King (TV Series 2011–2012) Poster

(2011–2012)

User Reviews

Review this title
10 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
never had a chance
SnoopyStyle31 August 2013
Homicide detective Jessica King (Amy Price-Francis) is sharp and great at her job. She has been ostracized for rooting out corruption in the force. Her personal life isn't much better. She and her husband are having marital problems; getting pregnant, outside love interest, and his gambling problem. She's taken back to create Major Crimes Task Force to deal with special cases. The constant visual joke is her height. She's always wearing heels no matter how much it hurts, and she towers over the chief in charge. That always brings me a smile.

It's a pretty good procedural. Amy is a good solid actress. She commands the screen, but other than a few others, there is a lack of solid actors. It lasted 2 seasons. For a Canadian production without any US support, it's probably as much as can be expected.
14 out of 15 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
..no surprise here.. too much to ask of just one actor
bjarias9 March 2015
Too many eggs in one basket. As enticing as Amy Price-Francis was in this show.. she was left carrying the weight of the entire series. And the 'relationships' with her several husbands, and a subordinate were never going to be enough to secure interest for a long time run for the series. Cop shows by nature are all pretty standard stuff.. the ones that survive through multiple seasons usually have numerous characters that the audience can latch onto. King never achieved this kind of storyline or character development, and was so one dimensional as to become unwatchable. Would really like to see Price-Francis again in a much more developed work, as she most definitely has the necessary allure and talent.
9 out of 11 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Lots of appeal bogged down by soapy side
lotekguy-111 October 2021
I just caught this series in basic-cable syndication. Amy Price-Francis was perfectly cast as a smart, humanly flawed wise-ass detective. The crimes were solidly written; her team was mostly a plus, even though "Martin" was used too little.

Those elements would have warranted a higher rating and a longer run but for all the romantic subplots that burdened our star, and often exhausted my patience. Will she and Danny get pregnant? Will his gambling prove their undoing? Will one of her other admirers become hubby #4, or a steppingstone along the way? ALL those dangling tendrils detracted from the main stories and diminished Price-Francis' character.

I hope Ms. Price-Francis has been featured in more worthy vehicles since this one ended. I'll be looking for them.
4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Not Bad.
lois-lane3314 November 2014
The filming of this was well done with good montages that made it more interesting visually. There were some funny technical issues with the home DVD release that were in my opinion significant. My newish version of this program caused my DVD player to seize up and freeze. I'm thinking due to a low quality pressing. Stuff like that makes most people-myself included- not pursue watching the other discs. I've never seen such a serious technical issue before and I've watched hundreds of things including DVD's that are quite old-relatively speaking. The lead actress is strong but the rest of them are perhaps just not given much to demonstrate their acting skills adequately and as a result the show suffers from a certain amount of blandness despite the clever use of artsy colorful montages. I thought it was 'not bad' but could have been better-maybe not hugely better-but it could have had more humor-there wasn't much humor in it which rendered it kind of astringent viewing at times.
7 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Show is great, please fire Karen Robinson
kathy-3738 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Not sure if this has spoilers, but to be safe, I have to include it. This show is so good, the police drama, along with all of the relationships and their interactions. It's a shame they hired a supporting actress who sounds like she has a set of ill-fitting dentures. Please, either fire Karen Robinson or get her voice fixed. It sounds like a monster-steroid-bad dentures-voice, I don't know, but something is seriously wrong with her voice. Her acting is fine, but I have to mute the parts where she speaks and I miss parts of the show. They brought her in mid-season and I have no idea why. She must know someone high up in the show because there is no way anyone would hire that voice or allow it not to be dubbed.

The investigations are interesting, stimulating. The chemistry is great between all except Karen Robinson. She just doesn't fit in with the group. I love the tousle-haired new detective, the long-term male detective and King's husband. His female partner on the job is someone you love to hate. King, very likable, very intelligent and sees things that others miss. Her boss is the typical long-term cop who is extremely jaded and distrusting.

