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Kevin Can Recast

What the casting news really means for the show.

By Edward AndersonPublished 7 years ago 2 min read
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Over the weekend, there was some pretty big news. No it's not the fact that Wonder Woman made a bazillion dollars at the box office, that was expected. The big news was that Leah Remini was going to be joining the cast of Kevin Can Wait full time. Hours later came the news that Erin Hayes, who played the wife of Kevin James' character in the show had been released from her contract. And the internet exploded.

Deadline, TVLine, Variety all ran pieces with the same information. The comments were split on each of the sites about whether this was for the best or if Kevin James and company were trying to replicate the success of the James/Remini classic sitcom King of Queens. The commenters have a point, it does seem very odd that Remini is joining her former co-star this late in the game. KCW was the #1 new sitcom last season and is pretty formidable in the ratings, but it isn't exactly the ratings powerhouse that King of Queens was or that The Big Bang Theory is but it was popular enough to score an early renewal from CBS.

So why did Erin Hayes lose her job and Leah Remini gain full time employment? The answer is different from each person. Some cite the cliched "going in a different creative direction." Others say that it was a chemistry thing, Hayes didn't have enough combustible chemistry with James to make the show even more popular. Then there is the business decision, that they needed Remini to sign on full time in order to be able to market the show to a broader audience. Going after the family audience is great and all, but there are many more people who want to see a love story unfold. And they want to seat unfold with 2 people they already know work well together. Hence Remini and James are being reunited.

So let's assume that there is some truth in each of those theories and that ultimately it was a business decision to let Erin Hayes go. How do you take care of the character? There are rumors that the show will be a bit tragic for a few episodes and that they will be killing her character off. After some time has passed (a few weeks in sitcom land), James' character will begin to fall in love with Remini's character. Viola! A family sitcom with a love story thrown in for good measure, everyone wins.

Except for Erin Hayes, who couldn't audition for a new TV show this season because she thought that she was contracted to be on one. Hopefully CBS can find her a spot on one of their many cop shows, at least so her career doesn't take a huge hit from this mess.

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About the Creator

Edward Anderson

Edward has written hundreds of acclaimed true crime articles and has won numerous awards for his short stories.

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