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Throughout television history, shows lasting a long time was the exception since the vast majority of series were quickly canceled or lasted one or two seasons. With that in mind, it is clear that everyone involved with The King of Queens deserves to be proud the show lasted nine seasons.That said, when it was announced that The King of Queens was canceled, it took virtually everyone by surprise. The reason for that is simple, it was hard to see why the show was canceled from the outside looking in.While The King of Queens certainly wasn't the top show on television when it was canceled, it was higher rated than the majority of other sitcoms. On top of that, the show's stars have said a lot of positive things about The King of Queens and Leah Remini said she wanted the show to return for a 10th season.Anytime something is hard to explain, it doesn't take long for theories to pop up. With that in mind, it isn't overly surprising that people have made guesses about The King of Queens' cancelation including some who think that Kevin James' salary led to the show's cancelation. But, is that true?
How Much Was Kevin James Paid For The King Of Queens?
Before The King of Queens premiered on CBS, Kevin James was a comedian with next to no acting experience. While several comedians have starred in successful sitcoms in similar situations, most shows focused on comedians with no acting resumes have completely flopped.
Given the history of failed sitcoms that revolve around comedians, it seems clear that CBS was taking a significant risk by giving Kevin James a sitcom. With that in mind, observers may assume he was paid very little for The King of Queens' first season.
Instead, it has been reported that James was paid $300,000 for each episode of The King of Queens when the show began. Once the sitcom became a hit, James was given a raise that resulted in him making $400,000 per episode.
Even though that means that James ultimately was bringing in a staggering amount of money, he reportedly felt his salary wasn't good enough at a certain point. While it may seem crazy for anyone to be unhappy with a salary like that, it makes sense once you realize how much money CBS would make from a hit sitcom.
James' demands for more money reportedly led to a salary dispute before the eighth season of The King of Queens began filming. Ultimately, cooler heads prevailed when James and CBS agreed to a new contract that called for Kevin to be paid $500,000 per episode for the show's eighth and ninth seasons.
Did Kevin James' Salary Demands Lead To The King Of Queens' Cancelation?
Just over a month before The King of Queen's final episode aired for the first time. tvseriesfinale.com published an article about the show's cancelation.
In that article, tvseriesfinale.com claimed that The King of Queens' ninth and final season was a huge success with its premiere episode garnering almost 10 million viewers. These days, that would be a truly staggering number.
However, according to that same article, before the ninth season began, the show's popularity had waned some. Those lower ratings numbers combined with The King of Queens' costing more to produce is what reportedly led to the show's cancelation.
tvseriesfinale.com's article then went on to cite one fact to explain why The King of Queens was expensive to produce, Kevin James' salary. Considering that the ninth season of The King of Queens was a ratings success from the start, many people believe James' salary was mainly to blame.
While it has been reported that James could live for years on the residuals he earns from The King of Queens, it seems silly to blame his salary alone. According to Rob Schiller, the director of many The King of Queens episodes, James' movie career played a huge role in the show's cancelation.
"I don't think he can juggle both things anymore. We tried this year and did 13 episodes around his movie ['I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry']. Now he has more and more offers. If that Sandler movie blows up, he'll be just as busy. And it is where his heart and his creative mind are right now, and who can blame him?"
Based on all the available information, it seems clear that James' salary demands and movie career both played a role in The King of Queens ending. It also seems extremely likely that there were other factors as there almost always are a lot of reasons for every decision in the entertainment business.
