'''The King of Queens''' is an
Emmy nominated, American comedy series that ran for nine seasons, from
1998 until
2007. The show was produced by
Hanley Productions and
CBS Productions and filmed at
Sony Pictures Studios in
Culver City, CA.
Plot summary
Blue-collar couple
Doug and
Carrie Heffernan (
Kevin James and
Leah Remini) share their home in
Rego Park,
Queens,
New York with Carrie's oddball dad,
Arthur Spooner (
Jerry Stiller). Doug, who makes a living as a parcel deliveryman with the fictional IPS (pun to
UPS) often has to scheme to find time alone with Carrie, who works as a secretary for a law office. This is complicated by Arthur, who can be quite a handful — so much so that they hired a dog-walker, Holly (
Nicole Sullivan), to look after him. When he is not working, clashing with Arthur, or nesting with Carrie, Doug hangs with his advice-giving buddies
Deacon Palmer (
Victor Williams),
Spence Olchin (
Patton Oswalt), and his cousin
Danny Heffernan (
Gary Valentine).
Many of the plotlines of the show satirize conventional, "wholesome", and/or generic sitcom and family show plot cliches and devices. For example, Doug and Carrie, unlike typical sitcom or family show couples, are, together, good natured, but typically very shifty and petty, acting much like the stereotypical
New Yorker. Attempts to do good deeds (such as donating to charities or helping a person find a job), reconcile or apologize, or do something beneficial for themselves (such as selling a house, or investing in the stock market) often end up going completely wrong, and bad often humorously goes to worse, often leaving the characters in a stagnant position by the end of the episode.
Cast
★
Doug Heffernan (played by
Kevin James): Doug is best known for his goofy words, immature mannerisms, and screaming. Doug's parents paid for him to go to college, but he never went. If he isn't delivering parcels, he's with his buddies, watching sports television, or bickering with his wife who is always telling him what to do. The main reason Carrie and Doug are a squabbly couple is due to Carrie's giving Doug orders, then Doug disobeying those orders behind her back and being dishonest about it. Carrie often finds out about his dishonesty. This ends up in them having an argument in which Doug is often called names about his being overweight and Carrie is accused of being mean and screamed at by Doug. Doug's disobedience in eating fatty foods after Carrie has told him not to is another common reason why the two have some disagreements.
★
Carrie Heffernan (played by
Leah Remini): Doug's beautiful wife. Carrie dropped out of college, but is a hard-working
paralegal. Carrie loves fancy
footwear and dresses, enjoys shopping for them, and owns way too many of them. Carrie's best friend is Deacon's wife, Kelly Palmer. She's not crazy about any of Doug's friends, but is closest with Deacon out of all of them. Although Carrie's usually in the right and knows what's best, ironically she often acts as wrongly and unscrupulously as Doug. Carrie can be overly bossy and smart-mouthed at times. She's even been judged by Holly and Doug as being scary when she gets upset, and, during a flashback, finds that she is usually happier (she describes herself as never being truly happy) when others are miserable.
★
Arthur Spooner (played by
Jerry Stiller): Arthur, Carrie's widowed father, is the classic oddball of the family. He lives in the basement of the Heffernan house because he accidentally set fire to his own home in the pilot episode. Arthur is mostly known for his irascible outbursts for no apparent reason. He tells a lot of questionable stories of what he claims he's been through in his past. Arthur's usually seen causing regular chaos and getting on someone's bad side with his antics, craziness, and obnoxious behaviors. Carrie and Doug sometimes have trouble being romantic or just spending time together because of Arthur's getting in the way. What with all of his bad behavior, Arthur still has a way with making Doug and Carrie feel guilty about something in the end. Arthur also tries to cause trouble with, and pick on Doug's friends. He's able to and often does towards Spence, but he is not as successful when he tries it towards Deacon, who often refers to him as, "the old man."
