History Series / TheKingOfQueens

* MeddlingParents: Spence's mother. Doug's mom, briefly, when she and her husband stay over while Carrie's out of town.

* UglyGuy HotWife: Though Doug isn't ugly, he's undeniably obese, while Carrie is beautiful.

* Pygmalion SnapBack: The episode "Jung Frankenstein".

* TheBore: In "Roamin' Holiday", Carrie's high school friend's husband persistantly attempts to discuss downer politics with Doug, much to his dismay.
* TheCourier: Doug and Carrie both have referred to Doug as such when attempting to elevate his job title.

* BarBrawl (doug's imagine spot)

* AbortedArc: The series never really seemed sure what they wanted to do vis a vis Doug and Carrie having children. It was explored in the Season 1 finale, then not mentioned again until the end of Season 3 when an unexpected pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. This leads into a story arc in the first half of Season 4 where Doug and Carrie attempt to get pregnant again. We then learn that Carrie has a bad ovary which would make it difficult for them to conceive. After this episode, the child arc is completely forgotten about until the series finale. It is possible that the writers were vacillating on whether to bring a child into the show and then made the decision not to.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Doug's poledance. Especially when compared to Carrie.

** Doug in general is implied to be decently athletic and powerful (consider his job; he probably spends a decent amount of time having to carry around heavy boxes and considering he works in New York, he probably has to deliver things up lots of stairs in walk-up apartments.) One episode has a gag that he used to be extremely well-built and muscular, being a football player in his younger days. It seems he's just added a layer of flab ''over'' the muscles.

** Donny Osmond appears as himself in one episode.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dawn's aggressive rant against Mr. Kaplan, albeit borrowed from Carrie.
** Spence has a minor freak-out when he thinks Carrie has separated for good from Doug, and he has a chance with her. On his way to pop the question, he witnesses them reconciling. He goes nuts out of jealousy.

%%* BigFun: Doug is this to a tee.
%% * Bittersweet Ending: The episode "Pregnant Pause".

* BrattyFoodDemand: In "Taste Buds", Doug manipulates Arthur into rudely demanding food so that Carrie will take them to whatever restaurant he (Doug) wants to go. For example, when Doug wants pizza, he gets Arthur to reminisce about the time he was in the Army in Italy, causing Arthur to say, "I want pizza!"

* BreakfastInBed: Doug attempts to bring an unsavory combination of dinner/breakfast in bed to Carrie in attempt to convince her to stay home from work.

* TheCameo: Ben Stiller has a cameo as Arthur's abusive father in the episode "Shrink Wrap".

%% * CarpetOfVirility: Doug and Danny, type II.
* CatchPhrase: "Shutty".

** All of Doug's exaggerated "T-I-O-N"words: Dona-TION, Sanita-TION, Fornica-TION, etc etc

** Doug's Aunt Sheila is never seen or mentioned again after her appearance in the series' fifth episode.

* CompressedAbstinence (his food diary) (jung frankenstein)

** Gianni from the latter show appeared in one episode as well.

** However, it should be noted that unlike ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' with Raymond and Debra, Doug was always portrayed as equally strong-willed and just as often meant to be "right" in the plot as Carrie.
** He's also acknowledged by other characters as having the patience of a saint for dealing with Carrie for so long.
** Also there are episodes in which Doug and Carrie realize just how destructive their relationship is and are even visibly disturbed by the revelation.
** When Doug joins a support group for men in abusive relationships (to get out of the weight loss one, which doesn't serve food), they have him talk about his experience and he relates how Carrie does things like twist his nipples after he angers her over something. He also blames this for his weight. Carrie doesn't help this by then being her normal, aggressive self when she comes to pick Doug up. After learning what group he's really in, she's of course outraged and notes that Doug was already overweight before she even met him. However, her twisting his nipples is justified by his bad behavior according to her. It's pretty certain however that no one would feel this excused Doug twisting ''her'' nipples.

** Carrie accidentally pushes Doug down the stairs when he prioritizes his grilled cheese over getting his suit fitted. Rather than admitting her fault and apologizing, she makes up for it by spoiling Doug until his cast is off.
** She also feels comfortable enough physically abusing Deacon, Danny, and Spence.

* EccentricExterminator: Wears Carrie's bra.

* FlowersOfRomance: Arthur attempts to woo Doug's aunt with these in "Paternal Affairs."

* FormallyNamedPet: Mr. Belvidere, the jack russel belonging to Towel Guy.
* FourthDateMarriage: In the three-part finale, Arthur becomes engages to a woman after only knowing her for a few days.

* GiftedlyBad: Carrie [[spoiler: at pole dancing]].

