Kevin Can Wait - General Discussion

[juliet73]

I don't understand the point of having the kids in the show. They literally add nothing. They have one, maybe two lines.  The wife is not a good comedic actress and she has no chemistry with Kevin. Plus, she looks like Sara Sidle from CSI.  

I miss Deacon and Spence. And Carrie. And Arthur in small doses. 

Edited October 11, 2016 by juliet73

[random chance]

It all feels very warmed over, like "here's another twist on a book club meeting" and "here's another twist on getting out of chores." I realize he can only play himself, but maybe play himself as an actual retiree with adult children, not himself with the wife and children he would have had 20 years ago? (Ha, just thought - what if he was "the Arthur" living with his daughter. But he's not that old yet.)

I'm still watching it out of basic inertia but eventually they'll move it to another time and day and that'll be that. "See ya on Netflix."

[love2lovebadtv]

On 9/26/2016 at 10:30 PM, juliet73 said:

I agree with everyone else. It's not KoQ even though Kevin acts/looks/is Doug. I'll give it a couple of more episodes... 

Just to add: why does Kevin James (and other average looking overweight male leads) ALWAYS have a beautiful thin wife? 

Sitcoms are usually much better when there is no laugh track and  minimal/no children involved. 

I think his wife in the show is also average-looking.  Even though she's bony,  they seem well matched. 

[love2lovebadtv]

This show looked like King of Queens in the preview so I held off in watching the pilot. I finally watched and it's similar to KoQ but not as much as I thought. Still,  it's just not that funny. There seems to be a big cast. Too many people who aren't great actors. The men are silly and the plot is boring. I doubt I'll watch again. 

[bilgistic]

Well, folks, I'm out, too. I gave it four episodes. Four painful, unfunny episodes.

I'm sad, because I love Kevin James. He is by far the best thing in a bad show, but that's not saying much.

[Maharincess]

44 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Well, folks, I'm out, too. I gave it four episodes. Four painful, unfunny episodes.

I'm sad, because I love Kevin James. He is by far the best thing in a bad show, but that's not saying much.

Sigh.  I'm with you B. I tried, and tried, then I tried two more times but four episodes was four too many.  I guess we'll just have to be satisfied with our King of Queens repeats. Which I'm watching right now and still watch every single night when I go to bed. 

Oh well Love Meat, we tried. 

[paulvdb]

I don't think this show is for me. I like family comedies, but this show is basically Kevin James all the time with one or two lines for the other characters. Have there even been any scenes without Kevin James? I can't remember any. On other family comedies there are usually subplots with different cast members, even if they have a big star as the main character like Last Man Standing and Dr. Ken an ABC. I'm not saying that those are great shows, but at least on those shows we get scenes with other characters without the main character around. I'm not sure if that would improve this show, but it couldn't make it worse than it is. Different character interactions at least give us a chance to get to know the other characters and it's not like Kevin James is such a great actor that he needs to be in every scene.

[ae2]

I've come to this thread and started typing a response to defend this show against the criticism levied here, and every time I've stopped because... well, the show just isn't worth the effort. 

The only thing I'll say is that they really were in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation. KJ should have called Tim Allen for advice, because he somehow carved out a niche for himself - even if it is in almost every way inferior to Home Improvement. I don't see that happening with this show.

I think this could have worked if they had paired up a much stronger comedic woman with KJ. Someone with less goofiness and more wit, that could bring another dimension to the show instead of simply being the springboard for KJ's antics.

[HyeChaps]

As many of us have said, they should have picked up King of Queens ten years later. But use this boy. He is totally believable as Doug's son. 

[ari333]

well, dammit. I'm trying so hard to like it  .Im still in..

[ari333]

I like Valentine well enough. He's trying to work. I get it.

[TV-Lurker]

Every week, I have to turn on the closed captioning to figure out what the boyfriends name is.  "Chale"? 

I am trying to like it.  I doubt if it lasts long.

[random chance]

I am literally too lazy to change the channel. It seems to me like each week they've been taking some element of his previous show and doing something different with it. This time: pretending someone else's heroic story was actually yours. (Deacon pulling someone out of a firey car, previously.)

(If this posts several times please let me know - the board software is fighting with me today!)

[ari333]

I  have a simple mind, but I like this show. I agree though that it would have been better had they just called it KoQ years later with Carrie plus kids or whoever bc for me (as mentioned by others) , Kevin is forever Doug - like  ..... Kelsey is forever Frasier. I hope this lasts though bc I love all things Kevin James, even the crap movies. (Yeah, I know) I don't really buy him as a retired cop either, but I'll go with it.  

[vmcd88]

I'm out. I cant watch anymore.  It just reminds me that I'd rather be watching King of Queens in rerun than to watch this steaming pile of poo.

[NYGirl]

OMG Ray Romano.......and with a man bun!!  Boy was he and his "wife" annoying.

[ari333]

I like this show. I wish Kevin were Doug, but I can get over it. I enjoyed seeing Ray. I recognized his voice before I recognized him by sight. Kevin's wife is kind of off for me, maybe bc she's not Carrie. :-)

I'm in.

[Dissy]

While the show is below average, I did enjoy seeing Ray with a man bun. I agree that his character was annoying though.

The one thing that drove me crazy since the first episode is the wife waving her hands around every time she says a line. I did notice that on the latest episode she was holding various things in her hands. Maybe carrying her purse or a wine glass will help. She doesn't seem to fit the part though.

[ari333]

MAN BUN!

And Ray is always annoying. That's  his endearing "thing" :-)

[Big Mother]

I liked this one. Maybe bc Kevin and his wife were on the same page, doing something TOGETHER. They were just bickering in the first few eps.

[ari333]

Why do the wife and the oldest daughter look almost the same age? Do I need to put my glasses on?

I'm slow. The title just hit me as a play on "Heaven Can Wait." DOH!

 

"Hall-o-....we-.....aint-home"

[juliet73]

Yeah,  I'm out!  Tonight's episode was just painful to watch. If they didn't want to pass out Halloween candy,  why didn't they just turn their porch light off? Isn't that the universal sign to skip and go on to the next house? 

I HATE all the characters at this point!  Every. Single. One! 

[random chance]

Yeah that was just painful. Especially when he went to check if the kid was still there, because there was no earthly reason to do that except to make the rest of the episode happen. It was like those jokes where someone asks a stupid question that nobody would ask in real life, in order for the punchline to proceed.

I used to live in a state that had a law forcing convicted sex offenders had to turn off their porch light on Halloween. For that reason I would never let the ex turn off our porch light, because I didn't want the neighborhood to think a sex offender lived there.

[backformore]

2 hours ago, random chance said:

Yeah that was just painful. Especially when he went to check if the kid was still there, because there was no earthly reason to do that except to make the rest of the episode happen

Yes - and the  neighbors proceed to use several dozen eggs to wreck their OWN fence and playhouse. 

In my experience, when trick-or-treaters ring the doorbell, I have about 8 seconds to answer or they're off to the next house. 

There's nobody to root for.  If this family lived on my block, they wouldn't be lovable losers, they'd be the assholes of the neighborhood. 

[needschocolate]

I watched the first couple of episodes and didn't like them. I meant to stop recording, but I must have forgotten.  Now I have a few episodes waiting on the DVR.  So, I did the most logical thing - I checked in here to see if the show has gotten any better.  

Thanks.  You have freed up some space on my DVR.  

[juliet73]

Tonight's episode was the best by far!  I'm sure it helped that Adam Sandler guest starred. But also, no kids,  no Chale, minimal scenes with friends, minimal scenes with the wife. If they continued with this formula, they might have a hit on their hands. 

[ari333]

Is it me or do the wife and daughter look the same age... ish.?

I've never been crazy about Adam Sandler, but I liked the eppy so I'm still in.

