Kevin Can Wait


Kevin Can Wait is an American television sitcom starring Kevin James that aired on CBS from September 19, 2016, to May 7, 2018. The series marked James' second starring role in a CBS sitcom, following The King of Queens.
The series began with James starring as a recently retired Nassau County, New York, police officer and father of three, married to Donna. Beginning with season two, the character of Donna has died, and the series' new female lead is Vanessa Cellucci, Kevin's former rival on the force and now his partner at their new security company, Monkey Fist Security. While the first season focused on Kevin's personal and family life, the second concerns his new profession, his relationship with Vanessa, and his adjustment to life as a single parent.
On May 12, 2018, CBS cancelled the series after two seasons.

Plot

Kevin Gable is a newly retired Nassau County police officer living in Massapequa, New York, on Long Island, with his wife Donna, daughters Kendra and Sara, and son Jack Cole. He looks forward to a carefree early retirement hanging out with his friends, who are also retired officers: Goody, Duffy, and Mott. However, Kevin soon realizes his smaller pension paycheck and family challenges will put those plans on hold. His elder daughter Kendra, who was away at college, moves back into town with her unemployed fiancé, Chale, and they begin living in the home's garage; Sara is becoming increasingly difficult, with anger-management issues; and youngest son Jack is a hypochondriac who sees the school therapist for anxiety-related issues.
During the first season, Kevin holds various odd jobs to supplement his retirement income while the family deals with several issues, including Kendra's and Chale's wedding. First season episodes revolve around Kevin and Donna, although Kevin is frequently seen with his group of friends. Most scenes during the first season take place either at the Gable household or the bar Enzo's.
Season two picks up over a year after the events of the first-season finale. Donna has been deceased for about a year, leaving the widowed Kevin with the three kids, and now working full-time with his old work rival, Vanessa Cellucci, in their new security company, Monkey Fist Security. With the death of Donna, Kevin's reentry into the work force, and the regular inclusion of Vanessa, season two expands its focus to also feature more of the supporting characters not seen much in the first season. The Monkey Fist Security office also becomes a frequently used location.

Cast and characters

Main

The patriarch of the Gable household. As the series started, Kevin, a recently retired cop married to wife Donna, tends to get involved in some situation, which he usually solves with his down-to-earth principles, and some help from Donna. After Donna's death between the first two seasons, the widowed Kevin becomes a helicopter parent, who goes to work at a security firm with his ex-partner, Vanessa Cellucci. Kevin is a generally good man at heart, although he tends to sometimes get distracted in his goals. He cares deeply about his family and friends, and is willing to do most anything to help them.
Kevin's wife and the matriarch of the Gable household for the first season. Donna is a school nurse, until she quits in the first season finale. Donna passes away before the second season. Her father does, or did, not like Kevin, as mentioned in the pilot episode. The episode "The Fantastic Pho" reveals Kevin and Donna met at a bar, and "The Might've Before Christmas" reveals she and Kevin got together after Vanessa urged them.
The elder Gable daughter. Kendra is a 21-year-old college student, who also works as a waitress at Enzo's. Out of all the Gable kids, she has the most prominent role in the series. In the pilot, she revealed her engagement to her parents and moved back in with her fiancé, Chale. Kendra is the most responsible and dependable of the Gable kids. She is also shown to be nagging at times, more specifically towards Chale after their marriage.
While most of the first season shows her and Donna planning her wedding, she and Chale get married in the season two premiere, after he faces deportation. Following the death of Donna, Kendra becomes the surrogate matriarch of the family.
Kendra's English fiancé, later husband. He moves into the Gables' garage following the revelation of his engagement with Kendra. Chale is shown to be shy and soft-spoken, but very intelligent. Kevin initially shows hostility towards him, but their relationship somewhat improves over the course of the series.
When the show first begins, Chale claims to be designing an app that will be successful; thus, Chale is unemployed for the majority of season one, working on the app. In the season two premiere, he and Kendra marry as he faces deportation. Chale begins working at Enzo's alongside Kendra in "Plus One is the Loneliest Number", and gets promoted to manager in "The Kevin Crown Affair.
The younger Gable daughter. Sara has anger management issues that are frequently mentioned throughout the series. Sara is somewhat of a tomboy—she excels at and loves sports, watches football, and frequently fights. Sara is also known to have a rebellious streak: she has been suspended, stolen her father's money, and even created a secret second Facebook account and snuck off with her boyfriend. Despite her hostility, she does overall love her family.
The first season saw Sara mostly in short, cameo roles; she becomes more prominent in the second season.
The son of the Gables. Jack is 11-years-old, and is portrayed as the weakest Gable child, and somewhat dim. He has very few friends, and is stated to be a hypochondriac. He frequently tries to make friends, but with little success.
The first season saw Jack mostly in short, cameo roles; he becomes more prominent in the second season.
Kevin's older brother. He is a firefighter for the New York City Fire Department. Kyle is a bachelor, and has a crush on Vanessa. Like Jack, he is also shown to have below-average intelligence, and is mainly relegated to being a cook at the Fire Department.
As a part of Kevin's group, he is frequently seen with Kevin's friends, and is also seen at the Gable household.
Kevin's friend from the police force, who he is frequently seen with. He is married to Didi, who was good friends with Donna. In the second season, Goody begins working for Monkey Fist security.
Kevin's friend, also newly retired from the force. He has been divorced three times. Duffy was written out in the second season, without any explanation for the character's absence.
Kevin's former partner on the force, and later, his business partner. She was introduced in the two-part first-season finale as a police detective who had worked with Kevin on a major case, even though they were rivals and frequently bickered. Following the retooling, Vanessa becomes Kevin's partner in the second episode, with her own struggling company, Golden Phoenix Security. Vanessa is mentioned to have several exes, many of which she has dumped for ridiculous and unbelievable reasons, and which sometimes get her distracted.