* InformedAttractiveness:
** While Doug's weight loss in "Doug Less" was noticeable, the way everybody in-universe was acting about it and talking about how much more handsome it made him is definitely this.

* JerkassHasAPoint: When Doug wants $100 from the family funds to bet on a boxing match in "Eddie Money," he tells Carrie he's entitled to it since he earns more than half the money that comes into the house. This prompts her to twist his nipples and order him to put the money back in the can. Given that Carrie is known to spend thousands of dollars per year on unnecessary clothing and accessories, it's a bit hypocritical for her to begrudge Doug over a hundred bucks.

* KarmaHoudini: In "Ice Cubed," Carrie gets advice from a pastor on what to do with an i-pod that she was accidentally not charged for. After some discussion Carrie decides to return the I-Pod. A great deal of bad things ensue. Indeed, [[spoiler: the cashier ends up losing her job over this. She then tries to help the cashier on the pastor's advice but this ends up endangering a man's life]]. Despite being partly responsible for causing the whole thing, not only is the pastor not punished (by law or by nature) [[spoiler: he gets a free I-Pod because Carrie can no longer enjoy it.]]
** In "Fight Schlub", the members of the Priority Plus delivery company get no comeuppance for assaulting Doug and binding him in Bubble wrap or taking the booth reserved for Doug and his friends at Coopers. [[spoiler: When Doug and his friends try to take back the booth they are defeated and are exiled to a booth by the bathroom]]

** In "Lost Vegas" [[spoiler: Arthur successfully cheats a church out of its money using a card counting scheme during their charity casino night.]]
** In one episode, an old man gets away with scamming Doug by selling an ice cream truck to him and than posing as a rival ice cream man who terrorizes Doug until he pays the owner to take the truck back. He proceeds to pull the trick on another man.
* KavorkaMan: The other Doug Heffernan, who turns out to be deliberately exploiting his women by giving them ''our'' Doug Heffernan's phone number. When Doug tracks him down, he turns out to be a man who would look like the Clark Kent to Creator/WoodyAllen's superman.
* KidsAreCruel: The high schoolers Doug tries to teach in "Strike Too" mock and bully him.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Anytime Doug or Carrie (or both) set up a scheme, it would always be foiled by some circumstance. "Patrons Ain't" & "Buy Curious" are good examples for both of them, with several of Doug's schemes to improve Carrie while he did nothing (such as in "Lush Life", "Gym Neighbors" & "Deconstructing Carrie") always came back to bite him in the ass.

* LadyDrunk: The single-episode of Spence's mom in "S'aint Valentine's", before being recast and rewritten as Creator/AnneMeara.

* LingerieScene: In ''Strike Out'', Carrie moves from bathroom to bedroom in her underwear - only to find her father lying on the bed. She screams at him to get out, but he shrugs and remarks there's nothing there he hasn't seen before.
* TheLoad: Arthur contributes nothing to the household and in fact has cost the Heffernans significant amounts of money (he's started fires, sold their furniture when they are away...etc.) and stress (he goes through personal belongings, keeps them awake at night when moved across the hall, constantly yells and tries to force his rules on them...etc). Whenever he comes across some money like bingo winnings, he doesn't even think to offer Doug and Carrie any of it for something such as new appliances they all use and has to be more or less told to give it to them. Doug wants him out of the house for these reasons but Carrie defends Arthur, claiming he isn't that bad (which is odd, as it has been firmly established that Arthur was a terrible father. He even lost her name in a bet).

%% * MeddlingParents: Spence's mother. Doug's mom, briefly, when she and her husband stay over while Carrie's out of town.

* MistakenForGay: Danny and Spence.

%% * Nightmare FuelStationAttendant: The Palmers in the episode "Present Tense".
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: In "Ice Cubed" when a cashier mistakenly forgets to ring up an I-pod in effect giving it to Carrie for free, she tries to return it and pay the cashier. Her trying to do the right thing sets off a chain reaction of unfortunate events.

* OneSteveLimit: Arthur's aversion of this trope is one of Lou Ferrigno's criticisms of his screen play in "Better Camera".

* PotteryBarnPoor: The Heffernans consist of an [[strike: UPS]] IPS truck driver, a secretary, and an old retired man who never worked a job for more than a month at a time. Despite this, aside from their rather spacious home, in a neighborhood decent enough for Creator/LouFerrigno, they also have ongoing plots revolving around Doug's widescreen plasma TV and home cinema system and the den devoted to it.
** Delivery men (especially in such a large metro area, and in a union like Doug) and legal secretaries (especially ones employed at large law firms like Carrie) make more money than you'd think.
*** It is implied several times that while Doug and Carrie both make decent money, they have horrible spending habits and tend to blow whatever spare cash they have on takeout and gambling (Doug) and expensive clothing (Carrie).
* PointyHairedBoss: Doug's boss, Patrick O'Boyle, is revealed to be a weirdo at times.

* PrimAndProperBun: The episode "Bun Dummy" was rather weird about it. In the episode, the male characters pretty much outright say that bun hairstyles are ''only'' for dowdy old librarian types, and thus beautiful young women like Carrie [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo would have to be insane to wear their hair that way]]. To be fair, though, Carrie was being pretty weird about it too. She was treating wearing her hair in a bun [[MundaneMadeAwesome with the same excitement as if she just won the lottery]].

** Richie, Doug's close friend and former roommate, was written out in season 3 after Larry Romano left the show to star in ''Kristin''.

%% * Pygmalion SnapBack: The episode "Jung Frankenstein".

* SensualSlavs: Spence's Albanian penpal. He and Danny vie for her attention while she visits at their apartment.

* {{Retcon}}: When Pruzan first appeared, he was just a pathetic co-worker of Carrie's. Later, he was made into her boss (indeed, several episodes, including "Cello Goodbye", showed her with different bosses).

* ScaryShinyGlasses: Danny was trying to win a poker party with the guys.

* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: The show often jumped between both ends of the scale, sometimes in the same episode; case in point, "Foe: Pa." Sure, it wasn't officially a VerySpecialEpisode, but it certainly ''felt'' like one.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Despite being a high school educated receptionist, Carrie tends to think of herself as a celebrity and usually looks down on people around her.

%%* Spoof Aesop

%%* Standardized SitcomHousing
* StoryArc: Strike One-Strike Too-Strike Out.

%%* SweetAnd SourGrapes

%%* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Arthur.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Doug is shown to be dumb, has extreme aversion to reading and watches way too much TV. He also avoids places like art museums and artistic movies in favor of summer blockbuster movies and sports events. At the same time, he is shown to be very good-natured, kind-hearted and caring, making the audience connect with his character.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Holly Schumpert's character could be seen as a Butt Monkey. She comes from a difficult household and is often used by her boyfriends and occasionally the Heffernans (see the episodes "Icky Shuffle" and "Awful Bigamy.") However, once in a while she does come out on top:
** In "Secret Garden" she becomes a client of Dr Crawford a skilled gynecologist who is sought after by nearly every woman for his expertise.
** In "Mentallo Case" She ends up getting the best gift when all of the participants are up in arms over the gifts they got.
** Unfortunately subverted in the finale--In "Sandwiched Out" she moves to another city with her boyfriend and later fiancee who is rich, sweet and attractive, the ideal mate. However, in "The China Syndrome" he ends up dumping her after getting her pregnant and Holly is on her own and in dire financial circumstances.
** Spence could also be seen as a butt monkey at times and is often the victim of his friends' or family's stupidity or just fate. Nevertheless he occasionally comes out on top.
** In "G'Night Stalker" [[spoiler: He manages to pull of an elaborate prank on Doug after being the victim of many pranks.]]
** In "Emotional Rollercoaster" He ends up getting the girl [[spoiler: although she is dressed as a giant sentient ice cream cone.]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: Both Doug and Carrie. Doug has some selfish moments in early seasons, but is generally a NiceGuy. He becomes a lot more self-centered and prone to {{Jerkass}}ery in later seasons. Carrie actually started out as probably one of the most well-adjusted and nicest characters you'll see in an American Sitcom, but in later seasons she's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at best.

* TooMuchInformation: Arthur gives unnecessary detail on Carrie's conception while talking to Doug. One woman also tells Carrie details of her sex life and personal anatomy immediately after meeting her.

%%* UglyGuy HotWife: While Doug isn't ugly, he's undeniably obese, while Carrie is beautiful.
* TroublesomePet: Stanley, the beagle originally belonging to the Saksies, originally came to the Heffernan's attention due to his all-night barking in "Dog Days".

* WhamLine: "Oh, I'm sorry, are you related to the deceased?" [[note]] "White Collar" [[/note]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Deacon's character does not get any sort of resolution or final moment in the series finale. Given that Spence, Danny, and even Holly all got a final moment, it's a bit odd that the arguably most important secondary character of the series is simply brushed off and never seen or mentioned again.
* WhiteGuilt: Arthur does some research on his ancestry and discovers some of his ancestors were once slave traders. He apologizes to Deacon (the only black person he knows, apparently), who tells him there is no need since he didn't do it. Later though he discovers he's wrong, and his ancestors were actually Irish travelers. He's now free of guilt and then unabashedly tries to get Deacon doing unpaid chores as a means of [[WorkOffTheDebt paying off a debt]] he owes Arthur, outraging him with this about-face.

