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Giuseppina Worster

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Aug 2, 2024, 11:46:19 PM8/2/24

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The King of Queens is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show's executive producer, and stars Kevin James and Leah Remini as Doug and Carrie Heffernan, a working-class couple living in Rego Park, Queens. All the episodes were filmed in front of a live studio audience.[1][2]

The show exhibits undertones of the original 1950s TV production The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows. Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini) are a middle-class couple living at "3121 Aberdeen St." in Rego Park, Queens, New York,[5][6] along with Carrie's father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller).[7] Doug works for the fictional International Parcel Service (IPS) as a delivery driver, while Carrie works as a legal secretary in Manhattan. Their lives are plagued by the demands of Arthur; so much so that they eventually hire Holly, a professional dog walker, to spend time with him as she walks dogs in the park. Doug Heffernan represents the "everyman" with his love of sports, TV, eating tons of food, and his wife [citation needed]. His constant deceit and schemes through various situations leave him humiliated as his plans backfire.

Also featured on the show are Doug's friends Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams), Spence Olchin (Patton Oswalt), and Richie Iannucci (Larry Romano), as well as Doug's cousin Danny Heffernan (played by James' real-life brother Gary Valentine). Deacon's wife Kelly (Merrin Dungey) is Carrie's best friend, having met through the relationship her husband has with Deacon Palmer.

Most scenes take place in the Heffernans' home, but other common locations include Doug and Carrie's workplaces, the restaurant/pub "Coopers", and the residences of friends and family. While locations seen during the opening montage were filmed in areas around New York including the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty and Sbarro Pizza, the series was filmed in California.[8]

The series begins after Doug and Carrie have been married for 3 years, and how they met is somewhat unclear due to continuity issues. In one flashback episode, "Meet By-Product", Doug meets Carrie while he is a bouncer at a nightclub that Carrie attends. However, in another episode, "Road Rayge", Carrie reflects on a song that she says Doug asked her to dance to when they were in junior high school.[9]

Centered on the lives of blue-collar, couple Doug and Carrie Heffernan, The King of Queens debuted on CBS on September 21, 1998. During its run, it brought in solid ratings (usually ranking in the Top 40, and peaking at #19 in its fourth season) for the most part and was a Monday night staple, competing with shows such as the long-running drama 7th Heaven. In 2003, when moved to Wednesday and scheduled against The West Wing and Nanny 911, it began to drop in the ratings. The final episode aired on May 14, 2007. The series was shot at Sony Pictures Studios' Stage 28 in Culver City, California.[10] 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 afterward, Stiller changed his mind and took the part, which required re-shooting of scenes featuring Carter.[11]

The King of Queens was partly inspired by the classic television sitcom The Honeymooners, the characters of Doug and Carrie being loosely based on the Kramden couple, with some similar mannerisms and deadpan expressions. In the 2001 episode "Inner Tube", the show pays homage to The Honeymooners as a distraught Doug dreams that he is Ralph Kramden, Carrie is Alice Kramden, and Deacon is Ed Norton. The sequence was filmed in black and white, and the audio quality (including audience reactions) matches a 1950s style.[12]

The season one main opening was a simple eight-second sequence which showed the window of a subway train moving past and then quickly stopping at the original show logo, which then peeled off to reveal the names of the show's creators.

Starting with the entire 2nd season, the show added a new theme song called "Baby All My Life I Will Be Driving Home to You", which was written by series writers Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, composed by Jonathan Wolff and Scott Clausen, and performed by Billy Vera and the Beaters. An instrumental version was used as the closing theme during season 2, but was replaced in season 3 with a new closing theme composed by Kurt Farquhar.

Maryann Johnson of Flick Filospher critiqued, "Obvious and distasteful, The King of Queens relies too heavily on class and gender stereotypes to elicit laughs in the same way that one pulls teeth". Clint Morris of FilmThreat lauded the series, praising star Kevin James as "one of the funniest guys to grace the TV tube since Bill Cosby".[21] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the series has a score of 55 out of 100 based on the reviews of 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22]

During its final two seasons, The King of Queens was nominated in the People's Choice Awards' Favorite TV Comedy category for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. In 2004, Scott Heineman and Mark Waters were nominated by the Art Directors' Guild for the Excellence in Production Design Award. Victor Williams was nominated in 2007 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series by the NAACP Image Awards.

The show has been in syndication on over-the-air stations in the United States since the early 2000s, and is also a mainstay of cable syndication through the channels of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) and A&E Networks, including Nick at Nite,[23] TV Land,[24] CMT, FYI, Lifetime, and A&E. It has also streamed on Peacock since the service's debut in the spring of 2020.[25] Previously, it aired on TBS from September 2006[26] until September 2019. The show has also been a success internationally, both in its original run and in syndication.

Seasons two[34] and three[35] were released on Blu-ray disc by Koch Media on November 21, 2008. They are presented with 1080i/25fps VC-1 video, 2.0 DTS audio tracks in both English and German with German subtitles optional. They include the same extras as the DVD releases from Koch Media. Even though they are only released in Germany and Austria, they are not region locked.

In March 2021, a reunion table read was hosted on Facebook in memory of Jerry Stiller. The reunion was held to benefit Henry Street Settlement, a New York City social services, health care, and arts organization where Stiller got his start in theater.

Series stars James, Remini, Williams, Oswalt, Valentine, Sullivan, and guest star Rachel Dratch all reprised their roles in the table read with Weithorn, reciting the 2003 episode "Cowardly Lyin'". The reunion was moderated by Sibley Scoles and also featured a video tribute to Stiller.

Eating and drinking are not permitted inside The King's Gallery, except for bottled water. You will be asked to place drinks and food in closed bags before being admitted. Food and drink are not available for purchase at the Gallery, but there are many cafs and restaurants in the local area.

Bring the curriculum to life with a visit to The King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. We offer a range of interactive workshops, tours, learning activities and resources for nursery, primary and secondary pupils. Our school visit information will help teachers and organisers plan their visit.

I open with d4 at least 75% of the time. The way I see it, with e4, the King sends his pawn out, unprotected, and then runs to hide in the corner as soon as he can and sends his minor pieces to back the pawn up (quite typical of kings.) With d4, the Queen backs her pawn up as it moves forward, so as to say, "Hey, Black, we're taking this center space. If you touch that pawn, you're going to have a problem." Plus I prefer closed positional play over open tactical play =)

There definitely seem to be a lot more openings and variations associated with Kings pawn games, that's why I start off 1. e4 on occasion too, it also helps to be familiar with all types of openings, for sure.

Oh wait, I thought moving the queen early was bad anyway, and after d4 the queen still has more room. Also c4 can be played absolutely safely (f4 in e4 openings tends to be dangerous), and what you say about when the opponent plays e5 could be said for d5 against d4 too.

I prefer 1.d4, but not because of all this silly tactical vs. positional nonsense. Even though I play 1.d4, most of my wins (and losses, I'm afraid to say) as white still happen because someone misses some tactical combination that wins some material. And even when I'm playing against 1.e4 as black, I realize that most of the tactics in those games wouldn't have worked without some sound positional moves.(Chess may be 99% tactics, but it isn't all tactics after all.) In fact, the only reason I chose 1.d4 over 1.e4 is because 1.d4 requires less opening memorization. In most d4 openings, the opening moves are fairly obvious and the openings are a good deal less "razor-edged" as some variations that can arise from 1.e4.