Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005)

I also loved Robert Culp and Katherine Helmond as Debra's out-of-touch, wealthy, and phony New England parents

I liked it, too. And I also liked Men of a Certain Age.

Favorite episodes? Moments? How does this show hold up today?

I love it. It's more of favorite moments tan favorite episodes. The best moments, or a couple of them, Debra dropping the turkey, Marie looking at her statue "OH MY GOD I'M A LESBIAN", Marie going to talk to the FBI about Robert, Robert dating the lady who eats flies. In the FBI episode Marie went from hysterical comedy to heartbreak in a nano second.

I'M A LESBIAN!

Debra dropping the turkey is hilarious; it was an accident apparently.

Ray hiding in the garage while Warren and Lois have a nasty fight

The suitcase left on the stairway landing was hilarious and the passive aggressive behavior by both Ray and Deborah in this episode is so damned true for relationships, gay, straight, whatever.

And just so you know......

The show was different from the other contemporary sitcoms, especially the family ones.

It almost always had one plot per episode. Compare this with Friends which sometimes had 3 plots running simultaneously in a 22 minute episode. It just shows how bad the writing is that the writers on that show could rarely come up with stories that could tie all the characters together.

The kid were nonentities on this show and therefore it was never mawkish or cutesy like a lot of other similar shows. I think Ray and Debra had 3 but the show largely ignored them.

I remember an episode with a girl who ate flies and had frogs as pets. I laughed my ass off.

Cousin Gerard, The Angry Family, Ray setting the kitchen on fire…..

The Toaster

I know a lot of people think Debra was too harsh but you would be that way too after dealing with Ray and his family that long. If you watch the episodes when she was dating Ray she was sweet.

The Thanksgiving episode where Marie demands to cook a tofurkey and awful health food and manipulates the family into pretending they enjoy it.

Then, in the dark of that night, she’s caught in Ray’s kitchen with a drumstick in her mouth from the Thanksgiving meal Ray secretly ordered. 🍗

Marie is just like my Italian grandmother. They know how to work a situation when they want to.

Horrible show...

[quote]It almost always had one plot per episode. Compare this with Friends which sometimes had 3 plots running simultaneously in a 22 minute episode. It just shows how bad the writing is that the writers on that show could rarely come up with stories that could tie all the characters together.

Different situation, r10. Ray and Patricia were the leads. Friends had six leads, so of course there were various plot lines for their characters.

Holy Crap

I like when Amy's mother blamed the smoking on Robert.

Brad Garrett was fucking hilarious as Robert

I get Patricias Heaton and Clarkson mixed up. Was Clarkson on a tv show too?

What helped make ELR really good was the obvious care that went into casting the guest stars. So many shows the guest stars were just as important as the regular cast. The nuns in the I'm a lesbian story is a great example. Plus the lady that beat up Ray. A lot of other too.

Favorite episode: Ray records Debra during her period to prove to her how horrible she can be.

“Face it Frank, you know I’m always right.”

When Ray told Debra he would leave without her if she was late getting ready for the awards show. She was and he left. She had gotten the curling iron stuck in her hair and she just left it in. That episode was funny as hell.

Just because some upthread mentioned it, I think Men of a Certain Age was really underrated.

I was traveling and poking around for something to watch on Netflix and tried some recent comedy special of Romano’s. I thought it would be interesting to see how his comedy and perspective had developed. Unfortunately, he still was doing the same old, “women, who can understand them?,” “wives and their shopping” stuff. I turned it off. His stand up (absent a sitcom script and co-actors) was better on Dr. Katz.

My favorite sequence from any episode: the story one of the twins writes and reads out loud at his parents' night at school.

Fred Willard and Georgia Engel as Amy's super Christian parents were funny. They were so naive and oblivious to the real world.

[quote]Was Clarkson on a tv show too?

She was on a Law & Order...

No need to worry about this show ever being rebooted.

Ray/Robert's parents, Deborah's parents, Amy's parents and one of the twin boys are all dead.

Way to end a thread, R31.

R31 I don't want a reboot though!

