Doug and Carrie Heffernan (Kevin James and Leah Remini) share their home in Rego Park, Queens, New York City with Carrie's oddball dad, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller). Doug, who makes a living as a delivery person for the International Parcel Service (IPS), spends most of his time at his home with wife Carrie. Carrie works as a secretary for a law firm in midtown Manhattan. 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 by walking him, with the dogs, in the local park. 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).
His friend Spence is a Star Trek loving geek who isn't very savvy when it comes to women. Deacon Palmer is Doug's best friend, and can often be seen going to Knicks' games with Doug or just hanging out with Spence, Richie, and Danny. When Carrie and Doug 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) it often ends up going completely wrong, and bad often humorously goes to worse, most of the time 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.
Productions
Coproduced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions (1998–2006), final season CBS Paramount Television (2006–2007); with Columbia Tristar television (1998–2002), latter Sony Pictures Television (2002–2007).
Doug Heffernan (played by Kevin James): Doug is an average parcel delivery man who exerts a rather light-hearted and sometimes immature mentality. His misadventures are often fueled by his immature mannerisms and his love of food. He is usually bossed around by his wife Carrie, 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 Carrie. Doug's disobedience in eating fatty foods after she 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): Carrie is Doug's beautiful wife. She never went to college, but is a hard-working paralegal. Carrie's lust for shopping is often the basis of their arguments. She also creates much annoyance for Doug with her constant attempts to make their relationship and daily lives more romantic and meaningful, and by ordering him to go on a diet. She constantly pushes Doug to make more of himself and improve his morals, but often acts competitive and hypocritical, and can even be as unscrupulous as him. She's 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. Carrie's best friend is Deacon's wife, Kelly Palmer. File:KingofQueensCast.jpgLeah Remini, Jerry Stiller, and Kevin James in a scene from The King of Queens.
Arthur Spooner (played by Jerry Stiller): Carrie's widowed father Arthur 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 is 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 finding some time alone just for the two of them because Arthur will get in the way. Even with all of his bad behavior, deep-down Arthur has a heart of gold, which always manages to shine through, causing Doug and Carrie to feel guilty about yelling at him in the end. Arthur also tries to cause trouble with Doug's friends. He especially picks on Spence, but also (unsuccessfully) tries it on 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. It is mentioned in a number of episodes that Deacon attended St. John's University in Queens, but whether or not he graduated is never referenced.
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 on the actor who plays him, Patton Oswalt.[citation needed] Spence may be the most tragic of the show's characters. He demonstrates being very intelligent and capable in a variety of intellectual pursuits, but he is haunted by his family history, his domineering and unstable mother, and his inability to assert himself with others. As stated in Season 8, Episode 21 "Hartford Walker", Spence is said to be from Ottawa.
Danny Heffernan (played by Gary Valentine): Danny Heffernan is Doug's cousin, and he 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 not very close. 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 they fought like a married couple. Danny also used to own a Pizza Place, and he is divorced. He once had the nickname "Stumpy," which was given to him by Doug. As shown in the episodes "Silent Mite" and "Paint Misbehavin'", Danny has asthma and uses a puffer. 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, to which she openly confesses). In one episode, Holly asks Carrie (referring to her inability to find a boy friend), "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. During the third season, he only appeared on one episode, called "Paint Misbehavin'". 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 5 episodes (episodes 1,2,3,5,6), 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 storylines 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 for 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.
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 and on TVTropolis and OMNI in Canada.
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]
King of Queens was heavily inspired by the classic television sitcom The Honeymooners, as the characters of Doug and Carrie are based on the Kramden couple. In a 2001 episode of the show ("Inner Tube"), the show pays homage to The Honeymooners, as Doug dreams that he is Ralph Kramden, his wife Carrie is Alice Kramden, and his friend Deacon is Ed Norton. The sequence was filmed in black-and-white and the audio quality (including the audience) matches a '50s style.
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