Recurring

In addition, James' family has appeared in the series. James' real-life wife, Steffiana De La Cruz, and two of James' daughters, Shea James and Sienna James, have appeared in the series; De La Cruz was in "The Back Out" as a half of a couple Kevin and Donna try to befriend, while Shea and Sienna appeared in various roles throughout both seasons. Remini's husband, Angelo Pagán, also appeared in "Business Unusual". Also, both theme song performer Mike DelGuidice, and writer Mike Soccio, have appeared in the series in minor roles.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2016–17)

Season 2 (2017–18)

Production

Development

In October 2015, it was announced Kevin James would star in a new family-comedy television series for CBS, while Rock Reuben will executive produce the series, and Bruce Helford would serve as the show runner. On May 12, 2016, CBS placed a series order.
The series premiered in the 2016–17 United States network television schedule and aired at 8:00 pm. On October 17, 2016, CBS ordered a full season of 22 episodes. In November 2016, Bruce Helford exited the series as showrunner after the first thirteen episodes, due to creative differences. Cheers alum Rob Long replaced Helford as showrunner. On January 6, 2017, two additional episodes were added, bringing the season to a total of 24 episodes.
The series was filmed entirely on Long Island at Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, New York. The pilot episode was filmed on April 1, 2016. Production on subsequent episodes began taping on August 5, 2016.
On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 25, 2017, and concluded on May 7, 2018. Season two's original order was for 22 episodes and was later increased to 24 episodes.

Casting

In January 2016, Taylor Spreitler had been cast in the series as Kendra, Kevin's daughter. In February 2016, Ryan Cartwright, Mary-Charles Jones, and James DiGiacomo had been cast in the series, as Kendra's boyfriend, and James' characters other children, respectively. That same month, Leonard Earl Howze and Erinn Hayes joined the cast portraying James' character's friend and former police partner and James' wife, respectively. In March 2016, Lenny Venito and Gary Valentine joined the cast.
In September 2016, it was announced Ray Romano and Gina Brillon would guest star. In November 2016, it was announced Adam Sandler would also guest star. In March 2017, it was announced James' former King of Queens co-star Leah Remini would guest star in the first season's final two episodes.
In June 2017, Remini was upped to a series regular starting with Season 2; shortly after, it was announced that Erinn Hayes would not be returning for the show's second season. Sources cited in a Variety article confirmed that Remini would be returning as Detective Vanessa Cellucci, the character she portrayed in the first-season finale, and that Hayes' dismissal was for creative reasons and "not a reflection" of the actress' performance. In August 2017, it was reported Hayes' character would be killed off before season two began and the season will take place 7–10 months after season one ended, in order to make room for Remini.

Cancellation

On May 12, 2018, it was announced that CBS officially cancelled Kevin Can Wait after two seasons, with the combination of factors, including declining ratings, CBS's desire to have an ownership stake, and the network needing to clear space for three new sitcoms in the fall 2018 schedule, led to the show's demise.

Reception

Critical response

During the first season, Kevin Can Wait received generally negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 30%, based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kevin James proves a likable, funny lead, but Kevin Can Wait relies too heavily on predictable, unfunny jokes and a series of lackluster subplots to stand out from the crowd." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the series has a score 39 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
With the firing of Hayes and addition of Remini in season two, the series' retooling also received negative reviews, this time heavily assessing the series as inferior to James and Remini's former show The King of Queens.

Controversy

The replacement of Erinn Hayes with Leah Remini, and how the show handled Donna Gable's death, has been a source of controversy for the series. Criticism has been levied especially on the episodes "Civil Ceremony" and "Grief Thief". In the former, which served as the season premiere, criticism was placed on the brief mention of Donna's death, via a piece of mail, and a subsequent joke many found distasteful. The later episode, the season's fifth episode, was panned for its plot that the characters use a single parents support group for getting out of work and their romantic life. The series' reduced mention of Donna following her death, as well as no specific cause to her death, has also been target of criticism.
Viewers and critics of the show remain divided over the retool. Some stated the decision was a well-made one, and that the chemistry between James and Remini made the quality of the series better. Others said that Hayes' firing, and the addition of Remini with how the show handled her character's death, with poor script quality, made the show worse. Despite the division, both Hayes and Remini spoke highly of each other. Remini stated that, before Hayes' firing, she was looking forward to working with her again; Hayes asked fans to not place blame on Remini.
It has been rumored and hinted at that the addition of co-star Leah Remini was an attempt to save the show from cancellation. Many suggested this theory is due not only to their chemistry and ability to play off one another well, but also to capitalize on their successful run on The King of Queens a decade earlier. However, James insisted the choice was purely creative, as the writers felt they were running out of ideas, and he was unsure if it would continue beyond a second season. James also stated that the original plot line of the series was to have him as a single father, but the original producers gave him a wife instead.
Despite the controversy surrounding the revamp, the series' ratings remained steady. As of December 1, 2017, the series was averaging 8.2 million viewers in the season, competing against more established Top 20 series Dancing with the Stars and The Voice. The series also performs well in the much-coveted 18-49 demographic, ranking as the fifth-highest rated program on CBS in that category.

Ratings

Season 1 (2016–17)

Season 2 (2017–18)

Home media

The Complete First Season was released on DVD on September 5, 2017, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.