The King of Queens: Season 04 (2001)

Member Rating:

Blue-collar couple Doug and Carrie Heffernan (Kevin James, Leah Remini) are still living in their modest but comfy digs in Queens, NY -- and still sharing space with Carrie's tactless, obstreperous father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller) -- as The King of Queens enters its fourth season. The previous season's two-part cliffhanger, involving Carrie's pregnancy, is resolved in a melancholy fashion when she miscarries, though the couple still intends to conceive again sometimewhere down the line. Also down in the dumps is Arthur, whose last friend from his old nursing home has moved away. His reaction to this turn of events is not to moan and kvetch (his accustomed behavior), but to spend his entire day sleeping -- only to wake up full of energy in the evening, just when Doug and Carrie would rather take it easy. This compels Doug to hire someone to listen to, and put up with, Arthur; the person chosen is Holly Shumpert (Nicole Sullivan), a character introduced in the previous season as a ditsy baby-store salesperson named Marilyn. Otherwise employed as a dog walker for Doug's pal Spence (Patton Oswalt), Holly agrees to walk with Arthur three times per week and feign interest in his long-winded war stories (though eventually she comes to genuinely enjoy the old guy's company). In another development, the rapidly unraveling marriage of Doug's buddy Deacon (Victor Williams) and his wife, Kelly (Merrin Dungey), totally collapses, and Kelly moves out with her two children. Highlights from season four include Doug's efforts to break the 951-consecutive-perfect-delivery record at his job; Carrie going on a retreat with her fellow law-firm employees; Arthur's struts and frets as he prepares to undergo heart surgery; Doug and Carrie recalling the events leading up to their wedding, including a "Sign from God" -- and later on, the couple staging an elaborate reenactment of their first date; Carrie driving Doug to distraction as she prepares for a big-time legal case; the unexpected discovery of a generous check from Doug's cousin, and the ensuing consequences; and Doug's dreams of quitting his job and running his own sandwich shop. The season ends with the series' 100th episode, in which Arthur reluctantly agrees to see a psychotherapist about his hilariously uncontrollable anger. The 2001-2002 season saw The King of Queens posting its best ratings so far, finally cracking the Top 20 of network programs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi