'Kevin Can Wait' Botches 'Wife' Erinn Hayes' Death In Season Premiere

Ron Dicker
Updated

Some fans buried “Kevin Can Wait” for how it handled the death of Kevin James’ sitcom wife Donna on the season premiere Monday.

The show addressed her passing during a quick scene in which James opened a form letter from Donna’s old gym saying it missed her. James character said he missed her, too, and followed with a joke about a kung fu lesson coupon.

The episode didn’t explain how she died.

Erinn Hayes, who played Donna, was dismissed after the first season while Leah Remini, James’ wife on his previous hit, “The King of Queens,” was brought on full time as his former cop partner.

CBS announced in early August it would kill off Hayes’ character. CBS president Kelly Kahl promised the death would be treated “with dignity and respect.”

But that’s not how it went down in the Season 2 debut, according to some Twitter users.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.