★
Deacon Palmer (played by
Victor Williams): As Doug's best friend, Deacon is the classic "family man". Deacon and his wife Kelly have two sons, named Major and Kirby. He's often seen hanging out with Doug, whether it's at their lunch break, over the weekend, or for a family gathering. Although he is often experiencing relationship problems, Deacon always has time to chill out and have fun.
★ Spence Olchin (played by
Patton Oswalt): Spence, another friend of Doug's, is often viewed as the nerd of the group. Not only is he very paranoid, he also takes an interest in science fiction and comic book conventions, interests that his friends don't share. He is of Albanian heritage and used to work as a subway token collector. In one episode he is a "house boy" for Deacon and Kelly. This character is based heavily off the actor who plays him, Patton Oswalt.
★ Danny Heffernan (played by
Gary Valentine): Danny Heffernan, Doug's cousin, is also seen hanging out with Doug, Spence, and Deacon. At the beginning of the show, Doug didn't like his cousin very much and they were distant. As the show progressed, they become buddies and regularly hang out along with Deacon and Spence. Danny even becomes Spence's roommate in a small apartment. The two often looked as if they were involved in a romantic relationship together and fought like a married couple. Danny also used to own a Pizza Place and is divorced. He once had the nickname "Stumpy" which was given to him by Doug. Gary Valentine and Kevin James are brothers in real life. They both created last names for acting. Valentine is his father's middle name.
Recurring characters
★ Kelly Palmer, Deacon's wife (played by
Merrin Dungey): As Carrie's best friend, Kelly is Deacon's typically agreeable, soft-spoken wife and the two of them have two children together. Kelly and Deacon have experienced some serious relationship problems, much more serious than the petty arguments between Doug and Carrie. On one occasion Deacon mentions being hit in the head with a frying pan.
★ Holly Shumpert (2001–2005, 2007) (played by
Nicole Sullivan): Holly is a cheerful yet insecure dog walker hired by Doug and Carrie to walk Arthur. She is often seen arriving at the Heffernan house to pick up Arthur but is also a family friend of the Heffernans. She is often viewed as a bit strange because of her habits and the men she dates. In one episode she asks Carrie, "What am I doing wrong? I give them money, I let them stay at my house." She is a very sweet person who puts up with Arthur's antics.
★ Richie Ianucchi (1998-2001) (played by
Larry Romano): Richie was also one of Doug's closest friends, but was quietly written out of the show in the third season as per Romano's request to work on another sitcom. Richie was known as the ladies man among Doug's friends, even admitting to sleeping with Doug's sister. Richie is a
FDNY firefighter.
★ Sara Spooner (1998) (played by
Lisa Rieffel): Carrie's sister. Little is known about her, as she was written out of the show after the first few episodes. She initially moved in with her father and took the room upstairs. When she was written out of the show, the room was used as an office instead. Future episodes refer to Carrie as a single child with her sister not even existing.
Minor characters
★ Stephanie Heffernan, Doug's sister (
Ricki Lake)
★ Veronica Olchin, Spence's mother (
Grace Zabriskie) in the first season episode "S'ain't Valentine's".
Anne Meara (Jerry Stiller's wife) from 2003 (Meara also appears in "S'ain't Valentine's" as a woman named Mary whom Arthur meets at the Senior Center).
★ Doug Pruzan, Carrie's former boss (Alex Skuby)
★ Joe Heffernan, Doug's Father (
Dakin Matthews)
★ Janet Heffernan, Doug's Mother (
Jenny O'Hara)
★ Supervisor Patrick O'Boyle, Doug's Boss (
Sam McMurray)
★
Lou Ferrigno, the Heffernan's next door neighbor (2000–2007): Himself
★ Denise, Spence's Girlfriend (
Rachel Dratch)
★ Mr. Kaplan, Carrie's Former Boss (
Victor Raider-Wexler)
★ Kirby Palmer (Omari Lyles/Marshaun Daniel/
Philip Bolden)
★ Major Palmer (Desmond Roberts)
★ Young Doug (Tyler Hendrickson)
★ Father McAndrew, Priest at the Heffernan's Church (
Joe Flaherty)
★ Tim Sacksky, the Heffernan's neighbor (
Bryan Cranston): returned unexplained for one episode (3x22) after moving out in episode 2x22 due to ripping off Doug in a water filter pyramid scheme. After that, the Sacksky's were never heard of again.
