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Knocking Off The Wife

SOLVED!

[Blind Gossip] This comedic actor has starred in more than one television series.

In his most well-known series, his character wasmarried to a TV actress with a unique voice. Their show ran for many seasons.

His new show (in which he plays a different character) isn’t quite as big and successful as the previous one.

So what are they going to do? They are going to knock off his current TV wife… and replace her with the actress with the unique voice from the previous series!

No, this won’t be one of those Bewitched (the New Darrin) or Roseanne (the New Becky) scenarios, where they simply swap in a new actress. She’s going to play a new character. He’ll get rid of the current wife and then get involved with the new character over several episodes.

It will be interesting to see how they make that scenario funny!

Similar: You Can’t Replace Me

Actor:

Actress with Unique Voice:

Previous Series:

Current Series:

[Optional] How do you think they will get rid of the current wife character?

SOLVED!

Actor: Kevin James

Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

Previous Series: King of Queens

Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

Actors Kevin James and Leah Remini had terrific chemistry and produced great ratings as a married couple on the TV comedy King of Queens. That show had an impressive run of nine seasons.

After KOQ ended, Kevin James moved on to a new TV comedy, Kevin Can Wait, where he played a retired police officer.

Ratings were tepid in the first season. Producers decided that it was because James did not have enough chemistry with actress Erinn Hayes, who played his wife. She needed to go. However, they didn’t want to do an Old Becky/New Becky switch like they did on Roseanne many years ago. So, in a controversial casting move to shake things up, they very unceremoniously killed her off!

Was that supposed to be funny? Yikes.

Then they brought in Leah Remini as the new female lead.

Yes, your friends at Blind Gossip told you that was going to happen!

James’ character, a retired police officer, became the head of a security company. Leah Remini played his business partner. They hoped to replicate the chemistry that made King of Queens such a success.

Well, it didn’t quite work. Perhaps it was a flawed concept from the beginning. Perhaps the audience didn’t find killing off of the wife especially funny. Perhaps the audience didn’t warm up to James and Remini as coworkers instead of a couple. We don’t know.

In any case, the show has been canceled after just two seasons.

Congratulations to Pigerella for being first with the correct answer!

And yes, it is a complete coincidence that a year after we used Old Becky/New Becky as the illustration for this item that Roseanne came back! In quite the casting twist, Old Becky is back as Roseanne’s daughter… with New Becky (as a new character) hiring her to be a surrogate mother because they look so much alike. Now that’s a clever casting twist!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. the kings of queens, leah remini , kevin james
    kevin can wait

    i read that she (the character) is going back to school/quit her job. i think they’re going to kick of her with something having to do with that.

    i might just actually watch the show now! they’re adorable together. idc if it’s already been done 🙂

  3. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

  4. Actor: Kevin James. Actress: Leah Remini. Original series: The King of Queens. Current series: Kevin Can Wait

  6. Kevin James
    Leah Remini (I wouldn’t say her voice is unique though)
    King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait

  7. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: The King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin can wait

    [Optional] How do you think they will get rid of the current wife character?

  8. Kevin James
    Leigh Remini for unique voice
    King Of Queens old show
    Kevin Can Wait
    I KNEW the minute she can back for a ‘guest” role and they were advertising about her return for one show that she was coming back in some form or fashion.
    I don’t know – she leaves him….

  9. Kevin James’ Kevin Can Wait brings back Leah Remini. I think Erin Hayes’ character joins the cast of Real Housewives of Long Island, and leaves him for a Camaro salesman.

  11. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: The King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

    [Optional] How do you think they will get rid of the current wife character?
    They’ll write some stupid way for them to divorce, like “She decided to travel the world for 5 episodes and then she sent divorce papers”.

  12. I rarely ever watched King of Queens but I did keep watching Kevin Can Wait just hoping it would suddenly get funny and it really didn’t. So I guess now this will just be one less thing I have to watch on on demand.

  13. Hmm, my first thought was John Goodman/Roseanne. But it doesn’t look like he has anything going on TV-wise right now? But the pic (actresses from Roseanne) would definitely help my guess.

    • I thought the same thing but couldn’t figure out the John Goodman portion. I would have never guessed Leah. Now reading all the guesses it makes total sense.

    • Roseanne is coming back for eight eps next year, thanks to the Dan/Darlene skit John & Sara did on The Talk in March. John is confirmed to be returning. I keep hearing differing 2d hand reports of who else is in, but story stands now they are ignoring at least the finale “reveals” where Dan died after s8 D&D wedding heart attack, if not ignoring the final season? Roseanne has posted random updates over the years where she thinks the family is now, and claims Dan faked his death.

  14. Too easy.

    Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: The King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

    I don’t watch the show, so I don’t know how they will make the change. I do know that Kevin & Leah have great chemistry, so it will probably improve the ratings!

  15. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: The King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

    She’ll die off-screen before next season leaving him a widow to woo the Leah Remini character.

  18. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait

    Midlife Crisis – leaves to pursue her own life.

  19. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    The King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait
    Have her become a Scientologist

  22. Kevin James and Leah Remini
    Original series: King of Queens
    Current series: Kevin can wait

  24. Actor: Kevin james

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

    I imagine they’ll probably kill his current wife off.

  28. when I think of unique voices I think of fran drescher from “the nanny…but charles shaughnessy isn’t in any series right now……(their characters diid marry on the nanny at some point)

    but…he is on days of our lives, does that count as a series?? and the nany ran for 6 seasons….that’s all I got…want to see what everybody else guesses!

  29. Actor: Kevin James
    Actress with unique voice: Leah Remini
    Original Series: King of Queens
    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait
    Leah guest starred the last couple of episodes of Kevin Can Wait. So it would be easy enough for her to return. Although I like his wife Donna on the show, so I hope it isn’t this one.

  31. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leah Remini

    Original Series: King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

  32. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King of Queens
    Kevin can Wait….is that what it’s called?

  33. Only one I can think of is Kevin James and Leah Remini

    Old series was King of Queens and his new series is Kevin Can Wait.

  35. I don’t watch many comedies, the only one I can think of an actress with a funny voice was Fran Drescher in The Nanny

  36. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait
    Since this is a comedy show, probably something like he wakes up and the former wife was all a dream, or something lame like that. I don’t particularly care for this new show, so I don’t watch it faithfully. Maybe bringing Leah in will change things.

  37. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King if Queens
    Kevin Can Wait

    Optional: no idea. I don’t watch the show.

  38. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait

    IMO the show had no direction, and honestly got more stupid as the season went on so I hope this is for the best

  39. Makes me think of Charles Shaunessy in The Nanny with Fran Dresher … but he’s not currently in a TV show is he?

  42. Actor: Kevin James
    Actress Leah Remini
    Original series was King of Queens
    Current is Kevin can wait.

    They are bringing her in as the same part she guest starred as at the end of season 1. The wife will either leave him or die unexpectantly.

  43. James/Remini = Kevin Can Wait. Never watched it, but they’ll go one of two ways – a “very special” episode where she dies episode 1, season 2, or we’ll get a back story explaining a divorce on that episode, one or the other.

  45. Kevin James
    Leah Remini
    King of Queens
    Kevin Can Wait

    Not sure. Probably won’t kill her off though.

  46. Actor: Kevin James

    Actress with Unique Voice: Leam Remini

    Original Series: King of Queens

    Current Series: Kevin Can Wait

    [Optional] How do you think they will get rid of the current wife character? Poor Erinn Hayes

  49. Kevin James

    Leah Remini

    King of Queens

    Kevin Can Wait

    They should scrap the entire cast as the kids are all forgettable. He needs to do a Dallas and begin again back in Queens because I don’t think the female base is going to take kindly to him dumping his co-star and treating her character like a non-entity.