[ari333]

I noticed that some punchlines and even plot twists are rehashed from King of Queens. I'm ok with it bc I flove KoQ. I guess I love Kevin no matter what he does. (OK some the movies were pretty bad. He should stick to standup comedy and sitcoms imo) Is it weird that he only has one CD? (That I know of?) Sweat The Small Stuff, I believe it was called. Anyway, that got me hooked as a fan girl.

So here, in this incarnation, the real brother (Valentine) went from being the cousin in KoQ to the brother here. IIRC.

[stillhere1900]

What has the "daughter" been in before ?  I can't place her.

[jewel21]

She played Lennox on "Melissa and Joey." She was blonde though.

[msani19]

On 11/7/2016 at 10:13 PM, juliet73 said:

Tonight's episode was the best by far!  I'm sure it helped that Adam Sandler guest starred. But also, no kids,  no Chale, minimal scenes with friends, minimal scenes with the wife. If they continued with this formula, they might have a hit on their hands. 

 

This made me laugh! Basically, they should gut the premise of the show! I don't disagree, they certainly need to change something in order to make it funnier and if that includes starting over, then so be it. I'm just so amused by the comment! Sandler I can do without or in very small doses. 

[grayson]

The recent episode about Christmas was a huge improvement from the rocky pilot. Although I liked "King of Queens" and Leigh Remini, I appreciate the role of the new wife is less caustic than Carrie's character.

[Cementhead]

I watched a couple of repeat episodes last night on account of I had nothing else to watch and found it interesting to see that it is apparently "TV's Number One New Comedy!" according to the promo that CBS kept airing on commercial breaks.  I enjoyed the 'book club' episode enough that it gave me a few good chuckles enough to make me miss KoQ but found the second episode about how Kevin stole his partner's cop story to be just as mediocre as the 1st few episodes were back when it premiered and l gave it a few tries.  Consequently, l also watched a couple of episodes of Matt Leblanc's new sit-com because they were book-ended in between this show so l just watched them and that show is TERRIBLE.  Really, really bad. 

[funky-rat]

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 1:33 AM, bilgistic said:

I thought it was a spinoff, but Wikipedia doesn't mention it. I never watched Everybody Loves Raymond, but Ray made appearances on the show, so I assumed. My apologies!

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 5:35 AM, Maharincess said:

Kevin James played a guy named Kevin on Everybody Loves Raymond, he may have played Doug Heffernan to but I'm not sure.  Everyone from Raymond except for Brad Garrett were on King Of Queens. 

They interacted but I don't think it was technically a spin off. 

It's not really a spin-off.  Kevin James was in some early eps of ELR as a fellow sports writer/sportscaster - something along those lines.  Later on, Ray and his mom show up on an episode of KOQ, and he may have appeared again as Doug on an ep or two of ELR later.  I loved the KOQ ep with Marie, where Carrie cons her in to cleaning her house.

[Kromm]

13 hours ago, funky-rat said:

It's not really a spin-off.  Kevin James was in some early eps of ELR as a fellow sports writer/sportscaster - something along those lines.  Later on, Ray and his mom show up on an episode of KOQ, and he may have appeared again as Doug on an ep or two of ELR later.  I loved the KOQ ep with Marie, where Carrie cons her in to cleaning her house.

If it's not the same character but he's doing mostly the same thing it's a copy not a spinoff. 

[funky-rat]

On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 3:59 AM, Kromm said:

If it's not the same character but he's doing mostly the same thing it's a copy not a spinoff. 

Right.  As I said, it's not a spinoff.  Kevin James was on ELR before KOQ started, but his character was named Kevin, and he was a sportscaster or sportswriter - Ray knew him through his job.  ELR used to feature several of Ray's fellow sportscasters/writers, but they were all phased out, and I have a feeling it was for continuity issues because of KOQ starting.  At some point, Ray and Marie crossed over into an episode of KOQ, where Ray and Doug are playing golf.  I can't recall if they had any more crossovers, or if Doug crossed back over to ELR as Doug, but they definitely crossed at least once, because Marie waited for Ray at Doug and Carrie's house, and Carrie conned her into cleaning the house by pretending she didn't know how.

