of short-lived drama Wicked City (0.9) in the hour last fall (it launched against the opening game of the World Series) to mark a new low for a non-Friday series premiere on the Big 4 networks this season.
The premiere also had a smaller audience than the first four episodes of Kings, the 2009 series that set the story of Saul and David in an alternate version of the present day. While that series, which aired on Sundays and Saturdays, eventually dropped to less than 2 million viewers per episode, its ratings never fell below 0.9.
It doesn’t seem likely that this series will get a second season now, but here’s hoping the numbers go up and it doesn’t get yanked off the air prematurely this season.
Meanwhile, you can watch two clips from the episode — showing David’s encounters with Queen Ahinoam (and Michal) before and after he kills the lion — below:
Check out earlier Of Kings and Prophets trailers and other videos here:
- The trailer for the original pilot episode (May 12, 2015)
- The ‘Legend’ promo (January 6, 2016)
- The ‘New Extended Trailer’ and ‘Series Premiere’ trailers (January 29, 2016)
- The ‘A Hero Will Rise’ TV spot (February 2, 2016)
- The ‘A destiny will be uncovered’, ‘A hero has been chosen’, ‘Warrior. Lover. Legend.’, ‘Conquer everything. Trust no one.’ and ‘A hero’s journey is beginning’ TV spots (February 10, 2016)
- The ‘Witness the rise of a hero.’, ‘A hero will rise.’ and ‘A king grapples with his destiny.’ TV spots (February 21, 2016)
- The ‘The Epic Story’ TV spot and the Saul, Ahinoam, Jonathan and Ishbaal character videos (February 29, 2016)
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