** Done in one episode by the actual Adam West, whom Spence meets and wants to take to Comic Book Convention.

** When Doug's car starts breaking down, Arthur buys them a "Douchenburger", apparently quite popular in Luxembourg. The actual car is a right hand drive 1970 Mini 850 Mk. III. Luxembourg has no local automakers (their cars come from the rest of Europe) and is left hand drive. About the only thing done to hide the fact that it's a Mini is the emblem on the hood has been removed.
*** This confuses British viewers, who wonder why an instantly recognizable Mini - with its steering wheel in the intuitively "correct" place - isn't ''called'' a Mini. Some viewers are clued up enough to realize a Mini is a sort of classic car in the USA and would be worth good money for its comparative rarity value. Besides, ''Film/TheItalianJob'' should be well-known enough in the USA for many people to recognize the car?

* ArtisticLicenceGeography: Doug and Carrie Heffernan go on a holiday to a cabin Doug mistakenly believes he took Carrie early in their relationship. They are next seen driving along Highway 28, which runs through Oregon in the Pacific North-West. A scene or two later, Doug is seen conferring with a local as to the best route: to stay on 28 or to take the intersection to Highway 414. the problem is... Highway 414 runs ''several hundred miles'' to the East of 28, in the Mid-west state of Wyoming. It does not ever directly connect to Highway 28.

* DependingOnTheWriter: Whether or not Doug, Carrie or Arthur are being giant [[JerkAss assholes]] or not.
** Some episodes, such as "Mean Streak" and "Driving Reign," portray Doug as a dedicated IPS employee who derives pride from his job and takes his results seriously. Other episodes, such as "Roast Chicken" and "Screwed Driver," portray Doug as a slacker who is content to do the bare minimum and fly under the radar. Then again, Doug could be what known as a "Vesuvius" employee - very busy and efficient (Vesuvius erupting) then the next quiet and wanting to fly under the radar (Vesuvius dormant) and flips between the two? Carrie also expresses conflicting attitudes about work throughout the series...she says in "Driving Reign" that Doug expected too much from his job and should just put his hours in and forget it, whereas it is Doug giving her the same speech in "Dugan Groupie."

* DiscreetDrinkDisposal: Doug sneaks into the kitchen to pour out a glass of gross scotch, but is seen through the interior window.

* FourthDateMarriage: In the finale, Arthur becomes engages to a woman after only knowing her for a few days.

* WimpFight: Danny and Spence have an oddly official wrestling after a dispute over who between the two of them is the stronger. A few seconds in, they put one another in a mutual hold that lasts the rest of the night.

* AsiansEatPets: When Doug rents an apartment above a Chinese restaurant, his landlord cooks his pet turtle, remind him that [[noanimalsallowed no pets are allowed.]]

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Doug (phlegmatic), Carrie (choleric), Arthur (sanguine), and Deacon (melancholic).
** You could use this with secondary characters as well: O'Boyle (choleric), Spence (melancholic), Danny (sanguine), Richie (phlegmatic), and Holly (supine).

* AuthoritativeInPublicDocileInPrivate: The aggressive, militant man who joins in their paintball game during the credits scene, wherein he's bullied by his wife for getting the wrong kind of ice cream.

* BadHumorTruck: After buying an ice cream truck, Doig is threatened and stalked by a rival ice cream truck driver.

** Played straight and for laughs in "Fight Schlub" where members of a rival delivery company Priority Plus [[spoiler: deceive Doug, bind him, and take over their booth at Coopers the local sports bar. Doug, Deacon, Danny, and some others from IPS try to take it back but are defeated by the Priority Plus Employees and must take the booth that is right next to the bathroom]]
%%* BerserkButton: Carrie's defensiveness of her bun hairstyle, and Doug hates being called "Fatty [=McButterpants=]".

* BlackComedyRape: Arthur reminisces about a time he was "compromised" by a biker named Road Dog.

* DudeNotIronic: In one episode, Doug calls something ironic and Arthur insists that that's not what irony is. At the end of the episode, Arthur wakes Doug up in the middle of the night claiming he looked up ironic in the dictionary, and admits he was wrong: he thought "ironic" meant "made entirely of iron".

* LadyDrunk: The initial portrayal of Spence's mom, before being recast and rewritten as Creator/AnneMeara.

* RightThroughTheWall: Doug and Carrie feel inadequate while sharing a hotel wall with the Palmers while on vacation, after hearing them having sex four times in one night.

* SerenadeYourLover: Doug serenades his high school ex, Margy. He also writes Carrie a somewhat less romantic song.

* TroublesomePet: Stanley, the beagle originally belonging to the Saksies, originally came to the Heffernan's attention due to his all-night barking.

