Kings begins its flawed reign over NBC primetime

“Four Kings”

Starring: Seth Green, Josh Cooke, Todd Grinnell, Shane…

“Four Kings”

Starring: Seth Green, Josh Cooke, Todd Grinnell, Shane McRae

NBC

Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.

NBC tries to resuscitate its Thursday night primetime lineup this season with a new comedy from the writing team behind “Will ‘ Grace.” The new show, “Four Kings,” focuses on four childhood friends living together and looking for love in New York City.

The concept behind the show is anything but new, but it works in that you believe these characters could actually be friends. The pilot introduces the four main characters by having them not-so-subtly give their personal histories while doing laundry.

The scene is amusing and shows that the four actors have good chemistry, but it also makes it obvious that the writers had some trouble developing two of the characters. And it only becomes more and more noticeable as the episode goes on.

Seth Green and Josh Cooke, both sitcom veterans, have the most believable and realistic characters, while the two newcomers, Todd Grinnell and Shane McRae, get reduced to playing one-dimensional sidekicks.

These are the first major roles for Grinnell and McRae, and they may be capable of doing better work, but it probably won’t be on this show. Grinnell essentially plays a male version of Monica from “Friends,” except this time it isn’t funny.

McRae plays the “stupid frat guy” and does a good job, but at the same time it’s a stock character that’s only good for a mildly amusing line or two per episode. McRae and Grinnell improve slightly in the second episode because they’re given more to do than stand aside while Green and Cooke show them up.

The show does have a few really strong scenes going for it. In the first episode, Ben, Josh Cooke’s character, has to attend the funeral of his grandmother where he finds out that she left him her house. When Barry, played by Seth Green, finds out, he throws a fit in the middle of the funeral because Ben gets everything handed to him.

Scenes such as this one, where all the guys fight and then make up, work because they show how strong their friendship is, and that is ultimately what the show is about. This scene, and scenes like it, raise the show above a mediocre sitcom for a minute or two before it reverts back to sex jokes.

The show also gives equal camera time to all four characters. This is both good and bad. The gym junkie and dumb friend both have their own stories which show that their parts may be fleshed out in the future. But until then the audience has to sit through their boring, awkward scenes.

The show is aimed primarily at young men, and female viewers have no reason to watch it. They won’t find a character to relate to and that’s sure to hurt the show in the long run.

In order for sitcoms to work, all the characters have to be believable, and the show must appeal to a wide variety of people. Only half of the characters seem like real people and the only women on the show are the one-episode girlfriends.

“Four Kings” probably won’t be a huge hit for NBC unless they make a few character changes. This certainly isn’t the greatest show ever created, but it’s certainly watchable. The show has potential to be good, maybe even garner appointment viewing.

If you want a good comedy, watch “The Office.” But if you want to zone out for half an hour and chuckle once or twice, watch “Four Kings,” Thursday nights at 8:30 on NBC.