(RNS4-MAR05) Christopher Egan plays David Shepherd in the NBC drama, “Kings,” which is based on the life of the Bible’s King David. For use with RNS-KINGS-TV, transmitted March 5, 2009. Religion News Service photo courtesy Eric Liebowitz/NBC Universal.

NEW YORK — Let’s begin by agreeing that King David led one of the more, um, colorful of biblical lives.

Adultery. Betrayal. Murderous sibling rivalry. Mental illness. Military intrigue. Rebellion. Incest. Some even add homosexuality to the mix.

So a new NBC drama, “Kings,” posed some unique challenges as executives tried to model the storyline on David’s life without raising the eyebrows of network censors.

“Strangely enough, they’ve not yet asked us to censor the Bible,” creator Michael Green recently told reporters. “The stuff we’ve done that’s most challenging is also straight out of the text. They’ve tried, and then I show them what chapter and verse it’s from and they were like, `Oh. I guess that’s OK.'”

With steamy storylines, the fabled life of Israel’s most famous king reads at times like a modern romance novel with a religious twist. “Kings” — what Green calls “the modern-day David and Goliath” — debuts on NBC on March 15 (check local listings).

“One of the things that interested me is that David is one of the most classic heroes of all time and one of the most complicated,” Green said. “He starts out as a real innocent and becomes a very complex person later on.”

Executive producer Erwin Stoff agreed.

“The more we examined the biblical story, the more contemporary it felt. And the more we looked at the values in the biblical story, the more they seemed to have applicability today,” he said.

David was a monumental figure in the Hebrew Bible. The youngest of eight sons, he is literally plucked from tending his sheep and groomed for royalty. He slays Goliath, establishes Israel’s capital in Jerusalem and authors several Psalms.

Only two of David’s descendents compete for fame: his wise son, Solomon, and Joseph, who several generations later would provide a home for a miraculous son born to his virgin wife, Mary. But that’s another screenplay all its own.

Green moved the action from ancient Israel to the fictional modern day kingdom of Gilboa, where characters use cell phones instead of parchment, cars instead of chariots, and automatic weapons instead of spears.

A young farm boy, David Shepherd (Chris Egan), follows his brothers into the military to fight an endless border war. An act of heroism (and a little divine assistance) catapults him into the national spotlight when he single-handedly conquers a Goliath tank.

King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane) promptly calls young David to the capital, hoping to capitalize on his popularity as well as to keep David from becoming a rival.

David is drawn to the king’s daughter Michelle (Allison Miller), a political force in her own right, and to her hard-partying brother Jack (Sebastian Stan). Queen Rose (Susanna Thompson) manipulates the press while her brother connives to keep the kingdom at war. Only the minister Rev. Samuels (Eamonn Walker) speaks for the Almighty and the cause of the people.

With the biblical David — described in Scripture as “a man after God’s own heart” even as he orders a man killed to cover up David’s affair with his wife — creators had to work hard to include his spirituality without letting the show lapse into another “sandals and sand” epic.

“This is about God as far as I’m concerned,” Walker said. “Religion as such — the different sects — is not what we’re aiming at. God in this world is very real. And that’s because it’s the Old Testament.”

The female characters, Princess Michelle and Queen Rose, are modern interpretations of the traditional roles women often assume in the Bible. Both are strong, educated, and professional.

The vivacious Jack is meant to represent David’s close friend, Jonathan, who the Bible says “loved (David) as his own soul.” In “Kings,” Jack is gay. Green said he doesn’t care whether David and Jonathan were secret gay lovers, as some believe; he just liked the added element of family tension over Jack’s sexuality.

“I think the Middle Ages were spent trying to decide what that relationship was,” said Green. “Why (Jack) was made gay was probably purely selfish narrative. I thought it made for the most conflict. And gay people are part of our world. I wanted this to reflect it.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, conservatives are less than pleased.

“If homosexual activists are looking for examples of homosexuality in the Bible, they are better off looking at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and what happened there instead of creating fiction out of thin air and wishful thinking,” said Tom McCluskey of the Washington-based Family Research Council.

Gay groups, meanwhile, like what they see so far.

“Based on having seen the first three hours, this is a fascinating and complex show where the character of Jack remains something of a mystery,” said Damon Romine of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). “We’re very interested to see where his story will lead and hope that it will continue to be as intriguing and free of stereotypes as the series progresses.”