★ Dorothy Sacksky, Heffernan neighbor (Dee Dee Rescher)
★ Mike Ross (
Michael Lowry)
★ Debi Ross (
Marcia Cross)
★ Mickey (
Ford Rainey), a friend of Arthur's
★ Kim (Melissa Chan)
★ Amy (Christine Gonzales)
★ George Barksdale (Gerry Black)
★ Stu, Doug's uncle and Danny's father (
Gavin MacLeod)
★ Jimmy, Doug's co-worker at IPS (Jimmy Shubert)
★ Duke, another of Doug's co-workers (Steve Tancora)
★ Georgia Boone, Carrie's boss (
Lisa Banes)
★ Marc "Shmenkman" Shropshire (Sean O'Bryan)
★ Abby "Shmenkman" Shropshire (Elisa Taylor)
Series finale conclusion
''The King of Queens'' ended its 9 season run on
May 14,
2007 with the one-hour
series finale "
China Syndrome". The airing was #12 in the
Nielsen ratings with 13.61 million viewers. The season average is #33 with 11.4 million viewers, which is higher than the past two seasons.
Show background
Based on the lives of blue-collar couple Doug & Carrie Heffernan, ''The King of Queens'' debuted on
CBS on
September 21,
1998. For most of its run it was a Monday night staple, competing with shows such as the long-running drama ''
7th Heaven''. In 2003, when scheduled against ''
The West Wing'' and ''
Nanny 911'', it dropped slightly in the ratings. The
final episode aired on
May 14,
2007, which made ''The King of Queens'' one of the longest-running sitcoms of the
1990s. The show is currently in syndication worldwide and airs on
TBS in the
United States and
Canada.
Trivia
★ Most episode titles for the series are puns on two-word combinations (Such as
Assaulted Nuts is a pun on the words "assorted nuts.") Others are names of real and fictional people (Such as
The Rock is a pun on
The Rock.) The only exception is the
Pilot.
★
Ray Romano,
Patricia Heaton,
Peter Boyle,
Brad Garrett, and
Doris Roberts from ''
Everybody Loves Raymond'' have all appeared on the show as their characters from ''
Everybody Loves Raymond''. Romano appeared on the show four times, while Heaton, Roberts, Boyle and Garrett have appeared only once. Leah Remini never appeared on ''Everybody Loves Raymond''. However, in earlier episodes of ''Raymond'', Kevin played "Kevin", a fellow sports reporter and in later episodes he made slight cameos as "Doug".
★
Kevin James inked a deal with
CBS to pay him $500,000 per episode in the 2005-2006 season.
★ The show is mentioned in the
Fountains of Wayne song "Someone to Love".
★ The show is also mentioned in ''
Will & Grace''. When Will injures his foot and becomes reliant on his medication, he remarks, "You know, I don't think she would be with him in real life." He was referring to Carrie being with Doug.
★ This show, along with many others, was mentioned in the
"Weird Al" Yankovic song, "
Couch Potato".
★ The whole Stiller family has appeared on the show, which includes
Jerry Stiller,
Ben,
Amy, and
Anne Meara.
★ ''The King of Queens'' was the last live action
American sitcom that debuted in the '90s to go off the air.
★ In between scenes, when shots of the front of the Heffernan's house are shown, the front door is shown on the left side with no porch and three small windows. When there is an actual scene in the front of the house, the door is in the middle with a stained glass window, and there is a porch, with a window to each side.
★ In Season 2, Episode 20, while driving to Philadelphia, Deacon is holding what is clearly a cup from
In-N-Out, a restaurant with no locations east of Arizona.
★ In another episode, Carrie makes reference to
Jack In The Box, a fast food chain found in 17 U.S. states, but not in New York.
