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The King of Queens is one of the few TV shows that has both a long run in syndication and a lot of entertaining and funny episodes. At one point, they even talked about doing a reboot of New Yorkers Doug and Carrie Heffernan (Kevin James and Leah Remini) and their basement-dwelling father Arthur (Jerry Stiller). The dysfunctional three were the focus of the sitcom, which ran from 1998 to 2007.
Doug’s snarkiness, selfishness, and crazy plans often clash with Carrie’s short temper, which makes the audience laugh out loud. James and Remini provide very genuine performances that add to their natural chemistry. In fact, their connection was so strong, Leah agreed to do the show without even reading the script.
However, while it had a lot of great content, some of it didn’t age very well. So much so, it’s hard to believe the PC police haven’t pulled these episodes from syndication.
8 Did The King Of Queens Episode “Papa Pill” Age Well?
The main focus of this episode was Doug’s efforts to care for Carries father, Arthur. It was challenging to get Arthur to take his medication. They kept feeding them to him whenever they wanted to put him to sleep because they were tired of him, despite the fact that, as was said throughout the series, Arthur didn’t care for them and didn’t seem to need them.
Doug made an attempt to give Arthur some medication while laughing and saying, “Nighty night, old man.” Nevertheless, Arthur very proudly outsmarted him in this episode and stole the big blues (pills) and put them in Doug’s sandwich. Doug’s experience rapidly enters the scene and is comparable to a psychedelic trip. Today, this treatment of Arthur is considered elder abuse. Don’t worry, Jerry Stiller wasn’t devious like that in real life.
7 Did The King Of Queens Episode “Black List” Age Well?
The issue with this episode is that when Deacon starts hanging out with another friend, Spence convinces Doug it’s because he is black. Comments like “hanging out with your own kind” are thrown around. Doug responds to this by studying some black history and tries to impress Deacon with it.
Not only that, but he starts using racial stereotypes. In reference to fried chicken and collard greens, and then attempts to sing with the gospel choir at Deacons’ church. It’s even offensive to Deacon.
6 Is The King Of Queens Episode “Kirbed Enthusiasm” Homophobic?
There are a lot of jokes in the show that are homophobic, which are totally offensive in today’s culture, which is tying to be more accepting. One episode, in particular, was really wrong, though: “Kirbed Enthusiasm” from season five. Deacon worries that his son Kirby is queer in this episode.
He forces his son to join the youth football team, to make him more manly. Sadly, what Kirby really wanted to do was be in a musical, and his dad wouldn’t allow it because it wasn’t masculine enough. Deacon has shown his worries about Kirby’s sexual orientation in numerous episodes, such as when he decides to dress as a Powerpuff Girl for Halloween.
There are also all the jokes about Spence and Danny’s friendship that are homophobic. They argue like any other pair of friends since they are simply roommates. Nonetheless, there is hidden innuendo about them being a couple all the time. Especially with Spence, who doesn’t attract many girls and is more in touch with his feelings.
In the series finale, Arthur’s fiancee’s admission that she only marries gay men for company and that she had mistakenly believed Arthur was gay is another source of controversy. The show’s treatment of these concepts wouldn’t hold up if it were written into a script today.
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5 Did The King Of Queens Episode “Life Sentence” Age Well?
The plot of “Life Sentence,” from the fourth season of The King of Queen, was taken straight out of Psycho. Doug and Carrie decide it would be a good idea to put a hidden camera in Arthur’s basement bedroom, trying to catch him stealing things from around the house.
Aside from the fact that Carrie keeps her father in a dark cellar, it is very wrong to secretly record anyone, including elderly family members. Doug then invites his friends to come over and watch Arthur with him. They think it’s amusing. They even place bets on what his father-in-law will do next.
4 Did The King Of Queens Episode “Ticker Treat” Age Well?
This episode is so wrong. It takes place during the Halloween season, and after putting up one decoration, Doug learns that Arthur is terrified of Halloween decorations. Carrie explains it to him, and he comes up with a plan of his own. Doug basically goes about turning the house into a haunted house.
His plan is to intentionally scare and upset Arthur for fun. Arthur ends up having a mild heart attack from it. In what universe does someone intentionally set out to terrify an old man? Doug’s actions were not only cruel but also potentially dangerous, as they resulted in Arthur’s health being compromised.
3 The King Of Queens Episode Where Doug Intentionally Gives Carrie Booze
I don’t know when this would ever be acceptable, but Doug purposely gets his wife drunk to make her nicer. It starts when Carrie gets some drinks after work with her friends. She comes home and doesn’t seem to care as much about Doug’s diet after she gets a little loopy.
Leave it to Doug to start mixing apple martinis for her every night after work. He pretends to drink with her but is really just adding alcohol to her drink. All so she eases up on his antics and diet.
2 Did This Episode Of The King Of Queens Fat Shame?
By today’s standards, the King of Queens went into pretty dangerous territory almost right from the start. In “Fat City,” the second episode of the first season of the show, Doug learned that the ladies on Carrie’s side of the family had a propensity to gain weight as they aged.
His response? Imposing strong limitations on Carrie’s food intake. With such a ridiculous setup as this, it’s hard to figure out where to start. Together with the troubling themes of sexism, body shaming, and control, Doug’s demands for a skinny wife are contradicted by the fact that he is anything but slender.
1 Did The King Of Queens Episode “Flash Photography” Age Well?
In some states, Doug would have faced prison time for what he does in “Flash Photography.” The title makes it clear what the episode is about, since the show likes to use obvious puns. Additionally, Doug frequently exhibits disgusting behavior.
Doug decides it would be humorous to use a camera that was given out at a wedding to take a picture of his privates. They end up having the photos developed and decide to share them at a family gathering; it’s their first time seeing them too.
Doug’s little friend pops up in the photos, and he goes out of his way to make his cousin Danny take the fall for it. That kind of photography is really frowned upon in this day and age, and the photographer would be in a lot of trouble.
