‘Kevin Can Wait’ loses showrunner; luckily, won’t have to wait for new one

Creative shakeups are the name of the game for many first-year shows, largely because of the notion that people are still feeling each other out and trying to determine the best way to make things work.

Over on CBS, this clearly was happening with “Kevin Can Wait.” Despite solid ratings and a full-season pickup, there was enough friction behind the scenes between showrunner Bruce Helford (“Anger Management”) and star Kevin James to require a shake-up. Per Deadline, Belford, who co-created the show with the awesomely-named Rock Reuben (“The King of Queens”) and James, is stepping down from his position; Rob Long will take over as the new showrunner moving forward.

A good show will make it almost impossible for most viewers to figure out when there are changes behind the scenes; however, there are times when things go south. For example, we do think that “Community” and “Seinfeld” lost a great deal of their joy when Dan Harmon and Larry David weren’t around. There are occasions where showrunner changes actually do improve shows; for example, getting Scott M. Gimple aboard “The Walking Dead” turned out to be a better move for it in the long run, and we’d argue that “Ray Donovan” is better following David Hollander taking over in the position.

Ultimately, this won’t matter much to many people watching the show, and given that this is the first showrunner swap here, it’s a little premature to say that James is excessively domineering behind the scenes. He’s got a big hit behind him on CBS to go along with several lucrative movies; we’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he is doing.

New episodes of “Kevin Can Wait” continue airing on Monday nights; the show is coming off of a series-low rating, but we’re for now willing to just chalk that up to the misfortune of airing a new episode on Halloween. (Photo: CBS.)