★ ''The King of Queens'' is the 12th longest running sitcom in TV history.
★ ''The King of Queens'' is the 4th most syndicated show.
★ The show was first pitched to
NBC, but after NBC wanted to make changes that the producers didn't like, they pitched the idea to
CBS, and CBS picked up the show.
★ In Season 5, Episode 15, Carrie and Holly go to a restaurant. On the facade stands an inscription stating "Established 1998". This is probably a gentle hint to the fact that the show started in 1998.
★ In Season 8, Episode 6, after the scene where Carrie confronts Doug in the hair salon, there is a shot of the subway stairs where a poster advertising the ''
Ricki Lake'' show can be seen. Ricki Lake plays Doug's sister, Stephanie.
★ In Season 3, Episode 25 ("Pregnant Pause"), Nicole Sullivan plays a worker at a baby store and not Holly Shumpert "the dog walker".
Nielsen Ratings
| Season | Rating |
|---|
| 1999-2000 | #34 |
| 2000-2001 | #27 |
| 2001-2002 | #19 |
| 2002-2003 | #25 |
| 2004-2005 | #48 |
| 2005-2006 | #49 |
| 2006-2007 | #33[1] |
Episodes
Main articles: List of King of Queens episodes
Broadcasters
★ United States:
CBS (Original Network),
TBS,
national syndication
★ Australia:
Nine Network (summer non-ratings) - Weekdays 19:00 and
Fox Classics 20:00.
★ Austria: ATV (Dubbed in German)
★ Belgium (Flanders):
VTM (Subtitled in Dutch)
★ Brazil:
Sony Entertainment Television
★ Bulgaria: GTV
★ Canada: CBS directly in southerly regions, KVOS TV (a network only available the
Fraser Valley area of
British Columbia,
Canada and the
Bellingham, Washington area of the
United States of America),
OMNI 2,
TBS
★ Denmark:
TV 2 and
TV 2 Zulu (Both subtitled in Danish)
★ Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
OBN (Dubbed in Bosnian)
★ Finland:
Nelonen
★ France:
Comédie!
★ Germany:
Kabel 1 (Dubbed in German), previously
RTL II
★ Hungary:
Viasat3
★ Iceland: Skjár 1 (Subtitled in Icelandic)
★ India:
Star World
★ Ireland:
RTÉ One and
Paramount Comedy 1
★ Israel:
Hot3 and
Yes Stars 3
★ Latin America: Sony Entertainment Television (Subtitled)
★ Malaysia:
Star World
★ Norway:
ZTV,
TV3 and
TV2
★ Pakistan:
Star World
★ Poland:
Comedy Central
★ Portugal: SIC Mulher
★ Romania: TVR2
★ Saudi Arabia:
One TV and
Showtime Arabia
★ South Africa:
e.tv
★ SouthEast Asia:
Star World
★ Spain:
La Sexta (Dubbed in Spanish)
★ Sweden: TV4
★ Thailand:
True Series and
Star World
★ The Netherlands:
RTL 5 (Subtitled)
★ Turkey:
CNBC-e (Subtitled)
★ United Kingdom:
Paramount Comedy 1 and
Channel 4
DVD releases
Season 1 has been scheduled for a
Region 2 release in the UK on
January 29,
2007 [1] but the set
will not contain the special features contained in the
Region 1 set. The set will be distributed by
Paramount Home Entertainment (through its rights to distribute CBS-owned programs) instead of
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment which distributes the
Region 1 sets. Seasons 1 to 7 were released in Germany and Austria by Koch Media, all special features of the Region 1 version were included, Koch Media will also release the final seasons in the German speaking countries.
References
1. 2006-07 primetime wrap
External links
★
''The King of Queens official site'' at
Sony Pictures Television, who produce the show.
★
''The King of Queens'' at
CBS, who airs the show.
★
Trailer for final 7 episodes.
★
★
★
''The King of Queens'' at the newDEW.tv
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