Nicole Sullivan on King Of Queens.

Nicole Sullivan has landed a recurring role on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens. Her first appearance on the show was on the May 21, 2001 episode (the season finale for season four), in which she appears as Marilyn, a salewoman who tries to sell Carrie (Leah Remini) a changing table with a decorative lip. Later in the episode, Carrie has a miscarriage, thus obviating the need for a changing table. Nonetheless, Carrie and Doug (Kevin James) resolve to have a baby, but the couple finds that quality time is hard to come by, since they live with Carrie's father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller). Enter (again) Nicole Sullivan, this time as Holly, a dog walker who Doug hires to "walk" Arthur, thus guaranteeing the couple some time together. [It may have occurred to you at this point that even in 2001, sitcom plots aren't rocket science.] Although I haven't seen any of these episodes in their entirety, they seem mildly entertaining, even if the plots stretch the limits of credibility. This isn't the first sighting of Nicole Sullivan on a Leah Remini sitcom of course (see my Nicole Sullivan on Fired Up page), and even if the quality of sitcom writing hasn't improved in the four years since these two last worked together, these two veterans have over time honed their comedic talents. The King of Queens, by the way, has done surprisingly well in season four, regularly beating The Weakest Link and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire to win its time slot. Here's a list of the episodes (through the end of 2001) in which Nicole Sullivan has appeared:

Another vidcap of Nicole Sullivan from King Of Queens.

• "Pregnant Pause (Part Two)" - Doug takes a second job to support the baby. Carrie meets Marilyn (Nicole Sullivan), a saleswoman who sells her more than everything a baby should have. Original air date: May 29, 2001
• "Walk, Man" - Doug hires Spence's dog walker, Holly (Nicole Sullivan) to walk Arthur three times a week so that he can spend more time with Carrie. Original air date: September 24, 2001
• "Mean Streak" - Doug is about to break the record at IPS for the most days without accidents or bad deliveries. Carrie gets Holly to play Scrabble for Arthur's tournament. Original air date: October 8, 2001
• "Depo Man" - Carrie asks Doug to be an expert witness at her boss's trial. Danny and Spence both house-sit with Holly to prevent each other from making a move on her. Original air date: December 10, 2001
• "Ovary Action" - Doug's parents visit during Christmas time while Doug and Carrie are trying to conceive because of Carrie's "fertile time." Original air date: December 17, 2001
• "Missing Links" - Doug and Carrie try to find a new couple with which to play golf, since Deacon and Kelly have separated. Deacon hires Holly as a babysitter. Original air date: March 4, 2002
• "Arthur, Spooner" - Carrie has to work the night shift when she is put in charge of getting documents and depositions for a major trial at her firm; she brings Holly with her. Original air date: September 23, 2002.
• "Holy Mackerel" - Carrie prays for a raise - and gets it. A real estate agent pays a visit to the house while Doug and Carrie are at church and Arthur tries to sell the house. Holly walks in while Arthur is holding an open house. Original air date: October 7, 2002.
• "Mammary Lane" - Carrie babysits a four-year old boy who tries repeatedly to grab her breasts; Holly thinks Spence is gay because of the programs his Tivo tapes for him. Original air date: October 14, 2002.
• "Business Affairs" - Doug and Carrie refinance their house; Arthur is jealous of a new dog Holly is walking. He tries to get another dog walker, but as he is unable to find a dog walker who walks people, he has to go back to Holly. Original air date: October 28, 2002.
• "Mentalo Case" - Arthur feels obligated to buy Carrie an expensive Christmas gift after Holly tells him that Carrie is getting him a Carribean cruise for Christmas. Original air date: December 16, 2002.
• "Animal Attraction" - Doug has to drive a shipment of penguins to upstate New York on Valentine's Day; Carrie goes bar hopping with a despondent Holly. Original air date: February 10, 2003.
• "Cowardly Lyin'" - Doug admits that he lies to Carrie because he is inimidated by her. Original air date: March 31, 2003. Comment: The marginalization of the Holly character continues with this episode. Apparently Denise (played by Rachel Dratch) is now a recurring character (as Spence's girlfriend), which consumes air time which otherwise might have been devoted to Nicole Sullivan's character. Her appearance in this episode was so brief that I provided a video clip to it at the bottom of this page.
• "Doug Less" - Doug goes on a diet and loses weight, making Carrie jealous of him, so he takes her to a mountain resort to cheer her up. Spence and Danny house sit, and Arthur tries to get permission to drive the car. Comment: I'm only a casual fan of the show, but when Carrie claims that she never knew Doug when he was thin, isn't this a break in continuity - namely, the episode last season when Doug tries to get in shape to join a semi-pro football team? Nicole Sullivan fans will be disappointed with this episode, since she only appears in one scene.
• "King Pong" - Doug loses to Carrie at ping pong; Spence's girlfriend Denise becomes a waitress. Comment: Ms. Sullivan appears in two whole scenes, the second of which is over two minutes long. My cup runneth over! Am I the only one finding this show's "B" plots increasingly tedious? (Not that the "A" plots are much to write home about, either.)
• "Secret Garden" - Carrie's status with her new gynecologist is in jeopardy after Doug's cousin overcharges him for landscaping work. Here we get to see every tired sitcom device in the book, including the wacky neighbor and ne'er-do-well relative. Wake me up when it's over.

