I failed to get the "looked like America" thing. They all look like America. Or, well, Vancouver.

Kings is very obviously shot in and around NYC, which I appreciate. (Except for the palace entrance being the steps in front of the Brooklyn Museum because anyone who's been there knows that those steps don't actually lead anywhere and are purely for show. It's distracting to see them used as a front door.)

NBC seems to be selling some vague "what if there were....KINGS? Also random butterflies!" thing when they should be selling it as West-Wing-meets-Rome.

Ep 2 holds up well. There are a few more "As we both know, Bob" scenes than I normally like, but it's excusable this early in the season, and the tidbits they drop are pretty juicy. (And more than there were in the pilot, which seems to have been written more as a standalone TV movie than as the first episode in a series.)

Thanks for the rec, Jessica! I was going to tune because of Ian McShane, but the ads really do look bad.

(Except for the palace entrance being the steps in front of the Brooklyn Museum

Now I have to watch--my old hood!

anyone who's been there knows that those steps don't actually lead anywhere and are purely for show. It's distracting to see them used as a front door.)

Well, they used to be a door... The real question is, do they show the crazy computerized fountain?

Do you think explaining the alternate universe thing would turn off more people than on? Because it piqued my interest mightily.

It looks like a nighttime soap with implausibly pretty cornfed white boys. And Ian McShane. Yes, an AU America with kings, but...

Ian McShane, much as I respect him, isn't enough to get me to watch a nightime soap about the angst of white boys.

If it is not, in fact, about the angst of white boys, I'm much more likely to turn in. John Connor and Cameron Mitchell notwithstanding, I've about had it with the angst of white boys.

a nighttime soap with implausibly pretty cornfed white boys

I was thinking there wasn't much pretty in it at all.

I think a lot more interesting things can easily be done with an America with kings than with the scenario I'd been envisioning, so even without the good recs, I'd give it a look.

And, well, I got nothing against the angst of white boys.

I was thinking there wasn't much pretty in it at all.

Really? It looks all glossy, golden, and beautiful to me. Everyone in the promo was implausibly pretty, other than Ian McShane.

I might give it a shot, except for the fact that I've got way too much to watch as it is.

Speaking of which, has anyone else picked up on this British show Being Human? A werewolf, a vampire on the wagon, and a ghost share a house in Bristol. Which sounds goofy: but the characters are kind of wonderful so far.

The photography was pretty enough, but I didn't get that much of a pretty vibe from the people themselves. My-tastewise they're pretty much middle-tier Hollywood.

How are you watching Being Human?

I am watching it by ahem. Because my friend K said of episode 5 that it was the best hour of tv she'd seen in a couple of years.

I happened to catch most of Episode 6 (of 6) of "Being Human" last night, without having watched much - make that hardly any - of the previous stuff. It was surprisingly strong, and the premise reminded me more of Buffy than anything else I've seen for a long while, although they seem to be headed more towards the drama side than the comedy, for a comedy-drama.

It's a BBCAmerica co-production, so I imagine it will be turning up there soon. Also, it's on BBCTHREE, so it will be repeated endlessly in the UK.

I saw the first ep of "Being Human" and I could not get into it at all.