The popular show titled Kevin Can Wait is an American sitcom television series featuring the renowned actor, Kevin James. This is a CBS series that aired from September 19, 2016 to May 7, 2018. The show marked Kevin’s second starring role on a CBS series after his time on the set of The King of Queens which lasted from 1988 to 2007.
When the show opened, Kevin played the role of the recently retired Nassau County, New York City cop, as well as the father of three. He was also the husband of Donna played by Erin Hayes. The character of Donna died at the start of the second season and was replaced by Leah Remini – the new female lead of the series, who came to play the character of Vanessa Cellucci. Leah was Kevin’s old rival in the police force and his collaborator at the newly created security company Monkey Fist Security.
While the first season focused primarily on Kevin’s family and James’ personal life, season 2 focused on his relationship with Vanessa and his adjustment to life as a single father after his wife’s death. Unfortunately, the series was canceled by CBS after a run of 48 seasons and 48 episodes.
Kevin can wait Cast
Kevin James as Kevin Gable
Kevin is the main character of the series, a recently retired police officer, father of the Gable family and husband of Donna. He tended to fall into complicated situations which he normally solved with the help of his wife and his simple principles.
Erinn Hayes as Donna Gable
Actress and comedian Erinn Hayes starred as Kevin’s wife and mother to the Gable family. She stayed for the entire first season but was killed off in the second season.
Taylor Spreitler as Kendra Gable-Witt
American television and film actress Taylor Spreitler is the eldest daughter of the Gable family. She is a law student and also worked part-time as a waitress at Enzo’s.
Ryan Cartwright as Chale Witt
Ryan Cartwright is an English actor born in Birmingham, West Midlands. In the GTV sitcom Kevin Can Wait, he is Kendra’s fiancé, who later becomes her husband. He is described as soft-spoken and shy, but also very intelligent. Kevin didn’t like her at first, but then they hit it off.
Mary-Charles Jones as Sara Marie Gable
Sara is the youngest daughter of the Gable family, she was introduced as a tomboy who has anger management issues with a rebellious streak. She is athletic, enjoys watching football and often gets into fights. Mary-Charles was born in Atlanta, Georgia on October 10, 2003. She has starred in films like Dear Silent Diary, October Road, and Hannah Montana.
James DiGiacomo as Jack Gable
James DiGiacomo appeared in the television series as the youngest son of the Gable family. He is considered the weakest link in the Gable household. Although he has always made an effort to make new friends, he has very few and he is a bit weak. Child actor James DiGiacomo was born in New York City on March 22, 2005 and first appeared in film when he was three years old.
What happened to the woman?
The obvious question on the lips of Kevin fans can wait It’s what happened to Erin’s character, why Donna killed? At the start of the second season, the character of Erin Hayes was taken over by Leah Remini, the former King of Queens, queen of Kevin. Donna just mysteriously died – and even Kevin wasn’t sure how it happened but he knew why.
According to what Kevin James told the New York Daily, something had to be done to keep the show moving forward. He then revealed that his character was originally cast as a single father, but it appeared that after much deliberation, the show’s producers had made the decision to write a wife for Kevin. But at the end of the first season, it became really clear that a change was in order.
Kevin also said that the plot of the show is without the training needed to go through with it and going through season 2 could mean they can’t make it through season three. In fact, the show literally ran out of ideas. It was already known that Donna’s character would die, but the one thing that wasn’t known was how the deed would be accomplished – or perhaps more importantly, how the show producers were going to deal with his sudden and blatant exit.
Was the show canceled and why?
Yes, Kevin Can Wait was definitely canceled and the unpleasant fact is that the cancellation only came after a few seasons. Fans have seen plenty of cancellations so far, some expected, some not, but this one came as a big surprise to viewers.
So the big question is “why did CBS decide to cancel the show? Well the answer to this particular question comes down to a good number of reasons, you would probably expect some of the contributing factors but a few others were never expected. The main factors are listed below.
