A Great TV Show, This Week's Statistics #19, and The Story Of A Song

Since we're done with the Top 10 TV themes, I thought that today I'd sing the praises of the best current TV show that you're not watching. That would be Kingdom.

The story is as follows: Alvey Kulina (Frank Grillo), a former MMA champion, owns and runs a mixed martial arts gym called Navy St. Gym in Venice, California, with his girlfriend, Lisa (Kiele Sanchez). He helps people workout and trains fighters along with his sons, Nate (Nick Jonas) and Jay (Jonathan Tucker). Jay has a drug and alcohol problem, but puts it aside to start fighting again. He's also the one who practically raised his brother Nate, with whom he's very protective. We also see him trying to get his mother, Alvey's estranged wife, Christina (Joanna Going), to abandon drugs and prostitution. Nate is the quiet and easygoing one, but the fact that he's a closeted gay who feels that he can't come out in this macho world weighs heavily on him. Ryan Wheeler (Matt Lauria) used to be a great fighter until he was sent to prison after assaulting his father and leaving him wheelchair-bound. After Ryan's release, Alvey wants to train him again. Lisa is initially opposed to this, as she and Ryan used to be engaged, but eventually accepts it for the sake of the gym. During the second season, an ambitious female fighter called Alicia (Natalie Martinez), with great talent but also a lot of personal problems, also becomes a series' regular.

It sounds a bit like a soap opera, but it isn't. The plot is character driven and not based on incredible coincidences or acts of god. The MMA atmosphere is very authentic, so MMA fans should be pleased, but the show's storyline and character work will have the rest of you hooked. I knew nothing about MMA and yet I'm a big fan of the show.

The main players all have interesting and convincing character arcs, something not too common on serialized TV. Especially noteworthy are the evolution of Jay and Christina, made all the more exciting by the wonderful performances of Jonathan Tucker (the MVP of the show) and Joanna Going. Frank Grillo, as the show's main character, also gives an impressive performance and Nick Jonas is more than adequate in his first major adult role.

The gay storyline, though not as prominent as the straight ones, is otherwise expertly handled and grows more important as the show progresses. We also get our fair share of sexy male bodies in various states of undress. In fact, I'd say that the series loves the male body a lot more than it does the female one.

Byron Balasco, an out gay man who is the series' creator and main writer, is doing an excellent job. He has also directed a couple of episodes so far. Other directors include John Dahl (The Last Seduction) and Gary Fleder (Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead).

The fact that the show is not broadcast in one of the major networks probably cost it a lot of viewers, who are not aware that it exists, or of how good it is. We just have one episode left for the second season to finish. Thankfully, it was recently renewed for a third season. If you have any way to watch this, do. Here's the show's trailer:

Now, to these week's statistics: after two weeks of major surprises, things are relatively quiter this week, but definitely not uninteresting.

Russia demonstrated that last week's rise was not a one-week wonder. It is at the top for the 2nd week running, comfortably leading the US by 2.3:1. The US is also a comfortable #2, leading Greece by 2:1. Greece itself sits unthreatened at #3, leading France by 3.4:1. Then at #5 sits a new but quite dynamic player, China. Just one visit behind, at #6, sits Ukraine, another country that's been doing very well recently. 2 countries that have been very powerful earlier have somehow slowed down, so Germany and the UK sit at #7 & #8 respectively. At #9 & #10, we have new blood: Sweden and Indonesia show their strength. Also dropping in for a visit or two during the week were Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Spain and Venezuela. Happy to see everybody, as always!

In the all-time list, the US remains the champ, with more than twice as many visits as Greece, still at #2. Russia has now 2/3 of the visits that Greece haves and sits at #3. If Russia and Greece continue having the visits they now have, Russia may overtake Greece in about a month's time. However, things are constantly changing, so we'll have to wait and see.

Germany, at #4, has 1/4 of the visits that Russia has, so only major changes in visiting habits can help it move forward. France, at #5, is moving slowly but surely. Germany is still ahead by 1.7:1, but the distance is diminishing every week. The rest of the countries are unmoveable for the moment: the UK at #6, Canada at #7, Ireland at #8, Cyprus at #9 and Australia at #10, edging ahead of Spain by one visit and of Portugal by two visits.

Today's random song choice is as fresh as it gets, the song is still climbing the UK chart. The story started 16 months ago, when a sister and brother decided to separately audition for last summer's Britain's Got Talent. The sister was very nervous and made a mess of it, getting disqualified in the process. The brother, a young man named Calum Scott, followed right after, with his version of Robyn's Dancing On My Own. Everybody was nervous after the sister's misstep, but the young man's performance possessed that certain something. Following a standing ovation from the audience as well as from the judging panel, Simon Cowell pressed the Golden Buzzer giving Scott an automatic place in the live shows.

He eventually reached the final, where he came 6th out of 12 contestants. (The winner was a dog show act).

Flash forward to 8 months later. Scott released his cover of Dancing on My Own independently in March 2016. Everybody thought that it would enter the charts for a week or two and then promptly disappear. It became, however, a sleeper hit, first hitting #40 in the charts in May, despite little radio airplay. It spent a few weeks in the lower reaches of the UK Top 40, then, as he was signed to a big record label which produced a new video for the song, Dancing On My Own started climbing the chart. At this moment it's at #3 in the UK, #1 in Scotland and #5 in Ireland. It's one of those unusual success stories, when an artist's talent and persistence result in something good.

Here's the song's current video:

Here's Calum's original audition:

And here's the original by Robyn. A great song by the good Swedish singer/songwriter, it made #1 in Sweden, #2 in Denmark, #5 in Scotland, #6 in Norway, #8 in the UK, #9 in Israel and #3 in the US Dance chart.