King of commitment

Did anyone see last night's finale of The King of Queens? I was busy multi-tasking and channel surfing, but I saw a few snippets here and there. Carrie and Doug have been having some marriage problems in the last few episodes and things came to a head in the finale. On the loading dock of the building where Carrie's dad's wedding reception is taking place, the king and his queen have a showdown.

Doug accuses Carrie of not being committed to their marriage, after finding out that she has kept an apartment in Manhattan that he thought she had given up. He asks when she has ever gone out on a limb for him. Carrie says, "I married you, didn't I? What do you call that?"; to which Doug replies, "Um, hitting the jackpot!"

Then he follows it up with a really touching and insightful speech. He tells his wife that a couple doesn't go out on a limb for each other when they get married. Couples getting married think that everything is going to work out great; they're in love. Then, ten years go by and--in the case of Doug and Carrie--she realizes that he's not getting any thinner, and he realizes that she's not getting any nicer. That, Doug says, is when they have to go out on a limb for each other...to stay together even when things don't appear to have worked out perfectly.

In real life, actors Kevin James and Leah Remini who play Doug and Carrie have each been married just a few years. But the actor who plays Carrie's father is Jerry Stiller, father of actor Ben Stiller, and husband of 53 years to actress Anne Meara.