Years ago I saw Riget, the original Kingdom, and loved it. Then I saw this series when it originally aired and I could only get thru 4 eps before giving up. Recently I finally saw Riget II, which was even more riveting than the first part. Since a final Riget has so far never been completed, I thought I might try to watch the Stephen King version to at least get some kind of closure, no matter how awful a miniseries it was. Unfortunately it was not worth it, not even close.<br /><br />Lars Von Trier is credited as an executive producer for this series, but many times that means a person got some $$ but had no creative input whatsoever. It's more like a buyout. That's the only logical explanation.<br /><br />This series uses about a quarter of the plot devices from the original, "decompresses" the narrative to inflate the airtime to surpass the original's length and throws in some "side" episodes which have virtually nothing to do with the larger arc. The last 15 minutes of this 13 episode miniseries I literally had to fight to stay awake. I'm sorry to be so harsh but it was like a masochistic exercise in finishing this series. I guess I just wanted to see how awful it could get. Maybe if you never saw the original it would be better, but even as its own work this whole thing was about as good as a 9th season X-file ep. Sorry again to be so harsh.<br /><br />Good: Ed Begley, Nurse Carrie (the nurse who fainted all the time), Lona (I actually liked her a bit better than the original portrayal), evil doctor (one of the few original concepts which looked OK), Jack Coleman (ie HRG himself, playing a new character based on King's own experiences) <br /><br />Bad: Everything else. 4 main leads (Drusse, Stegman, Hook, Draper) - average and forced acting, tho the writing sure didn't do them any favors. Glacial pacing. Sideplots which stuck to the main body like an unwanted hepatoma. The "baseball episode" and the "miracle priest" eps were unnecessary and from a story point of view didn't even adhere to any kind of internal logic. The additional budget also really hurt the whole production. The original was almost filmed documentary-style (ie - Blair Witch / The Office). This was filmed in a much more conventional manner, lots of overdressed sets, music that was so present that it lost its effectiveness when it needed to be, CGI that stuck out like a sore thumb etc... There was a good bit of footage recycling in the finale ep as well. Talk about masochism. Every time they did a gag from the original it was done in the least shocking, least visceral way possible. Tho the "covered mice" shot in the 12th ep made me chuckle and think about how Standards and Practices censorship can actually make a scene more funny.<br /><br />Anyways if you are a fan of sophisticated comedy/horror check out the original Riget and Riget II. The ending of Riget I is probably one of the greatest cliffhangers in serial TV. If you started watching this when it first aired and never finished, then don't bother, it only gets worse with every episode. Some of Stephen King's writing I absolutely love (Dark Tower series, Stand, Shining) but this was a huge misstep and atypically lame.