Beauty and the least
Kevin James is not the most versatile actor; but what he does do, he does well. And what he does well is play the role of the schlub.
This week, CBS announced that it would be hiring Leah Remini as a series regular on the sitcom Kevin Can Wait, which stars her former King of Queens co-star. A day later, the network announced that it had let go of the show’s previous co-star, Erinn Hayes, who had played his wife. When Kevin Can Wait premiered last fall, water-cooler criticism focused on the difference in appearance between James and Hayes, questioning the believability a couple from opposite ends of the conventional beauty spectrum. But beyond the physical difference were the attributes of the characters. James plays a bumbling fool, while Hayes portrayed a responsible and headstrong woman.
In other words, the pairing was the peak example of a dated sitcom trope. It revisited the 1990s discombobulated dad tradition of Married... with Children, Home Improvement, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, and through to Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond and According to Jim. The schlubby dad is defined by a bumbling personality. He’s the sort of man who can’t differentiate a tool-box from the refrigerator or, if he can, he’s just too lazy and too busy spending time irritating his often younger, thinner and uptight wife. The sitcom mom in these scenarios plays the quintessential straight man, a springboard off which Ray Romano and Jim Belushi can bounce their punchlines.
But there have been slight steps toward a more realistic future. Both Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory acknowledge their use of the trope, with Gloria and Jay regularly poking fun at her having supposedly married him for his money, while Leonard and Penny spent several seasons never quite making it work because of their differences. And Mike & Molly offered a couple that is not only evenly matched physically, but personality-wise, all the while creating characters rarely seen on primetime.
That’s why Kevin Can Wait’s casting/character choices are so disappointing. In real life, we like to say “opposites attract,” but that’s an adage that isn’t as true as it is romantic. And while it could be considered aspirational on a love-is-blind basis, it’s actually offensive to both sides of such a mismatched union that reinforces awful gender stereotypes of the man-child and his trophy wife.