If you like a fast-paced well-written police drama where you see the outside relationships developing, you will love this. But don't say I didn't warn you about Karen Robinson's voice. It's scream invoking. I'd rate the show higher if not for having to endure that awful voice. Something is seriously wrong, dentures, hypermegaly, I don't know, but she needs to get to a physician.
4 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
The days of the old gumshoes are back
alive879110 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Excuse the run-on sentences, and rather extreme dramatic licenses, I find sometimes people are deaf.

At first glimpse of this show you are inclined to change the channel, but something draws you in, and shocker, it's actually not the cases, because you have seen most of them before, but you don't mind that. With so many cop shows on today there are only so many plot twists you can add to a homicide, a drug bust gone bad or a B&E, so you ignore that, but what really starts to get your attention is the subtle details that, while some are familiar but you can't pinpoint from where at first, and others are alien although they seem to fit into the show just fine, they grab your attention and won't let you go until you figure out where you know them from and for other details, why you don't know them at all. Let's start with the badge, I have been watching this show one episode after another on the internet, so while I have only been a fan for a short while, I am well into the second season. And it was driving me crazy trying to figure out what city they were supposed to be in. Because I so did not recognize the badge, but by reading a former review I learned they were in Canada, it would have been nice if that had been mentioned somehow in one of the first few episodes, but anyway, so that different badge snagged my attention, then there is the theme song which just throws you into this highly enjoyable time warp back to the days of Cagney and Lacy, and Colombo, and The Streets of San Francisco...ah the good old days. When it wasn't just the forensic details that made a show, back in the good ole' days they knew what charm meant. And that is what this show has, good old fashioned charm. Jessica reminds me of one of those women from the movies in the 30's, she's got glossy hair, a killer smile, legs up to there, and yet she's got that swag of a 30's cop show gumshoe. As far as the tag line associated with the show "She doesn't need to be liked." That is not it at all, first of all she's been married three times, so obviously she enjoys the love and companionship and friendships and all that, that's not why she doesn't get along with a lot of people professionally. The deal is she has a very low bull**it tolerance. She doesn't spit it herself and she doesn't tolerate it from others. Jessica King shows you with her contrasting character, just how much manure people spew out all day long to hide things, their thoughts, their feelings, their motivations, rather than having people see what they really think, or to get away with it, they cover it over in a layer of horse hockey, and that just rubs her the wrong way. With her it's more like, "look if you just don't give a sh*t than just say so but quit feeding me this load of horse manure!" She hates hypocrisy in people and I gotta say I so identify with her on that one. She calls it like it is, and you gotta respect that. As far as her professional conduct which tends to get on most of her colleagues nerves (those not on her team anyway because they benefit professionally from being on the winning team) that is because while they are about their careers, she is about the job. She's not there to get medals, she's not their to kiss a*s, she's not there to look good or to make others look good, she's there because human beings have a horrific tendency towards brutal violence and depravity towards one another and she takes the guardianship of the innocents and victims of these creatures seriously with a single minded ferocity. To take an analogical license, on the display screens of her colleagues there is, home, family, the dog, the kids, my pension, my neighbors, my parents, my boyfriend, my paycheck, taxes, the grocery store etc. etc.........and somewhere in there is a case about something that they are paid to care about. On Jessica's display screen it reads, "FIND THE BAD GUY AND TAKE HIM OUT AT ALL COST, LIVES ARE AT STAKE, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, and then at the bottom in smaller print it says things like, kiss your husband, buy something to eat, did you have a doctors appointment today?" The triangle between her husband herself and spears is a cliché, it just may be hard to recognize as usually King would be played by a man and spears and the husband would be work wife and actual wife and King would be a supporting character not the main. The only thing I have against the writing of Spears character is he is a little pushy, I mean he's not just a deliberate home wrecker, he sets to it with enthusiasm, "Come on let's break up this happy home so I can get at the girl!" he says with gleeful baleful intent as he lays the TNT charges. But then you have a serious problem with hating him for one very annoying and yet accurate reason, he is a better match for King than her husband, so against your morals, you find yourself rooting for the home wrecker!
10 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A GENTLE, CAPIVATING ENSEMBLE LOOK @ A GREAT POLICE PROCEDURAL!
plasmapilot-973986 September 2022
This series is excellent for viewers who don't require a high octane, non-stop action thriller! This ensemble of quality actors is excellent because it provides an intriguing look @ actual police procedures that Hollywood typically ignores in favor of fantastically ridiculous, over the top representations of how crimes are actually investigated! These screenplays, locations, dialogs and locations are more authentic than anything I've previously viewed. PRIME VIDEO doesn't offer the opportunity to rate this great series....thus it doesn't offer customer ratings....shame on AMAZON because this is a series to not be missed! I've really enjoyed season one and half of season two. Give this wonderful show a chance!
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
2/10
Horrible show
zdbgndb10 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I just discovered this show. It's one of the most awful shows I've ever tried to watch. The first season dialogue was like a bad B movie. Spears' over acting was blek. The push and pull of power felt forced and there was a ton of redundancy. Dect. King was morally bankrupt. I don't think I've ever seen a more self absorbed and shallow character. She is on her third marriage and she sleeps with a subordinate, Spears, while acting like it's supposed to be normal and acceptable. They're both married at the time. She gets pregnant and is totally unaffected by the fact that she doesn't know who the father is and is running around on her husband and so far is passing the baby off as his. Her current husband is equally shallow with a gambling problem. She bails him out with a loan shark to the tune of $53k. Yep-a very manly character there. (Insert an eye-roll here) Spears acts like he is an alpha catch when he's a little man sniffing around his boss while playing the victim in his own relationship with his wife. He tries way too hard and it comes off like everything he says and does is forced. He is also not very attractive.

