SUPERMARKET STORY

The King of Queens

Season 1 (1998)

This episode of The King of Queens gets points for being set entirely in a supermarket the day before Thanksgiving, but as it progresses the entertainment value starts to ebb.  We begin with Doug, Carrie and Carrie’s dad Arthur at the supermarket stocking up on frozen dinners for their low-key Thanksgiving meal.  However things turn hectic when Arthur guilt-trips Carrie into preparing a full meal from scratch and begins inviting relatives.

Meanwhile Doug keeps encountering some random dude who knows him and alludes to some past incident, only he has no recollection of the guy.  An increasingly desperate Carrie turns to a Martha-Stewartish shopper (played by the always excellent Cristine Rose) whose parking spot she stole earlier.  First Carrie seeks her recipe advice, then she stalks her and finally attempts to steal her shopping cart entirely.  There’s also a fun subplot about an acquaintance of the family who keeps switching checkout lines only to remain stuck.

A chapter meeting of the the Confused Schlubs of America.

Most of the above is pretty enjoyable, though way too much time is spent on the boring Doug storyline rather than Carrie’s crazed shopping.  Both this episode and the show in general is an up and down experience, with some truly funny moments and then a whole lot of unfunny filler in-between.  The character of Arthur, played by Jerry Stiller, is particularly grating.

I of course loved the glimpses we get of Thanksgiving decorations in the store.  Nothing says the holidays like a suburban supermarket decked out in promotional décor, like cardboard cutouts of Elvira hawking root beer at Halloween or, in this case, paper turkeys galore.  And can I just say that it really bothered me that the Cristine Rose character was wearing a decorative sweater with teapots on it when it totally should have been a fall sweater with leaves and turkeys. 

Recurring Themes: Even though Carrie gets 24 hour notice I’ll count this as a Last-Minute Guests scenario. 

The Menu: Chestnut Stuffing, Boxed Stuffing, Boxed Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes & Frozen Dinners.

Thanksgiving Quotient: It starts out strong but starts to lose its Thanksgiving feel, resulting in a 3.

See It, Skip It, Own It?

Worth a watch though not worthy of being added to your permanent collection.