The Parents Television Council (PTC) is lauding the ABC network for cancelling the "soap opera" style biblical saga "Of Kings and Prophets" after airing just two episodes.
Even though the show is purportedly inspired by the life of King David from the Bible's Old Testament, the PTC still objected to the show because it contains graphic sex and violent scenes. The television watchdog group even urged advertisers not to support the show.
PTC president Tim Winter is pleased that ABC listened to the viewers' objections against the show. "We're very delighted in that decision made by ABC," Winter told The Christian Post. "We certainly question why they would ever put it on the air to begin with, but the good news is it has received a death sentence just two weeks in."
Winter believes that the network made an "epic failure" in producing and marketing the show, since they even proudly proclaimed that the show is a "sex-drenched" story of the Old Testament that can be compared to HBO's hit series "Game of Thrones."
Winter also suspects that their talks with some of the world's biggest sponsors of TV programmes prompted ABC to cancel the show. "Some of them [advertisers] had actually sponsored the first show, and we showed them the clips and they backed away from the second episode," he said. "So when those ad dollars leave, the TV network is faced with a very difficult choice. It was an embarrassing decision for them, I believe."
"Of Kings and Prophets" was a "knock-off" of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's faith-based show "The Bible," said Winter. The show tried to lure viewers into watching its explicit content, but it did not work, he added.
"You're going to continue to see explicit stuff, that's why it's so important for us — for those of us who feel that that's harmful long term, especially to children and families — to raise our voice and say, 'That's fine, no farther.' If you want to see something really explicit, you have all the premium pay channels you could possibly want... but this is broadcast television," he said.