LadyDrunk: The initial portrayal of Spence's mom, before being recast and rewritten as AnneMeara.

%% * MeddlingParents: Spence's mother.

* BrattyFoodDemand: In "Taste Buds", Doug manipulates Arthur into rudely demanding food so that Carrie will take them to whatever restaurant he (Doug) wants to go. For example, when Doug wants pizza, he gets Arthur to reminisce about the time he was in the Army in Italy, causing Arthur to say, "I want pizza!".

* ConvenientMiscarriage: This happens to Carrie. It's a rare downer in the series.

%%* UglyGuy HotWife: Duh.
** This is a more believable version than you usually see. Doug used to be stocky rather than just fat, and Carrie is enough of a bitch to counterbalance her looks.
** Subverted by the fact that Doug is not ugly, and is never referred to as such in-universe (except by Carrie when she is mad at him). He's just fat.
*** In fact it's heavily implied that Doug could rather easily find another woman if necessary despite his weight, but it's outright stated that Doug is possibly one of the few people alive who are kind and patient enough to put up with Carrie's personality.

* AwTheyDoLoveEachOther: Doug and Arthur have these moments more frequently in the earlier episodes, such as Doug chasing Arthur down the street to apologize after yelling at him.

** There was the later season’s episode where Doug watched Danny’s ex’s baby for a day and for an inexplicable reason, the thought of children with Doug repulses Carrie. Wild departure from the above episodes.

* AbuseOfReturnPolicy: Carrie takes advantage of several upscale clothing stores' return policies to essentially "rent" clothes by buying them and then refunding them. The scheme collapses after her husband Doug spills food over a $1000 dress and she loses track of all the "rented" clothes and their corresponding receipts, leaving her with a closet full of expensive clothes and a [[CreditCardPlot maxed-out credit card]].

* ArtisticLicenceGeography: Doug and Carrie Heffernan go on a holiday elsewhere in the USA having chosen a direction at random. They are next seen driving along Highway 28, which runs through Oregon in the Pacific North-West. A scene or two later, Doug is seen conferring with a local as to the best route: to stay on 28 or to take the intersection to Highway 414. the problem is... Highway 414 runs ''several hundred miles'' to the East of 28, in the Mid-west state of Wyoming. It does not ever directly connect to Highway 28.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Don's flip out on the boss.

** Also the Sacksys after their last appearance (although they might have just moved away).

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Spencer and his new girlfriend Denise have dinner with his mom. To break the ice, she tells a story about how Spencer slipped on ice and how red his butt was afterwards. His mom completely missed the point and asks him why she's seen him naked, telling him he was supposed to "save himself". Denise then says she didn't actually see it, but Spencer told her on the phone while she was in church. His mom then exclaims "You were on the phone in church?!"
* ConvenientMiscarriage: This happens to Carrie. It's a rare downer in the series and something of a discontinuity.

** Some episodes, such as "Mean Streak" and "Driving Reign," portray Doug as a dedicated IPS employee who derives pride from his job and takes his results seriously. Other episodes, such as "Roast Chicken" and "Screwed Driver," portray Doug as a slacker who is content to do the bare minimum and fly under the radar. Then again, Doug could be what known as a "Vesuvius" employee - Very busy and efficient (Vesuvius erupting) then the next quiet and wanting to fly under the radar (Vesuvius dormant) and flips between the two? Carrie also expresses conflicting attitudes about work throughout the series...she says in "Driving Reign" that Doug expected too much from his job and should just put his hours in and forget it, whereas it is Doug giving her the same speech in "Dugan Groupie."

** Deacon [[FelonyMisdemeanor goes out to dinner with a female friend and doesn't tell Kelly]]. She and Carrie treat it as if he's sleeping with the woman, to the point Kelly kicks him out barefoot and moneyless, while Carrie kicks him out of the house and refuses to allow Doug to give him money for a hotel room.