There was a ton of character shifting after the first season, but bad actors are still replaced with more bad actors...except the black actress. She was good.

It's also too obvious that the writers did not do statical analysis. Shows with all of that relationship drama and lust triangles NEVER make it unless it's daytime soaps. Every time the MC's are together, especially with cheating involved-the show will fizzle. Very few have been finessed enough to last. Castle, Bones, and still waiting to see-Magnum PI. They lasted because there is way more crime fighting plot than lust and romance to the stories. They're multi-layered-third dimensional plots. The couples also work as crime fighting teams. The couple in 'King' worked against each other. This show...this show was a melodramatic tragedy and sadly could have been great except for the lust drama, bad acting, and the shallow depths of a few of the characters. The criminal plots were spot on. A real shame.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Surprised
sagei16 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
To be the first to write a review at this late date.

Not a cop show to redefine the genre but better than most that pass for a cop show these days.

No unique powers. No personal quirks.

Just intelligent,observant and experienced people going about their job.

Relief to see a female character that doesn't go from being a winner in her professional life to a whiner in her personal life.

This TV idea of women who spend all their free time obsessing about men is not very realistic and decidedly unattractive.

They cast the lead right. Amy Price-Francis plays a strong woman who shows a certain levelheadedness, both on and off the job.

The rest of the cast is uneven. With some better than others.

The cases are middling as are the personal trials and tribulations.

Nothing groundbreaking here.

Unspectacular but not unwatchable.

They got a second season so clearly enough people agreed.

Wish them well.

Thank you.

Second season. Amy shines on. Cases are still middling. Support is still spotty.

Canadian politeness is a standing joke but these muted, polite screams are embarrassing. Woman with dog, woman at card game etc all shrieking with such admirable restraint. Needs better casting.

-----

Cancelled.
10 out of 18 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Can I rate it higher!
spokanegolfer8 August 2023
Love it! Please give me more! I'm in love with Jessica King! My kind of woman, smart, attractive, and type A! Very sad about her marriage! I really think that she wants it to work out, yet neither her or her hubby want to put in the work! They have long hours with their jobs and don't have enough time for each other! King solves all of her cases, largely by listening to her colleagues, intuition, and her gut! Really wish that she and all people have a more stable home life. Kudos to those that can rise above it! This show really has everything, IMO, and I really like Jessica's sister! Taylor is another great character!
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed