Kevin James to play pro golf "Wild Thing" John Daly in limited series

The “limited TV series” has become a staple of any major star’s portfolio in recent years, a good way for a Big Name to do a little small-screen work, without getting bogged down in any extensive or uncomfortable contracts. Kevin James doesn’t entirely fit that profile—he’s arguably been more successful in TV than film already, what with the whole King Of Queens thing—but he’s nevertheless about to make the leap into the world of limited biographical television. James’ choice of subject matter suggests it won’t be the most stolid of TV adaptations, though, with Deadline reporting that James will be starring in a new series as John Daly, the “Wild Thing” of American professional golf.

And while you might scoff at the concept of golf (“The Boring Game”) having a “Wild Thing,” Daly’s history with the sport (which stretches back to the early 1990s and continues to this day) does, in fact, bear that descriptor out. By the man’s own admission, the hard-partying, flamboyant Daly spent decades struggling with alcohol and gambling addictions during the height of his career, ultimately losing something like $50 million while making bets, and getting disqualified from numerous tournaments after throwing some flavor of tantrum on the course. That’s before we get into the really gnarly stuff, like the various times he broke clubs or chucked them into the water in front of fans, or a notorious 1994 incident where he was banned from the PGA season after getting into a physical altercation with the father of another golfer during a tournament. (Which is probably as good a time as any to note that James’ old buddy Adam Sandler has never outright admitted that Happy Gilmore was based, at least a little, on Daly’s antics—but it’s hard not to draw the occasional parallel.)

In other words, Daly was, and remains, a fairly unique character in the otherwise staid landscape of professional golf; certainly, to the best of our knowledge, he’s the only PGA golfer to ever provide backing vocals to a Kid Rock song. (2007's “Half Your Age,” if you’re going hunting.) He also owns a golf course design company, and—this probably goes without saying—his own line of cannabis products.

The Daly project is being developed by Gary Valentine, James’ older brother, and a long-time member of the Happy Madison production posse. The two previously collaborate on 2022 Netflix film Home Team, which also saw James playing a real-life sports professional dealing with scandal (albeit in a comedic, family-friendly kind of way).