When Kevin James brought Leah Remini on as a guest for King... Kevin Can Wait, most fans thought that was exciting. However killing off his wife and bring Remini back full time isn't bringing the same feels.
To bring you up to speed, Kevin Can Wait premiered last year on CBS. It felt a lot like King of Queens with the addition of a wife and kids - basically it's his first show 20 years into the future. Kevin (the character) has a sexy wife, Donna, played by Erinn Hayes, his real-life brother is a co-star in the same side-kick role and he has a group of friends - from work - that he hangs out with regularly.
But we love Kevin James so we watched. It got renewed. Yay. Then the news came that Hayes was let go from the show. Boo. It's okay for her though, she's moved on to work with Amazon on The Dangerous Book For Boys with sexy co-star Chris Diamantopoulos.
Then we learn Leah Remini would be on Kevin Can Wait full time. That left us wondering how this all would work.
In a very awkward premiere, it comes out Donna died the year before as Kevin goes through the mail. Vanessa (Remini) is called into help in an immigration situation with Chale (Ryan Cartwright) and squeezes into the story line from there.
This is when the word REBOOT starting singing in watchers heads. While James insists the show was originally about a single dad, we're not sure that's plausible. He told Gears of the Biz:
But then it felt like a very familiar family sitcom again and it kind of went down the track where we felt like the show needed a little emotional weight to drive the character.
And that the story line clicked with Remini's guest appearance. #Bullshit.
He also thinks this show is nothing like King of Queens, so there's that too.
Aside from removing a major cast member without explaining why, the writing of the death of a mother was totally mishandled. Divorce could maybe have rolled easier in the 30-minute slot, but death is a big subject.
Fans had a lot to say about how not happy they are with anything from the premiere.
What did you think about the changes? Will you continue watching or scrub it from your memory like bad sushi?