The King of Queens (1998-2007)

The thing with me and the sitcoms that I like is that I was never a fan of them during their original runs. The Cosby Show not withstanding (because I wasn't alive for most of its original run), I love shows like Home Improvement and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air now but when they were originally being produced, I was either too clueless, stubborn, or preoccupied to actually sit down and watch them. The same goes for The King of Queens, a show that I consider to be the end of an era in terms of 1990's sitcoms. As with most of these shows, my mom started out as a fan of it and I slowly but surely started watching it and became a fan myself. When I said I view it as the end of an era, what I mean by that is that it when it ended in 2007, it was the last of those shows started in the 90's that had that certain vibe to it (although most of it took place in the 2000's). After that, sitcoms were never the same to me.

The King of Queens is about IPS deliveryman Doug Heffernan and the life he lives with his tough-talking wife Carrie and her crazy father Arthur in Queens. Most of the show's episodes deal with Doug trying to get what he whats, usually at the expense of his friends and wife's feelings, as well as him having to deal with his wife's temper and generally bad attitude or his father-in-law's nuttiness. I actually didn't see the pilot episode for a very long time and it's interesting to see how the show evolved from there. You find out that the reason Arthur has to live with Doug and Carrie is because, being the maniac that he is, he accidentally burnt his own house down and Carrie didn't have the heart to take him to put him in a retirement home. Also, Carrie's sister was prominent in this episode and the several of the ones afterward but then just disappeared and was never seen or even really mentioned again. Odd. Also, Carrie didn't seem quite as mean or as tough with Doug in the pilot as she would eventually become.

The interesting about this show is that the three main characters, while likable, can sometimes be downright horrible people if you think about it. Take Doug (Kevin James), for instance. He's your quintessential man's man, a fun-loving guy who loves sports, action movies, and food. While he does clearly love his wife and care about his friends (and Arthur, to some degree), he can be a very selfish, spoiled baby at times. The lengths he will go to in order to get what he wants or stop something he doesn't like is downright scary sometimes. There was one episode where he didn't like the idea of Carrie trying to open up their "world" by becoming chummy with people she works with and actually went out of his way to repulse them so he wouldn't have to be friends with them. Another time, he took a lewd picture at a friend's wedding and let his cousin Danny take the fall for it. The worst thing he did was in the first part of the series finale where Carrie finally got the apartment in Manhattan that she always wanted but he was determined to stay in Queens no matter what, even if it means spoiling his wife's dreams (which, it turns out, he'd actually done at the beginning of their married lives).Despite all his negative traits, though, Doug is a pretty good guy. He's almost never attracted to other women and even the infrequent times that he is, you just know he would never cheat; he generally does love Carrie and sometimes does go out of his way to make her happy; and usually has enough sense to know when something has gone too far.

Carrie (Leah Remini), on the other hand, is much more prickly and difficult to like. You can't blame her, though, because in later episodes, you find out that Arthur wasn't the best father to her while she was growing up. But still, she does sometimes go a bit too far in her mean attitude towards Doug and other people. Some of the things she won't allow Doug to do are extreme and the reasons she gets mad at him or bans him from certain places and people can seem like borderline mental illness. In one episode, you find out that she's not happy unless the people around her are miserable, which is pretty screwed up. In one episode, she tried to end a good relationship between her friend Holly and another man because Holly's life being awful made her feel better. Still, she is good enough to realize that she has some serious issues and does try to figure out why she does what she does. And honestly, there are times where you can't blame her for getting mad at Doug or her father or other people.

Arthur (Jerry Stiller) is, honestly, the main character in the show who can be very grating for me. He's the one whom you wonder has some sort of mental disease, according to the stuff you see him do as well as what Doug and Carrie mention him having done. He yells a lot, makes childish demands, often causes trouble for Doug and Carrie's relationship, and not only messed up Carrie's childhood as I said but you find out that he hid her acceptance letter for college from her because he wouldn't have had anyone to make money for him. That's a loathsomely selfish act. He also cooks up schemes to get rich and doesn't care if they threaten Doug and Carrie's very livelihood and loves to pick on Doug's friend, Spence. But, as with Doug and Carrie, some good qualities do shine through. My favorite was when he dragged Spence into a scam that involved them pretending to be father and son. Arthur was extremely harsh to Spence but when the latter broke and was clearly hurt by it, Arthur felt bad. Another time, he and Carrie had a heated fight in which she called him a lousy father. Arthur, feeling guilty, tried, albeit in his own crazy way, to set things right.

