Kevin James to Play Professional Golfer John Daly in Limited Series
Kevin James can’t wait to be back on TV, signing on to star in a limited series about professional golfer John Daly, our sister site Deadline reports.
Famous for coining the phrase “grip it and rip it,” Daly has won nearly 20 professional tournaments throughout this career, including five separate PGA Tour titles. The biographical series will reportedly be executive-produced by Gary Valentine, along with Rory Rosegarten and David Spiegelman.
Golf is becoming a surprisingly hot topic on TV as of late, with this being the latest project to join the club. Will Ferrell and Ramy Youssef are set to star in the Netflix comedy GOLF, while Adam Sandler is also heading back to the links for a Happy Gilmore sequel on the streamer. Owen Wilson will also play a pro-golfer in an upcoming series for Apple TV+.
Best known for leading CBS’ King of Queens for nine seasons (1998–2007), James recently starred in Netflix’s short-lived racing comedy The Crew (2021), following his two-season CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2016–2018).
And this won’t be the first time we’ve seen James tee up on screen. A 1999 King of Queens crossover episode with Everybody Loves Raymond famously found James playing golf with Ray Romano, while he also voiced a golf-playing cow in the 2006 film The Barnyard.
James’ new series is not yet attached to a network or streaming service.
Perfect casting
Physically, he’s cast perfectly. However, if this is supposed to be a drama, can he pull it off?
Given the nature of John Daly’s life, it’s not exactly going to be a strict drama. More like a dramedy, with a heavy dose of farcical elements.
The first time I read this, I thought it meant Kevin James was going to play golf against this guy…in some sort of limited golf tour or something. And I couldn’t figure out why they would do that.
He could have been in ‘Kevin Can Go F**k Himself’ (AMC), except he can’t really do comedy or semi-drama (last episode only). Maybe he CAN do just that., though. That ‘Family Guy’ (Fox) episode _about_ him this season was jabbing and accurate. No surprise he has such thin skin (psychologically) that he wouldn’t voice the character himself.