TheBlueHairedLawyer
Kingdom Hospital is one of my all-time favourite shows, and I think you have to be at least a little wacky to appreciate its dark humour and morbid jokes. Many pretentious snobs have put down this show as terrible because it "rips off" the original Danish program Riget (which it doesn't, this is an adaptation). People are going to think I'm an uncultured idiot for saying this, but I like Kingdom Hospital much more than Riget, and no, not because I didn't understand the first version. While I did very much enjoy Riget, I found it ludicrously overhyped for what it was. Riget was no more original than Kingdom Hospital either, seeing as Lars Von Trier himself was heavily influenced by earlier shows like Twin Peaks. Kingdom Hospital simply stood out to me as the more engaging and complete show. Maybe it's the strong theme of friendship and unity; everyone from eccentric psychic Sally Druse (Diane Ladd) to the visually impaired security guard Otto with his German shepherd (Julian Richings) becomes a part of a family, the Keepers, those who protect the hospital, its patients and its staff from the supernatural netherworld residing amidst the floors. At first the giant anteater (Kett Turton) really threw me off, and it took me two weeks to develop an interest in watching the rest of the episode. By the time the "Na Na Na (Kiss Him Goodbye)" song scene came up, I was hooked like a junkie. So many comedic scenes, but also scenes of strong caring, loyalty, love and above all else, miracles. Kingdom Hospital is a place where medical miracles never cease, but neither does violent death. Everything is in a fragile equilibrium which is threatened by a ghostly boy and of course the pompous Dr. Stegman (Bruce Davison), who begins to lose his own mind after botching a neurosurgery and more or less lobotomizing a young girl. It's a lot of weirdness to take in, but it grows on you and eventually all does begin to make sense.There are many Stephen King clichés that some viewers may find annoying or even advertising in nature. Lots of references of his books, even a radio announcer mentioning Stephen King's name. Antubis resembles in nature the Turtle from Stephen King's 'It' in many ways. There are quite a few typical King plot devices, too. Either way, I don't think I would have loved this show even half as much if it wasn't for the superb and talented acting. Such a great cast bringing to life some wonderful characters, from Brandon Bauer and Jennifer Cunningham (Christa and Abel, two young adult orderlies with Down's syndrome and a psychic connection), to Del Pentecost (Bobby Druse, an orderly, Sally's son and Otto's closest friend). It was nice to see some actors coming in who looked real, not all dolled-up and fake like supermodels. I was expecting another cheap medical melodrama with a Kim Kardashian lookalike in a lab coat or something, as usual. Boy, was I wrong! So many scenes in this show are as incredible as they are harrowing. Mary's vividly eerie recollection of a deadly fire over a century ago, Otto getting his eyesight back despite being told that he was going completely blind, Peter (Jack Coleman) rescuing Antubis from beneath a collapsed scaffolding, among others. Excellent soundtrack too, and the 35mm opt rather than conforming to that cheap yet religiously trendy HD digital cr*p was a genius move on the director's part. All in all, this probably won't be anybody's favourite, least of all the die-hard Riget fans, but at least give it a chance. Remakes are all too often terrible, but this is a miraculous exception, as miraculous as the miracles within the gripping story.
dhanah_b
Well Elmer and lona massingale are one of the most interesting character in the story..And they are my favorite!! The story is all about a young doctor who tries to pursue and show his affection to an old but still gorgeous senior doctor.And since Dr.lona massingale works with elmer Dad she just could'nt bare or admit to her self that this young guy really have feelings for her but the good thing is that dr.lona massingale really knows her boundaries. One of my favorite part of the story is when dr.traffs goes to dr. massingale sleep lab for some study and the two of them ended up in the morgue this is just one of the fun stuff that happen between this two character. And their famous line was " to the traffs who never give up!! to the massingale who never give in!!" I just love their story..
eshoeme
I didn't watch Ridget by Lars Von Trier. I just saw this series collection box at a store, was FOOLED by it's cover and bought it. Hey, I'm not the first who falls into that tale. So I am here to alert you. What is this Kingdom Hospital about anyway? Do we have ghosts of little girls, do we have blood gushing out someone's eyes? No. This series is supposed to be something like "bizarre dark comedy". But you do not laugh. You do not cry. You won't be scared or confused. You will be looking at your TV screen cursing the advertising studio that made that ludicrous DVD cover. And asking yourself "hey, what happened to Stephen King? Did he eat some rotten tacos before doing that?" Yes, he probably did.The thing is, if you're going to make something about a hospital with bizarre sense of humor, you should create an atmosphere in there. I felt like I was watching ER second season after ingesting some cough medicine bottles. And it wasn't fun as it sounds.SPOILERI never thought that someone would think that a anteater could be threatening. Those quiet animals NOT even have teeth. They eat ants for crissake! A angry koala would more scary than a "anteater from the underworld". WATCH OUT! IS THE LONG TONGUE OF DOOM! Blah.
John O'Brien
Normally I do not run down writers or producers , but in this case I feel I must . Stephen King did not and I repeat not write "kingdom hospital" he simply bought the rights to it . I am not upset about this I am more annoyed that King's version of "Riget" has been nothing more than an expensive but poorly made copy of a masterpiece . The other problem I have is that Kings version lacks that certain dark humor that helped to make "riget" the masterpiece that it is.FYI I only give this 1 Star because the system wont let me give any less.Thank you Stephen King for fouling up !
