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), Richie Iannucci (Larry Romano) and his cousin Danny Heffernan (Gary Valentine).
Many of the plot lines of the show satirize conventional, "wholesome", and/or generic sitcom and family show plot clichés and devices. For example, Doug and Carrie (unlike typical sitcom or family show couples), are, together and good natured, but typically very shifty and petty, also usually 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. Unlike the traditional sit-com formula, the central conflict of many episodes is left unresolved at the end. The ending scene of most episodes is a very short joke that often is only tangentially related to the main story line.
Doug Heffernan (played by Kevin James): Doug is an average parcel delivery man who exerts a rather light-hearted and often times immature mentality. His misadventures are often always fueled by his immature mannerisms, screaming, and his love of food. He is usually bossed around by his wife, causing him to think of strange, intricate schemes in order to get what he wants, although they always manage to fall through in the end, causing constant squabbles between him and his wife Carrie. Doug's disobedience in eating fatty foods after Carrie has told him not to is another common reason why the two have some disagreements. He generally enjoys the simple pleasures of watching sports and playing poker with his friends.
Carrie Heffernan (played by Leah Remini): Doug's beautiful wife. Carrie never went to college, but is a hard-working paralegal. Carrie's lust for shopping is often the basis of their arguments. She has also started problems for Doug in her constant attempts to make their realtionship and daily lives more poetic and meaningful, which usually involves his diet. Carrie's best friend is Deacon's wife, Kelly Palmer. She constantly pushes him to make more of himself and improve his morals but often acts competitive and hypocritical and can even be as unscrupulous as Doug. 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. File:KingofQueensCast.jpgLeah Remini, Jerry Stiller, and Kevin James in a scene from The King of Queens.
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 incoherent irascible outbursts. 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 deep-down has a heart of gold which always manages to shine through causing 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 cooler and more responsible of the two, in addition to being the classic "family man". He is tall and athletic. 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.[citation needed]
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.
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 (not to mention her habit of over-drinking, which she openly confesses to). In one episode Holly asks Carrie, "What am I doing wrong? I give them money, I let them stay at my house." Overall, however, Holly is a gentle soul, especially when she puts up with Arthur's antics.
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. Kelly's split with Deacon coincided with Merrin Dungey's appearance in the regular cast of the Jennifer Garner series Alias.
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. He only appeared on one episode "Paint Misbehavin'" during the third season. Richie was known as the ladies man among Doug's friends, even admitting to sleeping with Doug's sister. Richie is an FDNY firefighter.
Sara Spooner (1998) (played by Lisa Rieffel): Sara was Carrie's irresponsible, wannabe actress younger sister. The character of Sara Spooner had appeared in only 4 episodes (episodes 1,2,3,&6) and disappeared after that without any explanation or mention of her ever again. After the show started gaining popularity, Kevin James had been interviewed and was asked about what happened to Sara. James explained that the producers couldn't think of any story lines to develop Rieffel's character so she was discontinued. In the episodes where she did appear, her character did not appear much except for the pilot where she was on camera roughly half the episode. Future dialogue suggests that Sara Spooner never existed, and that Carrie is an only child.
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)
Tim Hofferman ( Jason Peirce), Doug gets the Hoffermans' pictures, and when he sees the Hoffermans in person, admits "They're fabulous!"
Noelle Hofferman (Louisette Geiss), Tim Hofferman's wife
Nick Bakay: Beginning in 2000, Bakay worked as a producer on the CBS hit comedy, The King of Queens, where he also wrote and acted in several episodes. He also had a recurring role as a priest, which he also served as a producer and voice-over on the show.
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. At the end of the show (a flash forward) Doug and Carrie are seen with 2 children (one adopted in China and one of their own) living in the same house with Arthur, who has returned after his failed marriage. The King of Queens was the last live-comedy show that had premiered from the 1990's to go off the air[citation needed].
Show background
Based on the lives of blue-collar couple Doug & Carrie Heffernan, The King of Queens debuted on CBS on September 1, 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-2000s. The show is currently in syndication worldwide and airs on TBS in the United States.
The character of Arthur was conceived with Jerry Stiller in mind, but he initially turned down the role. Veteran comedian Jack Carter was then cast and a pilot was shot. Soon afterwards, Stiller changed his mind and took the part.[citation needed]
Season 1 (Region 2) was released in the UK on January 29, 2007[1], and season 2 on July 9, 2007, but the sets
did not contain the special features contained in the Region 1 sets. The sets were 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.
United States