While The King of Queens is hardly an exceptionally good sitcom - one can hardly imagine going out of one's way to catch reruns of this show on Nick at Nite/TV Land - the writing has been solid enough to guarantee that the show will make it into the promised land of syndication. It has been a mainstay of CBS's Monday night lineup and regularly places in the top thirty shows in any given week, thus guaranteeing Nicole Sullivan continued TV exposure (along with the seemingly endless stream of Mad TV reruns now that Mad has made it into syndication. I'm not sure how many KOQ episodes Ms. Sullivan is scheduled to appear in this season; stay tuned to this page for further updates.

Addendum: Nicole Sullivan is now a regular on The King of Queens. The fifth season premiere is on September 23, 2002. This is Ms. Sullivan's first regular role on a sitcom since the ill-fated Talk to Me.

Video clips (in QuickTime 4.0 format):

• Marilyn (Nicole Sullivan) tries to sell Carrie (Leah Remini) a changing table. (2 minutes 8 seconds; 2.1 MB)
• Holly (Nicole Sullivan) gets invited to Doug and Carrie's Christmas party. (51 seconds; 873 KB)
• Holly (Nicole Sullivan) talks with Arthur (Jerry Stiller). (1 minute 46 seconds; 1.8 MB)
• Another clip with Nicole Sullivan and Jerry Stiller. (1 minute 3 seconds; 1.1 MB) This one was taken from the episode "Holy Mackrel."
• "Tivo thinks I'm gay" - from the October 2002 episode "Mammary Lane." (1 minute 19 seconds; 1.2 MB) A clip in which Holly visits Spence (Patton Oswalt).
• Holly discusses her bill with Carrie. (1 minute 14 seconds; 1.2 MB) A clip of Nicole Sullivan's appearance in the episode "Cowardly Lyin'."
• Holly laments her unsuccessful personal relationships. (2 minutes 25 seconds; 5.0 MB) The first scene with Nicole Sullivan from the episode "Animal Attraction."

Video clips (in Windows Media 8.0 format):

• The first appearance of Holly. (1 minute 17 seconds; 324 KB) This is from the episode "Walk, Man."
• The second appearance of Holly. (1 minute 32 seconds; 383 KB) Also from the episode "Walk, Man."
• Holly comments on Doug's weight loss, much to the chagrin of Carrie. (1 minute 21 seconds; 339 KB) The only scene in the season six season premiere in which Nicole Sullivan appeared.
• Holly plays ping pong with Doug. (24 seconds; 104 KB) From the episode "King Pong."
• Holly goes out on a date with Spence (Patton Oswalt). (2 minutes 20 seconds; 584 KB) Also from "King Pong."
• Holly with Carrie; Holly with Arthur. (2 minutes 48 seconds; 698 KB) This clip contains two scenes from the December 2002 episode "Mentalo Case." Carrie tells Holly that she is buying her father a ticket on a cruise to Bermuda for Christmas. Then Holly tells Arthur what he is getting for Christmas and that he might think about getting Carrie something other than chopsticks.
• Holly with Carrie and Doug; Holly at the gynecologist. (1 minute 51 seconds; 461 KB) This clip contains two scenes from the episode "Secret Garden." In the first scene, Holly unsuccessfully tries to get Carrie to put in a good word for her with her gynecologist. In the second scene, Holly is at the gynecologist after Carrie gets bumped from his list of patients.
• "Awful Bigamy" (21 minutes 14 seconds; 4.9 MB) The season six finale in its entirety. Holly gets kicked out of her apartment and moves in with the Heffernans.