‘Kevin Can Wait’ Moves To New Timeslot: Kevin James Comedy Takes Monday Night Spot ‘King Of Queens’ Dominated

Kevin James is going back to his old stomping grounds, and it’s a win for younger viewers of his CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait. James’ sophomore CBS sitcom is being moved to an earlier time slot as the network shifts its Monday night programming lineup. According to Deadline, the single-camera comedy Me, Myself & I has been pulled from the schedule immediately as CBS reverts to an all-multi-camera Monday lineup. The schedule shift puts Kevin Can Wait in the 8 p.m. timeslot, an hour earlier than it has been airing. The Matt LeBlanc sitcom Man With a Plan will follow Kevin Can Wait, with the sitcom Superior Donuts taking over James’ former 9 p.m. spot. The new comedy 9JKL rounds out the Monday night lineup.

Kevin James is no stranger to the 8 p.m. Monday night timeslot. Nearly 20 years ago, in the fall of 1998, James’ sitcom The King of Queens debuted on CBS on Monday nights. For five seasons, the sitcom dominated in its Monday night, 8 p.m. time slot. CBS had so much confidence in the show that it later moved TheKing of Queens to Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. where it continued to thrive.

“I feel like a kid going off to college like in Everybody Loves Raymond,” James told CBS’ Harry Smith at the time. “But I’m looking forward to it and CBS has a lot of confidence in the show, so I’m excited.”

James also noted that the later time slot might provide The King of Queens with more adult viewers, but promised not to change the show too much.

“I don’t think we’re too racy before; we’re not going to do that,” he said. “But, now, you get more viewers at that time. A lot of people say, ‘We can’t catch your show because we are feeding the kids and putting them to bed,’ so hopefully we’ll catch viewers we haven’t had before.”

According to Today, The King of Queens was a consistent success for CBS, despite a series of scheduling changes and little Emmy recognition. The show had a loyal fan base and has proved to be a smash success in syndication.

“We were like a cockroach — you just couldn’t kill us,” James said ahead of the show’s finale episode in 2007.

A decade later, Kevin James finds himself in a reverse situation as Kevin Can Wait moves from the 9 p.m. time to a more family-friendly earlier time.

Kevin Can Wait has already survived a change in its format and James’ King of Queens co-star Leah Remini joined the cast for Season 2. Now it will be interesting to see if Kevin Can Wait can survive its surprising schedule change.

Take a look at a sneak peek at the next episode of Kevin Can Wait, titled “The Crown Affair.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED9zHuLI3mU

Kevin Can Wait airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

[Featured Image by David M. Russell/CBS]