King of Queens, underrated as compared to the ratings?
 

King of Queens has been one of my favorite shows , and yes it has alot of it is stupid humor, but taken with a grain of salt, most of the shows are hilareous.

I always noticed it never did great ratings, meaning it was never a Top 5 show in the Nielsons, and rarely cracked the Top 10, if at all, when the show was in its prime? Everyone I know loves the show and watches the reruns every night, but the overall audience in the ratings always paled to shows like Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Is it underrated, or is it just a diehard cult fanbase?

I've tried to type a few different things but they all sound too mean, so I'll go with "diehard cult fanbase".

I enjoy King of Queens. I own the first 4 seasons on DVD, but I probably won't buy any more. IMO, the best shows were in the 1st and some of the 2nd season. From then on it is hit and miss. I have watched entire episodes in the 3rd/4th seasons without laughing once, and this after laughin to the point of tears at points in the 1st/2nd seasons. The whole rapport between Doug and Carrie turns a little too hostile and the storylines stay basically too much the same. Doug screws up or is "insensitive" in some way and Carrie bitches about it. I still get laughs from the show just about every episode, but the best years are long past.

I always have thought it was underrated during it's prime. It's about time someone else acknowledge it, too.

Actually, The King of Queens was a relative critical and popular success through most of the first five seasons or so of its run, particularly when it was the lead in for Everybody Loves Raymond. It never quite reached the ratings heights of Raymond or Friends (to use your examples) but was a solid top 20 to 30 Nielsen finisher in its prime.

Entertainment Weekly also picked it as the best sit-com on TV a few years back. So it has definitely held a fairly solid reputation through most of its many years on the air, if not quite vaunted enough to grab a horde of Emmys.

I personally think it was a great/funny show through its first five or so seasons, but that it has gradually diminished in quality over the last three seasons. Like many suiccessful shows, it has just gone on a bit too long past its prime and become far too formulaic. I expect that this most recent (shortened) season will probably be its last hurrah as CBS seems to be moving away from the domestic sit-coms that made up much of their programming through the late 90's.

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Just an excuse to show off my favorite Leah Remini photo...

I've always thought KoQ was a very funny show, and am glad to see new episodes airing.

But even as I claim that I am a fan of the show, I have to admit that I've never been excited about it.

Last year when it looked like it was going to be cancelled, my reaction was (along the lines of) "Oh well"
When I saw that new eps were coming back, my response was "Okay, I'll watch"

One of the strengths of the show, with regard to syndicated reruns, is that the premise is the premise (fat, dumb, lazy husband versus sexy, angry wife) and you can watch any episode from any season and follow what's going on easily.

It seems to me that that is one of the shows weaknesses in first-run, because you know that you can miss episodes for weeks at a time and not have to worry that you are missing part of a continuing story, which means that you never feel like you have to watch.

BTW, as someone who's ripped Remini for being fat in the past, let me say tat she was back in hawt form in the new eps.

There are so many right things about that picture.

And yet the vile cigarette ruins the entire thing.

Dooku...this is the case with any sitcom, though. Thats the benefit of it being a sitcom! You can just jump in and enjoy.

Two words: Arrested Development

^^Exception, not the rule.

She's lost a lot of that sexiness in the past 3 years or so.

I'll try and help you out...

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