Out of all of Doug and Carrie's friend, Deacon (Victor Williams) is by far my favorite. He seems like a laid back, easygoing guy you'd just want to hang out with. While he and his wife do experience marriage problems, he always has time to hang out with Doug. He does do the jerky act of cheating on his wife (it's not in a sexual way, though) but feels bad about it and tries to make things right between them. I do wish he would have stood up to Doug a little more and not let him drag him into some crazy situations. I also like Spence (Patton Oswalt). He's a likable geek who has a pretty rough life, with dead end jobs and being stuck with his crazy mother. (What is it with this show and insane parents?) He's done something deplorable every now and again but not to the point where you hate him. I just can't help but like geeks like him who get picked on because that was me throughout elementary school and junior high. Then there Danny (Gary Valentine, Kevin James' real life brother), Doug's cousin who becomes Spence's roommate. Doug actually despises him at the beginning of the show but grows to like him when they become coworkers. (While that does seem mean of Doug, I can relate to that because I've had some relatives and people who wanted to be close to me but they annoyed me so much that I tried to get away from them.) A running joke throughout the show is that people think he and Spence are a gay couple and even though you know they aren't, they often act like they are. Not much else to say about Danny other than he seems like a likable guy overall, if a bit annoying.

Holly (Nicole Sullivan), a young woman who works as a dog-walker and takes Arthur for walks often, is both sweet and annoying at the same time. On the one hand, she is a genuinely nice person. On the other hand, though, her insecurity and lack of skills to get a boyfriend can get irritating. Sometimes when she talks about the odd ways she goes about getting a boyfriend, you can't help but want to knock some sense into her. One friend of Doug's who didn't last long was his friend Richie (Larry Romano). Richie was your typical ladies' man with a Brooklyn accent and always referred to Doug as "Moose." While I didn't mind him, he was a bit of stereotype. I did think he was funny, though, especially in the flashback episode where it's revealed how Doug and Carrie met. You also had former Hulk-actor Lou Ferrigno, playing himself as the Heffernans' neighbor. He was often the brunt of a lot of jokes because of his having played the hulk, which he found really annoying, but he was a gentle giant. Kelly (Merrin Dungey), Deacon's wife, doesn't have much to do but from what you can hear, she and Deacon's relationship has sometimes been so bad that she's whacked him with a frying pan! One guy whom I'm glad only appeared in a few episodes was Ray, from Everybody Loves Raymond. I have never liked that show and I've never particularly cared for Ray Romano either. Every time he appeared in this show, he seemed to cause trouble for Doug and his voice and attitude always rubbed me the wrong way. Screw him.

One thing that's interesting about The King of Queens, which I never thought about until someone mentioned it to me, is that the conflict of each episode often isn't resolved by the end. The characters are often left either in a stagnant position or to wallow in more misery. I have mixed feelings about this concept. I do like it because, besides being unusual for a sitcom, it makes it more realistic. In real life, problems aren't solved just like that. They can take weeks or years and sometimes, are never resolved. In that case, this show's decision to have most problems not solved by the end of the thirty minutes lends reality to it. But on the other hand, it can sometimes be frustrating. When it comes to dire problems, I often want to know what happened afterward, if everybody came to terms with each other about what happened, and so on. So, it's a toss-up for me.

As per usual with my television reviews, here are some of my favorite episodes.

Hungry Man: Carrie's boss is hosting a cocktail party and Doug skips lunch to make it there. Unfortunately, there's no food whatsoever at the party and poor Doug goes to great lengths to find food, embarrassing Carrie in the process. I love this episode because Doug's attempts to get food are hilarious. He tries to eat a bunch of little finger foods and tic-tacs but nothing works. The best part is when, in desperation, he swallows some raw eggs and he later gets sick. Carrie tells him that if he throws up, she'll leave him but he can't help it. He tries to get to the bathroom but someone beats him to it; he tries to go out a back door but it's locked, etc. It's hilarious. There's also a funny moment where he has to change clothes in the elevator but unfortunately, opens right to the guy's apartment so everyone gets a glimpse of him in his underwear.

Art House: Arthur almost gets Doug fired and after a bitter fight, Doug forces him to move out. Arthur ends up getting his own place and it looks like he's going to be well off... of course, everything isn't as it seems. My favorite part of this episode comes at the ending. With Arthur gone, Doug reclaims his basement and moves everything back down there. But then, Arthur arrives, having no money to pay the rent for the apartment, and wants to move back in. Doug loses it and begins screaming at the top of his lungs, saying Arthur may as well just take everything from him. Arthur is hurt and walks out of the house and down the street, with no place to live now. But, you see Doug run after him and brings him back home. I like that moment because it's proof that, despite his selfish, childish way of acting sometimes, Doug does have a big heart.

Queasy Rider: Doug buys a motorcycle, even after Carrie forbids him from doing so. To get back at him, Carrie starts smoking, claiming that they should each do something that makes them feel more alive. The scenes of Doug riding the motorcycle are hilarious. He constantly crashes when he tries to park it in the garage, he gets rained on, and he has to endure giving Arthur rides to his job. The best part is when he sells the bike but tries to retain his dignity with Carrie by saying he was worried about their relationship. Carrie, feeling guilty, buys it back from him and that's when he has to confess that he now hates the bike. I like when he says it was partly her fault because of this insulting buzzer noise she made in front of his friends when she turned him down for a bike, adding, "I especially don't like it when you do it during sex!"

