The King of Queens: Season 05 (2002)

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Season five of The King of Queens is still set in the titular New York borough, and still revolves around blue-collar delivery driver Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) and his legal-assistant wife, Carrie (Leah Remini) -- not to mention Carrie's cantankerous widowed father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller), who lives with the couple. The most significant plot development during this season is the divorce of Doug's pal Deacon Palmer (Patton Oswalt) and his wife, Kelly (Merrin Dungey). This puts Doug in the position of being the occasional surrogate parent to the couple's children, Kirby (Marshaun Daniel) and Major (Damani Roberts). Highlights from the fourth season include Doug's "temporary bachelor" status when Carrie begins working the night shift at the law firm; Carrie's conviction that her prayers are coming true, and the method by which she louses up this divine intervention; a titillating episode involving a sexy addition to Doug's bowling team and Carrie's misadventures with a breast-obsessed child; Doug's frantic efforts to cover up an indiscretion -- namely, taking a photograph of his "privates"; two Thanksgiving dinners with no turkeys; Carrie forcing Doug to get professional help for his binge-eating; and various run-ins with the Heffernans' intellectual new neighbors, Mike and Debi Ross (Michael Lowry, Marcia Cross). The season closer finds Carrie going bed-shopping thanks to Doug's carelessness -- and isn't that former "Incredible Hulk" Lou Ferrigno as the Heffernan's next-door neighbor? Though ratings fluctuated throughout The King of Queens' fifth season, the series continued to perform admirably, at one point ranking as America's tenth most popular program. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi