I remember a few months ago seeing ads during Heroes for a new show called Kings. It looked kind of interesting–something about a modern monarchy that looked a lot like America–but not enough to make me go out of my way to watch it. A month or so ago, though, I came across an article talking about how Kings and another recently-launched show had been killed by poor advertising decisions. Both shows, as it turns out, have a strong religious element that might have appealed to a lot of viewers, but the network decided to downplay that element for fear of losing the interest of potential viewers not interested in religion. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m an agnostic and I definitely would have been more interested in the show if I’d known upfront that it was a retelling of the David and Saul story from the Old Testament. As it turns out, I’m a fan of retold Bible stories. This is, in fact, why after reading that article I decided to check out Kings on Hulu. Nine episodes in, I can say this is one of the best shows made for television in recent years.

And you know who else the show producers should have advertised to?

(You’ll never guess.)

(Have you guessed?)

(C’mon, why do you think I’m even talking about this on Isocrat.org?)

That’s right: Us. The gays. One of the cool elements of the show that caught me by surprise is a subplot involving Prince Jack, the analog of the biblical Jonathan. You may be familiar with the common queer reading of David and Jonathan’s friendship as a gay romance; though the makers of Kings have not chosen to go down this path, they have taken a cue from Bible-reading queer theorists and made Prince Jack gay. Along with this comes a tragic love story and all the complications you might expect to see coming from a gay heir to the throne in a kingdom built on Judaic religious principles. Prince Jack’s subplot is a fascinating one that really adds to the shows themes of identity, destiny, and faith.

So the first season of Kings is still airing on Saturday nights on NBC, and you can catch up on missed episodes on Hulu. I don’t know whether a massive surge of Isocrat.org readers watching the show will convince NBC to order a second season, but regardless, it’s worth checking out just to see what an undervalued gem this show is.

(Oh, and David is cute. Kind of a young Heath Ledger.)