‘Kevin Can Wait’ Season 2 Ratings Drop After Donna’s Death Wasn’t Addressed?

The ratings for CBS’ “Kevin Can Wait” Season 2 dropped for week two.

According to TV Line, the Kevin James-starred suffered a 33 and 39 percent drop in the ratings from its premiere episode last week. Episode 2 garnered a total of 6.8 million viewers and a 1.4 demo rating.

TV Series Finale released different figures for the show with episode 1 receiving a total of 10.2 million viewers and a 2.3 demo rating and episode 2 with 6.6 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating.

Fans of “Kevin Can Wait” tuned in to the premiere in the hopes of finding out how Kevin’s wife, Donna Gable (Erinn Hayes) died. Unfortunately, this wasn’t addressed in the show. Instead, Kevin and his daughter, Kendra (Taylor Sprietler), just talked about the deceased character.

In August, “Kevin Can Wait” executive producer Rob Long told TV Line that they will not be discussing Donna’s death in the series. “We haven’t addressed it in the story. For right now, it’s really a story about a family reeling without a mother and Kevin dusting himself off and rejoining the work force,” he said.

But when fans started expressing their negative feelings about Long and his team’s decision to not address Donna’s death, Leah Remini immediately took to the creators’ defense. On her Twitter account, the actress, who plays the role of Vanessa, reminded fans that “Kevin Can Wait” is a sitcom. The actress added that “Kevin Can Wait” cannot be expected to tackle very deep storylines.

Meanwhile, Hayes’ exit from “Kevin Can Wait” was announced a few months ago. In August, Long revealed how the character will be written off the show and said that she will die.

“The goal was to Kevin’s character a real drive and a real predicament involving how a family comes back together after tragedy. Also, out of respect for the character of Donna – and certainly the way that Erinn Hayes portrayed her – it seemed like the only right and fair way to treat her character,” Long told TV Line.

“Kevin Can Wait” Season 2 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT on CBS.