The Sixth Season

The King of Queens is a sitcom about the daily interactions of married New York couple, Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie (Leah Remini) Heffernan, whose lives were disrupted when Carrie's father Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller) moved in with them. The series follows a basic format where Doug, Carrie, and Arthur manage to turn some everyday thing into some kind of sticky situation that is a bundle of laughs. Joining them for the ride are a variety of supporting characters, Danny Heffernan (Gary Valentine), Spence Olchin (Patton Oswalt), Holly Shumpert (Nicole Sullivan), and Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams). For more details about this series refer to my reviews of season one, season two, season three, season four, and season five.

In season six the cast sees some changes in their lives and relationships. One of the big stories of the season deals with Deacon and Kelly getting back together after two years of separation. Carrie also loses her job at the law firm and there are some hilarious stories about it. Her transition between jobs include a brief stint as a couch potato, going into business making decorative cell phone covers, a seasonal job at IPS, and dog walking with Holly. Other highlights include Doug facing his archrival from grade school played by Jon Favreau, Doug and the gang going on a road trip to win back Spence's love Denise, Holly's eviction, and a not-so-fun vacation in Florida, amongst others. Overall, season six continues to provide viewers exciting slapstick comedy from this invigorating cast.

The season begins with the two-part episode "Doug Less". In part one, Carrie jealousy gets the best of her. Doug lost a lot of weight and many of the opposite sex are looking at his slimmer figure with a smile. Carrie reacts poorly to the attention and gets jealous. There was an episode in season three "Fatty McButterpants" with a somewhat similar plotline (the jealousy is turned around). Doug was jealous over the comments Carrie received about her physical appearance while he was trying to lose weight and saw little results. Trying to work out the problem, Doug takes Carrie away on for a romantic weekend to an old spot they frequented before. In part two, the situation gets worse with Carrie and Doug trying to resolve the argument. It ends with them lost in the woods and Arthur is the only one who can save them.

"Nocturnal Omission" is a great episode, one of my favorites this season. In it, Kelly tells Carrie she is seriously considering getting back together with Deacon. Carrie tells Doug about the situation and leaves it to him to tell Deacon. Unfortunately, Doug is torn about what to do. Deacon recently met an attractive stewardess and he is supposed to spend the weekend with her. Doug wants Deacon and Kelly to be happy, but he also wants to live vicariously through Deacon. So, he decides to tell Deacon after the weekend is over. It is a goofy situation that puts Doug and Carrie at odds and brings back an old face into a situation perfect for a television comedy. "Affidavit Justice" is another episode that will make you smile. Doug gets recruited by the law firm Carrie works at to play on the company softball team. The only catch is Doug has to pretend to be a lawyer. The funny part is he does such an admirable job he gets a job offer from the opposing team! Arthur also comes to the illogical conclusion his great-grandfather was a slave trader. He tries to make amends with Deacon and he ends up driving Deacon nuts! It is a silly episode with two hilarious plots to follow.

In "Eggsit Strategy", Carrie begins to worry she might lose her job when her boss is asked to leave the firm, a.k.a. fired. By the end of the episode, she's unemployed. In the later episode "American Idle", Carrie is unemployed and depressed. Not quite sure what to do, she sits around the house and makes no effort to find a new job. She drives Doug crazy with her newfound laziness. When he finally confronts her, she claims she is just trying figure out her life. Later, she puts he creativity to work and makes decorative cell phone covers, which she finds out to be a bad idea. In the following episode "Santa Claustrophobia", Carrie lands a temporary job for the holidays at IPS. One might think working alongside your significant other would be great, but Doug soon finds out how annoying it to see the missus all day long. "Switch Sitters" is an odd tale about babysitting. What makes it odd is who needs to be watched! Deacon and Kelly ask Doug and Carrie to watch their kids. They agree, but only if Deacon and Kelly will watch Arthur for them. On the night Deacon and Kelly have to watch Arthur, they take him out for a spicy and disastrous evening!

In "Trash Talker", Jon Favreau guest stars as Sean McGee. Sean is an old acquaintance of Doug's from grade school. The two never got along and when Sean got the entire school to call him Doug "Heffercan", they were enemies for life. To Doug's surprise, he finds out Deacon's newest friend is no other than Sean. The new relationship puts Doug and Deacon on hold and produces some disastrous results. The matter only gets worse for Doug when Carrie is chummy with Sean after finding out he is a lawyer. In "Tank Heaven", Carrie lands a new job she can apply herself at. With lots of new people to met, Carrie starts socializing and getting to know her co-workers, which means Doug has to hang out with new people. Wanting to keep life the way it was, Doug sabotages Carrie's new friendships and leaves Carrie thinking nobody likes her. The other subplot deals with Danny and Spence using Arthur to pick up chicks.

"Alter Ego" is all about love and stupid friends. Doug, Danny, Deacon, and Spence go on a road trip to find Spence's love Denise. She is about to marry someone else and he wants her back. Before the trip, the guys maxed out their credit cards and got cash loans. Unfortunately while out and about, Danny spent all the money and left the guys without any cash. Despite not having money, they still make it to the wedding on time. The crazy part is they find out Spence is not the only one trying to stop the wedding. The season six finale "Awful Bigamy" is a big change for the Heffernan household. Holly is evicted from her apartment and Arthur invites her to move into the basement. Doug and Carrie are reluctant to let her move in, but allow it. Doug finds having Holly around is a blessing in disguise. Upstairs he has Carrie and downstairs he has Holly. The situation blows up in his face when he tries to milk the setup for all its worth!

Overall, season six of The King of Queens continues to put this fun cast in some goofy situations that turn out to be a riot. With episodes like "Nocturnal Omission" and "Trash Talker", season six turns out to be another fine addition to the series fans will enjoy.

Episode Guide
1. Doug Less (1)
2. Doug Less (2)
3. King Pong
4. Dreading Vows
5. Nocturnal Omission
6. Affidavit Justice
7. Secret Garden
8. Eggsit Strategy
9. Thanks Man
10. American Idle
11. Santa Claustrophobia
12. Dougie Houser
13. Frigid Heirs
14. Switch Sitters
15. Cheap Saks
16. Damned Yanky
17. Multiple Plots
18. Trash Talker
19. Precedent Nixin'
20. Foe: Pa
21. Tank Heaven
22. Alter Ego
23. Icky Shuffle
24. Awful Bigamy

The DVD

Video:
This presentation is given in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. Like previous season DVD release the video quality could have been better. The problem is that the episodes are distributed over three dual layered DVDs. The result, the picture has a distinct grain and noticeable compression artifacts. However despite its imperfections, it is still more than viewable.

Audio:
The audio track in this release is given in English Dolby digital stereo sound. The audio sounds pretty clean and is very flat. It is as basic as TV on DVD releases get. This release also supports closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras included.

Final Thoughts:
The King of Queens is a fun slapstick approach to comedy headlined by Kevin James, Jerry Stiller, and Leah Remini. In the sixth season, the fun continues with the cast getting into a variety of situations from love and relationships to spousal jealousy to old enemies to new jobs to disastrous vacations. This season sees the cast in a lot of silly, goofy situations that will leave you laughing and wanting more. If you have enjoyed any of the past seasons of The King of Queens, you will definitely want to pick up season six. As one fan to another, it comes recommended.