Sport fans of MMA and drama fans alike can rejoice over the premier of the new series Kingdom on DirecTV’s Audience channel. Subscribers to DirecTV already have access to some of the most exclusive sporting events on the planet, including highly publicized MMA match-ups, and now those same subscribers can tune in to a family drama set in the behind-the-scenes world of MMA training and struggles.
Kingdom is set in Venice, CA, and centers on the Navy Street gym, owned and run by main character Alvey Kulina, played by Frank Grillo, and his girlfriend Lisa, played by Kiele Sanchez. Alvey, a former MMA champion and legend, establishes the show’s MMA credentials almost immediately when the show opens on his morning jog, interrupted by a group of gun-toting thugs who have the highly misguided notion of surrounding and attacking what they think is a defenseless jogger.
Once back at the gym, Alvey goes into coaching mode with his youngest son, Nate, played by Nick Jonas of Jonas Brothers fame, preparing for his first big MMA cage match. Alvey hopes that Nate will prove he can continue his father’s legacy and become the champion fighter that will save the gym’s shaky financial situation. Enter Ryan Wheeler, another former MMA champion who has just spent four years in prison and is currently living in a halfway house while trying to put his life back together. Ryan is not only an ex-con, but also an ex-fiance of Lisa’s, but Alvey sees a business opportunity and possible salvation for his gym through Ryan, so agrees that Ryan can help coach Nate.
Other wildcard characters are Nate’s older brother, Jay, portrayed by Jonathon Tucker, disowned by Alvey for his wild ways and addictions, and Alvey’s ex-wife, Christina, played by Joanna Going, mother to the two boys, prostitute and drug addict. The family conflicts and drama are explained and fleshed out as the initial episode proceeds, playing out to the consistent backdrop of the MMA world. Nate wins his first match but is later laid low by the same thugs that were earlier laid low by his father.
How these themes of retribution, family conflicts, and consequences for previous actions will play out throughout this series remains to be seen, but the show is off to a strong start, if initial rates are any indication. Although exclusively available to an audience of DirecTV customers, the Nielsen ratings were high, a factor that many attribute to the shows producers’ high interaction with Twitter followers and with the high involvement of Nick Jonas’s live tweets regarding his new show. With 8.7 million followers on Twitter, Jonas’s influence on the shows initial ratings would be hard to deny.
Whether Jonas’s involvement is largely responsible for the initial popularity of the show or not, ongoing reviews are mainly positive and based on the overall merit of the show as a whole, both in terms of its faithfulness to authenticity in terms of the MMA world and in terms of character development and the family drama being played out. This authenticity of MMA attributes was very important to the producers of the show, evident in the casting of casting of UFC star fighter Cub Swanson to play Nate’s opponent in the cage match during the initial episode. Even the smallest details, such as the tattoos favored by MMA contenders were studied and incorporated as much as possible for Kingdom.
Interested viewers can find Kingdom on DirecTV’s Audience channel on Wednesdays at 9pm/ 8pm Central. The show has been picked up for a second season following the initial ten episodes already scheduled to air.