** When Doug joins a support group for men in abusive relationships (to get out of the weight loss one, which doesn't serve food), they have him talk about his experience and he relates how Carrie does things like twist his nipples after he angers her over something. He also blames this for his weight. Carrie doesn't help this by then being her normal obnoxious self when she comes to pick Doug up. After learning what group he's really in, she's of course outraged and notes that Doug was already overweight before she even met him. However, her twisting his nipples is justified by his bad behavior according to her. It's pretty certain however that no one would feel this excused Doug twisting ''her'' nipples.
** The subplot in "Van, Go" definitely comes to mind with this trope. In the episode, Doug has to deal with a very rude waitress who not only does not serve him at the same time as his friend, but refuses to get his ready chicken wings that remain sitting on the counter. When Doug goes up and gets the chicken wings himself, the waitress rudely tells him that she'll bring them to him. Later, the manager questions why they didn't get refills on their drinks, a Doug says he thinks the waitress was on the phone, resulting in the manager reprimanding her (since personal calls at work are against the rules) and comps their meal. The waitress then declares she's going to "gut you like a deer," when he leaves and spends the remainder of the episode stalking around the front of the restaurant, waiting for Doug to leave. Not only is this PlayedForLaughs, but nobody calls the cops about this obvious harassment and Doug is portrayed as being the wrong party. And it's still PlayedForLaughs when the waitress beats him up off-screen! However, Doug is not portrayed as the wrong party. The waitress was portrayed as crazy.
** Carrie pushes Doug down the stairs when he prioritizes his grilled cheese over getting his suit fitted. Instead of apologizing, she blames him and says he didn't do what she told him to do.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first episode, Carrie is gentler, softer, more feminine, and an awful lot sweeter. The hard-bitten bitchy edge she develops later is completely absent. Doug is also more serious, mature, hard-working and competent than the Flanderised man-child who emerges later: a stereotypical sitcom couple. Carrie also has a sister who abruptly disappears without a trace (or explanation) later; the sister has a lot of the negative qualities that later show up in Carrie.

** Also Doug's intelligence, most notable in one episode where he forgets a person's name after it was just mentioned less then a minute ago.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: A psychologist unwisely advocates Carrie and Doug giving Arthur what he wants as a sort of aversion therapy, in the hope that the continual demanding will burn itself out. Arthur then ploughs through a dozen or so expensive hobbies in the space of a month, beginning each in a state of high enthusiasm that inevitably burns itself out when the novelty is gone.

* FriendsRentControl: Doug is a delivery driver, Carrie is a secretary and the two are frequently shown to have major issues with their finances. Despite this, from early on in their marriage the two were able to afford a large, two story house in Queens with a furnished basement, a decent sized yard and a garage that is separate from the main building.
* FunnyFlashbackHaircut: In the episode where we see how Doug and Carrie first met, Doug has a mullet and Deacon a Main/FunnyAfro.

-->'''Doug:''' You're supposed to be Bad Cop, not... ''Gestapo!''

** Doug and Deacon also count.

* {{Irony}}: In an episode, Arthur gets in an argument with Doug about whether a situation was ironic. The story was that Doug had to scan a box, but the scanner was broken. When he opened it, it turned out that the box was full of new scanners. The kicker came in the end sequence where Arthur wakes Doug up in the middle of the night to say: "I was checking the dictionary and it turns out you were right. That situation ''was'' ironic. I thought 'ironic' meant 'Made up entirely of iron.'" Doug merely replies "Good night, Arthur."

* JerkassHasAPoint: When Doug wants $100 from the family kitty to bet on a boxing match in "Eddie Money," he tells Carrie he's entitled to it since he earns more than half the money that comes into the house. This prompts her to twist his nipples and order him to put the money back in the can. Given that Carrie is known to spend thousands of dollars per year on unnecessary clothing and accessories, it's a bit hypocritical for her to begrudge Doug over a hundred bucks.
* JerkassToOne: While Doug, Deacon, Richie, and Danny were usually quite lovable, their treatment of Spence could often get quite bad; they make fun of Spence for being geeky and often act like he's not even their friend. While they were usually nice, whenever they treated Spence like this one can't help but feel the urge to reach into the TV screen and smack them.

* KarmaHoudini: In "Ice Cubed," Carrie gets advice from a pastor on what to do with an i-pod that she was accidentally not charged for. After some discussion Carrie decides to return the I-Pod. A great deal of bad things ensue. Indeed, [[spoiler: the cashier ends up losing her job over this. She then tries to help the cashier on the pastor's advice but this ends up endangering a man's life]]. Despite being partly responsible for causing the whole thing, not only is the pastor not punished (by law or by nature) [[spoiler: he gets a free I-Pod because Carrie can no longer enjoy it]]
** In "Fight Schlub"- The members of the Priority Plus delivery company get no comeuppance for assaulting Doug and binding him in Bubble wrap or taking the booth reserved for Doug and his friends at Coopers. [[spoiler:(When Doug and his friends try to take back the booth they are defeated and are exiled to a booth by the bathroom]]

** A clever example occurs in "Shear Torture" when Spence asks Creator/LouFerrigno to go to a Fantasy convention with him, but ditches him at the last minute so he can take Creator/AdamWest instead. [[spoiler: On the way to the convention, Adam West tells Spence that he spoke with Lou Ferrigno and found out that he broke his commitment to him. He then forces Spence out of the car, necessitating him to run across four lanes of traffic. Spence misses out on the Fantasy Convention and Adam West also keeps his gas money]].

** Also, we, the audience are supposed to believe that Carrie is undesirable to any man when she puts her hair up. The gorgeous Leah Remini? Riiight.

* TheLoad: Arthur contributes nothing to the household and in fact has cost the Heffernans significant amounts of money (he's started fires, sold their furniture when they are away...etc.) and stress (he goes through personal belongings, keeps them awake at night when moved across the hall, constantly yells and tries to force his rules on them...etc). Whenever he comes across some money like bingo winnings, he doesn't even think to offer Doug and Carrie any of it for something such as new appliances they all use and has to be more or less told to give it to them. Doug wants him out of the house for these reasons but Carrie defends Arthur, claiming he isn't that bad (which is odd, as it has been firmly established that Arthur was a terrible father. He even changed her name due to a ''bet'').

* ManChild: Spence is the most obvious example but Doug, Danny and even Arthur fit as well. Deacon could also be described as this on certain occasions. For example, in the episode "Mentallo Case", when Doug wants to buy a toy that he always wanted as a child, Deacon goes behind Doug's back and purchases it for himself.

%% * Meddlin gParents: Doug's parents and Spence's mother.

** {{Lampshaded}} when Spence and Danny actually get married in order to receive a free television from a timeshare company, then are comically outraged when they won't give the timeshare to a same-sex couple. ([[spoiler:[[StatusQuoIsGod They were divorced by the next episode.]]]])

** Also, several episodes revolved around Deacon thinking his son Kirby is gay and attempting to prevent it ("Ticker Treat", "Kirbed Enthusiasm").

* PluckyOfficeGirl; Carrie's position at the legal firm she works for.
* PotteryBarnPoor: The Heffernans consist of an [[strike: UPS]] IPS truck driver, a secretary and an old retired man who never worked a job for more than a month at a time. Despite this, aside from their rather spacious home, in a neighborhood decent enough for Creator/LouFerrigno, they also have ongoing plots revolving around Doug's widescreen plasma TV and home cinema system and the den devoted to it.

* PygmalionPlot: Spence helping Carrie to improve her pronunciation. When she succeeds, he says "you are so beautiful..."

** Leah Remini's body shape and general appearance changed noticably over the run of the show. This was explained InUniverse as the Spooner women having a tendency to become more comfortably shaped (fatter)as they grew older. How the show explained the cosmetic surgery LR had in between series runs - this is jarringly noticable - is not as apparent.

* ScaryShinyGlasses: Danny was trying to win a poker party with them.
* SeriesContinuityError: In one early episode, Arthur mocked Doug for going to church, making it analogous to the Easter Bunny, but in later episodes, he prays to God and is even afraid of going to hell.
** Well it's possible he is religious but not into ''organized'' religion, or has a love-hate relationship with the "man upstairs."
** It's also implied that he was part of the Socialist Workers Party in the 1940s, and may still be a Marxist, given his argument with a Russian handyman over the Soviet Union being a "worker's paradise." If so, being an atheist would make sense, but Arthur may not be able to shed his religious upbringing completely (he's shown to be a former choir boy in one episode).

* ShoutOut: In ''Offtrack - Bedding'', Carrie is in the kitchen preparing food when Doug walks in and says "Hi, Sticky Buns!" Carrie is flattered and says [[Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond it's nice to have a husband who can make up funny nicknames for her when he walks in]]. Doug looks baffled, and goes to the plate of cakes on the work-top that he was ''really'' speaking to...
* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Sara. At the beginning of the series, Carrie was meant to be the serious character of the two, while Sara was meant to be nothing more than a mooching bimbo. They quickly ran out of things to go for a character like Sara, so eventually they [[Main/RetroactiveContinuity wrote her entire existence out of the show]].

%%* The ThingThatWouldNotLeave: Arthur.

** In "G'Night Stalker" [[spoiler: He manages to pull of an elaborate prank on Doug after being the victim of many pranks]]
** In "Emotional Rollercoaster" He ends up getting the girl [[spoiler: although she is dressed as a giant sentient ice cream cone]]

* TooMuchInformation: Arthur gives unnecessary detail on Carrie's conception while talking to Doug. One woman also tells Carrie details of her sex life she really doesn't want.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Doug's favorite topping for hotdogs - mayonnaise.

** It's constantly talked about how Carrie is beautiful. This continues even into season 6 and onward, where she gains a bunch of weight and gets more raggedy in appearance. Even toward the end of the show, where she was almost as fat as Doug himself, it's still stated that she's beautiful and much slimmer than Doug.
*** Carrie was never anywhere near as heavy as Doug. It was also lampshaded in the show, when Doug tricked Carrie into losing weight.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Kevin James lost 40 pounds in 2003, and this was written into the Season 6 two-part premiere. He quickly gained the weight back, however, making these episodes something of a {{Discontinuity}} compared to the rest of the series.

* JerkassToOne: While Doug, Deacon, and Danny were usually quite lovable, their treatment of Spence could often get quite bad; they make fun of Spence for being geeky and often act like he's not even their friend. While they were usually nice, whenever they treated Spence like this one can't help but feel the urge to reach into the TV screen and smack them.

A well-known Creator/{{CBS}} sitcom running from 1998 to 2007. It focuses on the life of Doug Heffernan (Creator/KevinJames), a fat but jovial IPS driver, and his wife, Carrie Heffernan (Creator/LeahRemini), nee Spooner. Most of the time, Doug tries to live a hard-working but relaxed and diet-free life, which is complicated by the zany schemes of Arthur Spooner (Creator/JerryStiller), Carrie's father, who lives in their basement.

Doug has quite the circle of friends. His best friend is the black family man, Deacon Palmer. Others include Richie Ianucchi, a [[ChickMagnet ladies' man]] who nicknames Doug as "Moose", Doug's awkward cousin Danny (who is played by Gary Valentine, James' brother in real life), and Spence Olchin (Creator/PattonOswalt), a nerd of sorts who isn't the ButtMonkey of the group so much as the omega wolf. While not part of the circle, another friend is the local dog-walker Holly, who, in spite of her drinking and trouble finding a date, does a good job of putting up with Arthur's weirdness.

* IdiotPlot: InUniverse. Arthur takes part in a test screening for a buddy comedy, but finds the entire plot could have been avoided if the characters had made a single phone call and gets hung up on for the rest of the episode.

%%* Berserk Button: Carrie's defensiveness of her bun hairstyle, and Doug hates being called "Fatty [=McButterpants=]".

%%* Big Fun: Doug is this to a tee.

%% * Carpet OfVirility: Doug and Danny, type II.

But I don't care 'cause all I wanna do\\

* BerserkButton: Carrie's defensiveness of her bun hairstyle, and Doug hates being called "Fatty [=McButterpants=]".

* BigFun: Doug is this to a tee.
* BittersweetEnding: The episode "Pregnant Pause".

* CarpetOfVirility: Doug and Danny, type II.

* KafkaKomedy

* MeddlingParents: Doug's parents and Spence's mother.

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: The Palmers in the episode "Present Tense".

* PygmalionSnapBack: The episode "Jung Frankenstein".

%%* SpoofAesop

%%* StandardizedSitcomHousing

%%* SweetAndSourGrapes
* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Arthur.

* UglyGuyHotWife: Duh.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The plot of "Clothes Encounter," where Carrie was returning expensive clothing articles after wearing them for a while, was [[PlayedForLaughs played entirely for laughs]] and was seen in-universe as morally grey but ultimately harmless. In real life this is called "wardrobing," and it is legally considered a type of shoplifting. At the very least this kind of scheme would probably destroy your credit score, and at worse may land you in prison for fraud.
** It is quite unlikely that the water leak in the Heffernans' home that caused the toxic mold would have been brushed aside with a fleeting comment and then buried in the fine print of the paperwork. Something like that would be a pretty major deal, and would probably require both Doug and Carrie to sign a waiver that they were buying the house "as is" and thereby absolving the realtor of any responsibility. As it happened in the show, Carrie would have a pretty good case against the realtor that she was never informed of this severe defect and signed off on the house under false pretenses.
** Later in the same story arc, Mr. Kaplan's explanation to Doug and Carrie that there was nothing they could do about the mold company's poor business practices was fairly specious as well. If the company accepted payment for the job up front and signed a contract that they would complete it, they can absolutely be held to those terms and they can certainly be sued or possibly even arrested for absconding with the Heffernans' money.

Doug has quite the circle of friends. His best friend is the black family man, Deacon Palmer. Others include Richie Ianucchi, a [[ChickMagnet ladies' man]] who nicknames Doug as "Moose", Doug's awkward cousin Danny (who is played by Gary Valentine, James' brother in real life), and Spence Olchin, a nerd of sorts who isn't the ButtMonkey of the group so much as the omega wolf. While not part of the circle, another friend is the local dog-walker Holly, who, in spite of her drinking and trouble finding a date, does a good job of putting up with Arthur's weirdness.

[[quoteright:228:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/king_of_queens_001_4076.png]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first episode, Carrie is gentler, softer, more feminine, and an awful lot sweeter. The hard-bitten bitchy edge she develops later is completely absent. Doug is also more serious, mature, hard-working and competent than the Flanderised man-child who emerges later: a stereotypical sitcom couple. Carrie also has a sister who abruptly disappears without a race (or explanation) later: the sister has a lot of the negative qualities that later show up in Carrie.