SERIES FINALE | Despite excellent cast, 'King of Queens' was never funny
May 13, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Television Critic
"The King of Queens" -- a k a "The Big Guy With the Little Wife: Oh the Mirth" -- comes to a crashing, soul-crushing, forever-ending halt on Monday. R.I.P. "King of Queens." It's off to sitcom hell, constant syndication and one last bout of torturing universal radio waves.
I'm not going to pretend I've watched much of the show over nine years. I didn't like it. It's never made me laugh (not once that I can remember.) Though it succeeded with some tender moments, as when Carrie miscarried a few years ago.
Some people have told me they watched "The King of Queens" in reruns but never the new episodes on CBS. That doesn't make sense, because the first-run episodes have landed in the Top 20 ratings lately.
Monday's hourlong finale looks like any other "King of Queens." It's got traditional sitcom jokes and broad comedy that doesn't work, despite a very talented cast.
Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie (Leah Remini) consider adopting a baby from Asia.
"I've ordered Chinese before, but never a baby," she says.
Not funny.
Doug and Carrie's relationship hits the rocks, and the reason is ... who cares?
"You've never taken a leap of faith for me in your whole life," he says.
"I married you," she says. "What do you call that?"
"Uh," he says, "hitting the jackpot!"
Actually, James makes that little routine kind of funny. That's the thing. I watch "The King of Queens" and wonder how excellent this cast could be in another show. In addition to the leads, there's Jerry Stiller and Patton Oswalt. On Monday, Anne Meara guest stars again.
But the cast is not in another show. They're in this thing that reminds me of "Family Matters" and other lukewarm family comedies that softened ABC's Friday night lineups under the tagline "TGIF."
The silly plots are OK. And the working-class focus is sweet. But the direction and writing are childish. For instance, one character looks for a passport in a toaster. Funny? Not in the least.
There are two good things to say about the finale. One: It doesn't overreach. That is, it doesn't destroy the boundaries of the entire series, as "Will & Grace's" finale did last year by corroding the characters' relationships in a 20-year flash-forward.
Two: It doesn't spoil the blue-collar tone of its very existence, the way "Roseanne" did.
That's where the series has shined. For people like me, who have been poor more than they've been middle class, "King of Queens" treated Doug and Carrie (our kind) with realistic-esque living of down-to-earth coupling, despite the absurdity of comedy bits.
Victor Williams, who plays Deacon, chalked up the hit show's success to those class struggles, when he and James recently talked to TV writer Mike Hughes.
"It's the simplicity of regular folks that people respond to -- and in such an overwhelming way, it was kind of surprising to me initially," Williams said. "There's a sort of honesty in that simplicity that I've really enjoyed and I'm really going to miss."
I believe that simplicity of caring characters, who lived the medium life, hooked the show's fans. After all, look at how many shows now star rich or upper-middle-class characters. Almost all of them, it seems.
In fact, I heard an industry rumor that a certain network killed a certain show because it already had one "blue-collar" comedy and it didn't want another. "King of Queens" bucked that upper-crust system, and it was rewarded with longevity.
"We were like a cockroach -- you just couldn't kill us," James said.
But none of that made "King of Queens" very funny. So when Williams said he was looking forward to ditching his UPS-like delivery costume -- "I cannot wait to never put on another I.P.S. uniform" -- I thought, you know what? Me, too.
delfman@suntimes.com
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Television Critic
"The King of Queens" -- a k a "The Big Guy With the Little Wife: Oh the Mirth" -- comes to a crashing, soul-crushing, forever-ending halt on Monday. R.I.P. "King of Queens." It's off to sitcom hell, constant syndication and one last bout of torturing universal radio waves.
I'm not going to pretend I've watched much of the show over nine years. I didn't like it. It's never made me laugh (not once that I can remember.) Though it succeeded with some tender moments, as when Carrie miscarried a few years ago.
Some people have told me they watched "The King of Queens" in reruns but never the new episodes on CBS. That doesn't make sense, because the first-run episodes have landed in the Top 20 ratings lately.
Monday's hourlong finale looks like any other "King of Queens." It's got traditional sitcom jokes and broad comedy that doesn't work, despite a very talented cast.
Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie (Leah Remini) consider adopting a baby from Asia.
"I've ordered Chinese before, but never a baby," she says.
Not funny.
Doug and Carrie's relationship hits the rocks, and the reason is ... who cares?
"You've never taken a leap of faith for me in your whole life," he says.
"I married you," she says. "What do you call that?"
"Uh," he says, "hitting the jackpot!"
Actually, James makes that little routine kind of funny. That's the thing. I watch "The King of Queens" and wonder how excellent this cast could be in another show. In addition to the leads, there's Jerry Stiller and Patton Oswalt. On Monday, Anne Meara guest stars again.
But the cast is not in another show. They're in this thing that reminds me of "Family Matters" and other lukewarm family comedies that softened ABC's Friday night lineups under the tagline "TGIF."
The silly plots are OK. And the working-class focus is sweet. But the direction and writing are childish. For instance, one character looks for a passport in a toaster. Funny? Not in the least.
There are two good things to say about the finale. One: It doesn't overreach. That is, it doesn't destroy the boundaries of the entire series, as "Will & Grace's" finale did last year by corroding the characters' relationships in a 20-year flash-forward.
Two: It doesn't spoil the blue-collar tone of its very existence, the way "Roseanne" did.
That's where the series has shined. For people like me, who have been poor more than they've been middle class, "King of Queens" treated Doug and Carrie (our kind) with realistic-esque living of down-to-earth coupling, despite the absurdity of comedy bits.
Victor Williams, who plays Deacon, chalked up the hit show's success to those class struggles, when he and James recently talked to TV writer Mike Hughes.
"It's the simplicity of regular folks that people respond to -- and in such an overwhelming way, it was kind of surprising to me initially," Williams said. "There's a sort of honesty in that simplicity that I've really enjoyed and I'm really going to miss."
I believe that simplicity of caring characters, who lived the medium life, hooked the show's fans. After all, look at how many shows now star rich or upper-middle-class characters. Almost all of them, it seems.
In fact, I heard an industry rumor that a certain network killed a certain show because it already had one "blue-collar" comedy and it didn't want another. "King of Queens" bucked that upper-crust system, and it was rewarded with longevity.
"We were like a cockroach -- you just couldn't kill us," James said.
But none of that made "King of Queens" very funny. So when Williams said he was looking forward to ditching his UPS-like delivery costume -- "I cannot wait to never put on another I.P.S. uniform" -- I thought, you know what? Me, too.
delfman@suntimes.com
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