Welcome back, Kevin James.
But thanks to the magic of syndication, James never actually left. I'm fairly certain that somewhere, somehow The King of Queens is airing 24/7 in some remote village in Zamunda.
The King of Queens ran on CBS from 1998 to 2007 with James playing (fictional) International Parcel Service delivery driver Doug Heffernan. Leah Remini played his attractive wife, Carrie, and Jerry Stiller was Arthur Spooner, Carrie's father, who lived in the basement.
The King of Queens enjoyed good ratings throughout its nine-season run, peaking at 13.9 million viewers for Season 4 and ending with a respectable 11.4 million at the end.
Can lightning strike twice? We'll find out when Kevin Can Wait premieres at 7:30 p.m. Monday on CBS.
In this offering, James plays Kevin Gable. He's a newly retired police officer living in Massapequa, N.Y., who's looking forward to spending more quality time with his wife, three kids and his buddies.
Kevin is planning epic retirement adventures with fellow retirees Goody (Leonard Earl Howze, Barbershop), his former partner, and Duffy (Lenny Venito, St. Vincent), his oldest friend.
Here's Kevin's planned breakdown of his retirement time:
Mets games -- 17 percent.
Go-Karts -- 12 percent.
Paintball -- 8 percent.
Softball -- 16 percent.
Day drinking -- 21 percent.
Pizza and beer breakfast -- 15 percent.
Motorcycle trip -- 15 percent.
Also in Kevin's retirement plan is time spent with his brother, Kyle (Gary Valentine), a firefighter who hasn't gotten closer to a blaze than a grease fire in the firehouse kitchen. Valentine is James' real-life older brother and also starred in King of Queens.
Trivia: James' real name is Kevin George Knipfing; brother Gary's real name is Gary Joseph Knipfing.
Kevin Can Wait will have some familiar Kevin James themes.
Once again, as with King of Queens, Kevin is too fat. Expect fat jokes. Lots of them.
And once again, our lead character has a wife who is way too hot for a fat guy on TV. CBS has gotten some clever preseason mileage out of that by airing ads in which James (as Doug Heffernan) teases James (as himself) about that.
"What's with the carrot stick?" Doug asks Kevin.
"Gotta get in shape for my new series," Kevin says.
"I'm on in reruns," Doug says, gnawing on fried chicken. "I can blow up like a pig."
Kevin eyeballs the bucket of chicken, grabs a drumstick and says, "We're not on until September. So...."
Erinn Hayes (New Girl, Parks and Recreation) plays Kevin's attractive and loving wife of 20 years, Donna.
Domestic comedy ensues when things begin to go awry.
First, their usually reliable oldest daughter, Kendra, played by Taylor Spreitler (Melissa & Joey, Casual), announces she's dropping out of college to support her unemployed fiance, Chale (English actor Ryan Cartwright, Bones), while he designs the next "big app."
Second, their teenage daughter, Sara (Mary-Charles Jones, Identity Thief), is having problems at school. And finally, their youngest kid, Jack (James DiGiacomo, Brooklyn), is a something of a hypochondriac.
So, Kevin can wait -- wait to begin the cushy life of retirement while he attends to all this family stuff.
To start everything off, Kevin solves the problem with Kendra and Chale by moving them into his home so that Kendra can continue to go to school. All those folks under one roof opens the door for plenty of comedy.
Don't expect Kevin Can Wait to reinvent the domestic comedy wheel. We've seen much of this before in every family sitcom since I Love Lucy. But fans like James and the other characters are equally likable. Sometimes all you're looking for is a fun place to go for a half hour.
Style on 09/18/2016