Assaulted Nuts: Doug fools around with a staple-gun at work and ends up stapling himself right in the balls. Unfortunately for him, he had a fight with Carrie earlier, saying he doesn't fool around at work and to keep his dignity, he has to endure signing an important waver while keeping his painful situation a secret. This is just every guy's worst nightmare and watching Doug have to go through it is really funny. The best parts are when Arthur demands Doug let him see it in the middle of the hospital and when, during the meeting with the person signing the forms for him and Carrie, she keeps stapling things together and he yells, "For God's sake, get a paperclip!"

Get Away: Doug, Carrie, Deacon, and Kelly go on a trip for the weekend but Doug and Carrie discover that Deacon and Kelly's sex life is much more active than theirs, which leads to problems. This episode is funny due to the amount of times Deacon and Kelly have sex, which is indicated whenever you hear Let's Get It On playing. Poor Doug and Carrie have to endure this again and again, wondering if they just don't have it anymore. By the end of the episode, the situation is switched: Doug and Carrie are about to do it big time whereas Deacon gets tossed out of his room after accidentally insulting Kelly.

Dire Strayts: This is the only episode featuring Ray Romano that I like. Doug invites Ray and Debra to have dinner with him and Carrie but ends up unintentionally insulting her when he tells her to "tone it down" since she's never met Debra before. After a tense dinner, Doug and Ray try desperately to see a ballgame but when the TV reception is poor, Doug tries to go up into the attic to fix. Ray boosts him up through a hole in ceiling of the bedroom closet but Doug ends up stuck and Ray throws out his back in the process. Just the image of Doug's legs hanging out of the closet ceiling is funny. Also, Carrie sees a rat near Doug and since he's not able to get away, he panics in a funny manner. This best parts are when Richie and his fire brigade come to get Doug out and he has to deal with Richie's teasing.

Fair Game: Doug discovers that Carrie has a bad habit of cheating at board games. I like this episode because it ends up addressing one of the issues between Carrie and her father. After Carrie cheats at board games again even though she said she was sorry, she admits that something comes over her when they're in the heat of the game. It turns out, when Arthur played board games with Carrie when she was a child, he would mock her whenever she lost, leading to her hatred of losing. I don't know why I like that, seeing as how it makes Arthur look like a horrible person, but I can't help but enjoy this episode.

Paint Misbehavin': Carrie makes the mistake of telling Doug that she does find Deacon attractive, which gets Doug jealous. He, Carrie, Deacon, and Kelly then go paintballing along with Danny, Spence, Richie, and Doug's sister to celebrate Deacon's birthday but things get personal really fast. Honestly, I like this episode for one hilarious moment during the paintball battle. There's this hardened war expert with them that does a roll to avoid shots but when Doug tries to imitate the roll, let's just say his physique doesn't allow him to pull it off. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. There's also a great moment near the end when Carrie tells Doug that if he shoots her, he's not getting sex ever again, to which Doug screams, "You can't do that!"

Inner Tube: Doug lies to Carrie about having to work late so he can play mud football and not have to go to a seminar of hers. Doug gets a bad cold from the experience and has to stay in bed the next time. In his fevered mind, Doug dreams of himself and his friends being in various TV shows. I just love the various TV shows that Doug dreams being part of, as well as how the style and filming techniques change from one to another. My favorite part is the Honeymooners section, where Doug does a great imitation of Jackie Gleason and Deacon is quite adept at mimicking Art Carney. I also like the Young and the Restless section just because it's interesting to see these characters filmed in that soap opera way.

Pregnant Pause Parts 1 & 2: In this two-part episode, Carrie discovers that she's pregnant and after Doug finds out, he offers to take much of the burden off her.. which about runs him ragged. There are plenty of funny parts in the second part with Doug having to work extra jobs and getting exhausted from it. The best is when he has to drive a limousine for a bunch of rowdy teenagers and when he sees a couple of them taking off their pants, he screams, "PANTS ON!" However, the episode has a tragic ending when Carrie has a miscarriage. The scene between the two of them when she tells Doug is very touching and heartbreaking. Leah Remini really pulls it off well there.

Sight Gag: Doug decides to get Carrie laser eye surgery as a birthday present so she won't have to wear glasses but she ends up nearly blind from the operation. This is hilarious. Arthur insists on Doug not helping Carrie when she can't see, which leads to some really funny fights. The best part is when Carrie discovers that Doug decided to be a cheap skate and got her an unprofessional surgeon who took a coupon(!) for the surgery. She tries to punch him but since she can't see, he easily dodges it. It's a funny fight.

As you can tell, I really like The King of Queens. There are better sitcoms but I love the characters in this show as well as Kevin James' likable charisma, the storylines, and genuine hilarity. I honestly wish more sitcoms nowadays would be like this because I feel it's a lost art. At least we'll have this and other great sitcoms in syndication to keep us entertained for years to come.