Right now is arguably a golden age of television, where basic cable networks, premium cable networks, and streaming services are pumping out some truly amazing stuff. We’ve been treated to shows such as Breaking Bad, Mr. Robot, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and many, many more. All the while, the once-mighty realm of broadcast has been falling into self parody and grasping at figurative straws to find anything that works.
The latest of which seems to be taking the formula that worked for the Kevin James vehicle, The King of Queens, for what felt like a million years, then to try to recreate it and hope that something sticks. CBS was so desperate to create a new The King of Queens that they actually did it twice. One such show is Kevin Can Wait, featuring none other than Kevin James starring as a newly-retired police officer making the transition to being at home all of the time and not working. The other show is Man With A Plan, starring Matt LeBlanc as a contractor who finds himself in a difficult situation when his wife returns to work, leaving him to watch after the kids and deal with life as a stay-at-home-dad.
Sure, there might be some slight differences in the minutiae here, but both shows are essentially about a doughy (or moderately doughy) white guy with a smokin’ hot wife trying to deal with staying at home and being an actual father and husband. Because men don’t have to actually be a decent husband and dad otherwise, right? Outside of that, both trailers felt like they were approximately forty minutes long apiece. Yikes. The race to the bottom starts this fall on CBS.