[Pepper the Cat]

That was a stupid episode.

its so cold that everyone is in heavy winter clothing, but there's water in the pool 

If leaves are falling into the pool, trim the branches that are over your property. 

Giving someone a shot without their permission is abuse, even if that person is your husband.

[jewel21]

It was the first episode that I found amusing and made me laugh more than once.

[grayson]

The last four-five episodes have been enjoyable. The scripts utilize the supporting cast (Kyle, Chale) in quality "B" stories.

[HyeChaps]

How do I get a kitchen like that 

[legalwriter]

I read that Leah Remini is planning appear in the season finale.

Who is hotter: Leah Remini or Erinn Hayes? I will vote for Leah Remini. Like a fine wine, she seems to get even finer with age. She has some nice curves. Erinn Hayes is likeable but I will always have a special place in my heart for Leah. What are your thoughts?

[msani19]

Leah Remini without a doubt! I have loved her since Saved by the Bell which is the first time I remember her. Although she was on that god awful Alyssa Milano Paper Dolls crap but I don' think I ever saw it. Yeah, I'm old! She's fun, she's funny, she's quick, she's sarcastic. I would hang out with her any day. She definitely seems to get better with age. Erinn Hayes is blah to me but she seems nice enough.

Leah appearing on the season finale is the only reason I'll watch this show again. 

[jewel21]

Definitely Leah.

[Dots And Stripes]

I'm still watching even though this is obviously not a great show. I think the most frustrating thing is that this show has potential but they seem bent on redoing King of Queens rather than exploring the new family dynamic. It answers the question what would King of Queens be like if the supporting characters were less developed. 

Not using the kids and Chale are the biggest missed opportunities. That would force them to find new storylines rather than having Kevin and his wife trying to find new couple friends, which is ripped straight out of KoQ.

[HyeChaps]

Let Kevin wake up, a la Bob Newhart, to discover this was all a dream. Jerry Stiller barges in with a walker. Leah is sarcastic to him. The kids are annoying. (Use the same boy, and give him lines. )

[Toothbrush]

Leah Remini. She is more age appropriate for one thing (5 years younger than Kevin James vs 11 years younger for Erinn Hayes), and they have better chemistry. If they wanted to cast a much younger actress, fine, but then don't give them a child in her 20s. Erinn does not look old enough to be her mother. The actresses are 17 only years apart and to me it is obvious and distracting. AFAIK the Gables have not been written as teenage parents. 

[atlas]

I think Kevin James is funny, I like his sense of humor/comedy on tv, in movies or stand up comedy.   He's one of very few comics that have become mainstream without giving into being crude and grotesque to get cheap laughs (like his buddy Sandler but more like Ray Romano).  Only a few sitcoms become a hit with long term success and Kevin's was KOQ.  To have another successful hit sitcom are rare if ever and Kevin Can't Wait is not the exception.  There are only a handful of stars I can think of that had more than one successful, smashing sitcom.  There is one current star that was intertwined with Kevin that has two solid sitcom hits and that is Patricia Heaton (Debra, ELR and the Middle).  For whatever reason, the stars aligned for her to star in two great shows, IMO. 

[lor]

i watched tonight with leah remini and even she couldnt make this show better. its a two part episode. kevin comes across as an idiot so how would his character have been a cop for 20 years. 

they have three kids but mostly show the older daughter and her boyfriend

i cant even figure out thr names of his freinds. on the king if queens the friends were perfectly cast. we got to know everything about them. and of course they had the great jerry stiler.

[jewel21]

I liked having Leah on the show. She and Kevin James still have great chemistry. Much more chemistry than he has with his TV wife. I thought the episode was fun and I'm curious to watch the conclusion next week. They should bring Leah back on a semi-regular basis.

[Maharincess]

Holy hell, did they bring in a statue from the wax museum to stand in for Leah tonight?  What the hell has she done to her face?!  It was so distracting that I didnt even watch the entire episode.  Why the hell do they do that?  Do they not have eyes to see how horrible it looks on other people? Her face was so immobile she could barely speak.