The Showrunner came out after only half a season
The show took off on a high note in 2016 with the first episode which garnered 11 million viewers. But trouble started happening a few months later after Bruce Helford – the showrunner decided to quit the show. According to Deadline, Bruce had some creative differences with main character Kevin James. Worse still, the news came as the show’s ratings were already beginning to show a slight decline; it started with The Big Bang Theory as an intro, but when it was moved to 8 p.m. the rate of decline became more significant
Fans became outraged after Kelvin’s wife ran out
This is shocking news for fans and audiences when they learned that Kevin’s wife portrayed by Erin Hayes will be leaving the show. Fans were further shocked when it became apparent that it was never Erin’s decision to leave the show, but rather, it was revealed through her Twitter account that she had been asked to leave.
It was soon announced that Leah Remini was set to join the series as Kevin’s co-star in order to take Erin’s place while the character played by Erin will be killed off in the plot. It turns out that Leah co-starred with Kevin in The King of Queens. So it appeared to fans that Erin was killed off so she could set up a Queen’s King semi-reboot. This decision infuriated fans online even more.
So when asked why the show is letting Erin go, lead character Kevin replied that the producers were pretty much out of ideas, and that’s a really bad sign after the show only ran for a while. season.
The show was not wholly owned by CBS
An important factor to consider is that Kevin Can Wait The TV show wasn’t entirely the brainchild of CBS Television Studios, but the production work was a collaboration between Sony Pictures Television and CBS.
It’s true that co-productions on TV shows are common occurrences, but when it gets to the stage where a network becomes undecided about keeping a show that’s on the bubble, studio executives may be a little more inclined to keep the show going if it’s theirs alone, but that wasn’t the case with Kevin Can Wait
When a network happens to be the primary distributor of a TV show, selling its rights to other businesses such as streaming services can be very profitable. This trend becomes more and more important as time goes by. It’s even poised to top live TV ratings. However, since the show was not wholly owned by CBS, survival depended solely on live show ratings; no other options were listed at all.
The ratings dropped in the 2nd season.
Kevin Can Wait TV series saw a steep decline in its second season, although the Season 2 premiere drew 10 million viewers. From what’s obvious, everyone was really eager to hear how the show’s producers handled Erin Hayes’ exit and likely witnessed Leah’s ability to replace the shoes Erin left behind.
From all indications, those viewers are gone, which was evident in episodes the following week, when viewership dropped by almost four million. The drop represented a 35% decrease; relatively, the show only saw a 4% drop between its premiere and the 2nd episode of the 1st season. Fans online have shown some negativity over how Erin’s departure has been handled by the show, with many vowing never to watch again. By the time the second season ended, Kevin Can Wait The TV show hit a low with a record 4.9 million viewers for the penultimate episode.
Expenses were high
Kevin Can Wait’s high production cost is another major challenge the show had. Although exact numbers were never released, Newsday reported that the cost of producing the series was quite high, which contributed to the series’ cancellation.
The salary that was paid to Kevin James constitutes a significant part of this production budget, according to Variety, Kevin received $200,000 for a single episode, or $5 million for a season. Relatively, Roseanne’s main cast John Goodman was making $250,000, but his own show was rated higher than Kevin Can Wait.
CBS says ratings were main factor
CBS themselves opened up about why the TV series was axed. According to what Kelly Kahl – the president of CBS Entertainment told Deadline, the numbers were a pretty good show for them. She regressed a lot towards the end and was definitely heading in the wrong direction. As the year went on, the numbers continued to drop, and going forward, the show didn’t look like something that should recover in a short period of time.
There were shows like Man With A Plan which had ratings similar to Kevin Can Wait’s actually being renewed by CBS. But it looks like CBS had reason to believe that Kevin Can Wait had every chance of facing a higher dropout rate in the 3rd season if it aired. Much of the decision to scrap the show is likely due to seeing how fans received their earlier decision to kill off Erin’s character.
The CBS executive vice president told Deadline that TV show Kevin Can Wait made a decision earlier this year they all agreed to move on, but sadly viewers didn’t see it. in the same way.