https://collider.com/the-king-of-queens-aged-badly/

It’s stuck at a place where nostalgia meets cringe.

I still enjoy the show but there are some cringey scenes or episodes. Keep in mind how many episodes were made. The article cherry picks the worse episodes to make a point.

I'm watching it on Peacock. But some of it fit for its time but doesn't now.

One scene Carrie's dad orders Indian food as takeout, and Carrie mentions the food (Indian food) is stinky in the fridge. Such a comment wouldn't be said if the sitcom was a current show.

I'm watching some of the later episodes and they are unwatchable. Not just for what is annoying to minorities but just poorly written storylines.

Season 7, last episode, Doug and Carrie buy a house? to flip it but it has issues. Story makes no sense without realtors, inspectors, and unrealistic given that Doug and Carrie are always struggling.

I'm on Season 8 now, and the show in its later years seems more cringey.

Season 8, Episode 1, Carrie does pole dancing. Not a great episode.
Episode 2, they are fighting.
Episode 3, really bad flashback episode.

Doug and Carrie also over-act in the later episodes with them being selfish and more argumentative, beyond what is funny.

I think the show's peak was between Seasons 2-5 or so, when Carrie was employed at her first law firm with Doug Pruzan as her boss, Deacon and Kelly were together, and Holly was there.

I have seen the finale but haven't seen every episode from seasons 8 and 9 so will see if it continues to get worse or improves.

In reference to Deacon being a token black guy, originally when Deacon was with Kelly, they had more stories on them and with Doug and Carrie. Then the writers separated the two, had a few stories with Deacon dating and then Kelly returns, but they rarely showed her again. She wasn't included in the ensemble, even after they could have when Holly left.

She wasn't in the Holly going away party, even when Deacon was supposedly back with Kelly, and no reference why.

The producers downgraded Deacon from something more to a token black guy by having less of his personal life plot lines included.

I never found it funny. It had stereotypes and troupes. The one I hate the most is the fat guy and the hot wife. Time to put that one to sleep.

The article is complete rubbish. With respect to the series, here are some facts from an article written a year ago:

"The King of Queens is the No. 2 comedy in syndication in year-to-year ratings retention this season, second only to Seinfeld. It continues to grow on cable on CMT as well as on Peacock where it is in the top 10 of acquired comedies.
In 2022, the series was seen by over 71M viewers across linear and digital platforms, with viewers watching more than 602M hours.
Monica Veiga, SVP, U.S. Distribution, SPT, said: “The King of Queens is one of those rare sitcoms that is an enduring fan favorite and continues to be a solid performer on linear as well as SVOD platforms where it has found a whole new audience".

I've watched a few episodes of season 1 recently and they don't stand the test of time at all. Not to say later seasons didn't have their moments and hold up better today but the shows formula remained the same.