Why Did Leah Remini and Kevin James’ Characters Not Have Kids on ‘The King of Queens’?

The King of Queens wasn’t a rating juggernaut. Still, the series was popular for CBS in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show followed the lives of a married couple, Carrie and Doug Heffernan, as they adjusted to life with Carrie’s father, Arthur Spooner, living with them. While the series focused on the trials and tribulations of married life, there was one aspect of matrimony that the show did not explore. Carrie and Doug didn’t have children during the show’s initial run. The production team opted not to give the couple children partly for syndication purposes. 

Carrie and Doug Heffernan didn’t have children because of syndication 

Carrie and Doug didn’t have children of their own during the show’s initial run. As it turns out, that was a call made by studio executives and not the show’s writers. In 2006, executive producer David Bickel sat down for an interview with the Futon Critic and revealed why Doug and Carrie never had kids. 

He said that the The King of Queens writing staff always viewed Arthur as the couple’s baby. Still, the studio ultimately decided the couple wouldn’t have kids. He explained that when a show introduces a baby, it’s seen as a “new show” of sorts. The separation can hurt the show in syndication. The studio wanted to avoid “pre-baby” and “post-baby” episodes, so they opted to keep the couple child-free. 

It’s easy to see why the decision was made. Several other popular shows fell into the trap of introducing a baby, only for it to hurt the show in the long run. Mad About You is a prime example. When the series introduced Mabel Buchman, everything seemed to change. Fans do see the series in terms of “pre-Mabel” and “post-Mabel.” To a lesser extent, the same appears to be true with Friends. While Ross welcomed Ben Geller in season 1 of the series, the introduction of Emma in latter seasons felt contrived and forced. 

Leah Remini was pregnant during the filming of ‘The King of Queens’ 

While Leah Remini’s The King of Queens character, Carrie Heffernan, was never pregnant on The King of Queens, the actor herself was pregnant during the show’s run. In the series’ sixth season, Remini was pregnant with her only child, Sophia Bella Pagan. Remini and her husband, Angelo Pagan, welcomed their daughter in June 2004. 

Instead of writing the pregnancy into the series, the show’s production team opted to explain Remini’s pregnancy away with a weight gain storyline. The actor was hidden behind couches and other furniture sporadically, as well, to hide her pregnancy belly. Frasier writers used a similar trope to explain Jane Leeves’ pregnancy in the series. Leeves portrayed Daphne Moon. While Daphne and Niles Crane had a baby on the show in the final season, Leeves’ was pregnant in real life much earlier.