So many great episodes mentioned in this thread.

I’ll add the episode where Debra is arrested for drunk driving.

When Marie and Frank were evicted from the old age village. Loved Marie. Doris Roberts was class.

Marie was a narcissistic sociopath. One of the most manipulative characters in television history.

The cast of the show arrived in NYC for some tv interviews the day before 9/11 to be done the next day which of course were canceled. On the night of that dreadful day they were out walking around and ran into a man who had no way home to Brooklyn since there was no transportation so they put him up in a hotel. Nice people.

The funniest episode was when Ray gave Debra a surprise party for her birthday. She found out and everyone found out that she found out. Her I'm surprised act was hysterical.

Patricia Heaton played a bitchy, nagging, negative harpy wife so convincingly .. and years later I realized she was just playing herself.

[quote]Marie was a narcissistic sociopath. One of the most manipulative characters in television history.

I was better!

Ray made a joke out of everything, did not help around the house and ignored his children. Debra being overwhelmed and complaining about him was part of the schtick. Patricia Heaton is a great actress.

As much as I loathe Heaton's politics, she's been great in two of my favorite sitcoms, this one and The Middle

R41 - she is one note. What you’ve described is all she’s got.

Everyone rightfully hated this show because Doris Roberts denied DL fave Kim Cattrall the Emmy three times!

Kim should have upped her game.

I always wondered howe they got the rights to the Cinema Paradiso score for the episodes it Italy.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The show was about real people with real issues- finances, kids, overbearing parents

Debra and Robert doing swing dance classes together. Ray getting so jealous. Robert and debra were good.

R49, when Robert plops Debra atop the refrigerator… that never gets old! Just like when Marie catches Robert and Amy having sex and Amy appears wearing Robert’s pants.

I wouldn't want to be married to Ray, but I'd give him head at a rest area. I bet it's a mouthful.

I loved Debra working at Frank's men's club. The old geezers hired her just because she was pretty. Frank getting so upset when he found out

[QUOTE] Everyone rightfully hated this show because Doris Roberts denied DL fave Kim Cattrall the Emmy three times!

Oh that’s just grand.. I hated Sex and the City. Knowing Doris Roberts cuntblocked Kim from getting an Emmy just makes me love Marie and ELR even more!

She earned them and she deserved them. Watching her slowly but surely develop the character of Marie Barone over the first few seasons was a thing of beauty. She worked hard at perfecting that role, and she created one of the greatest sitcom characters of all time. It’s almost scary how good she nailed it down. God rest her soul.

I remember the suitcase on the stair landing—a great episode. I’ll have to rewatch that one.

I remember am episode where Marie gives Debra a family recipe but leaves out one ingredient so it's never as good as Mama's. So typically mother-in-law passive aggressive.

LOL I just came to post about the spices.

I love "The Canister," where Marie keeps accusing Debra of not returning her favorite canister, which Debra denies... and then Debra discovers that their daughter has it in her bedroom, so she has to sneak it back into Marie's house. It's like a really great sitcom episode from "I Love Lucy" or "The Dick Van Dyke Show" because it's so simple.

When Ray didn't like other men looking at Debra. So he told her women were making comments about her dress. Thinking it would make Debra dress more conservatively. Opposite effect.

Doris denied Jessica Walter an Emmy for Arrested Development.

It's outrageous that Walter only got one Emmy nomination for AD. Doris was good but not that good.

[quote] I have been watching Everybody Loves Raymond on Amazon Prime. I forgot how funny it was.

One of the most embarrassing things I've ever read on DL.

[QUOTE] It's outrageous that Walter only got one Emmy nomination for AD. Doris was good but not that good.

You’re right. She was beyond good. She was great.

Don't forget the episode when Robert joins a cult

When Robert kept touching the food to his chin while eating dinner with Amy’s family

The one where Ray hired his buddy Gianni to replace the kitchen stove.

Deborah: Ray, you gotta get Gianni to finish up with the stove. I can't cook without it.

Ray: Well, it's not like Rembrandt lost his paint brush.

I'm glad to see that so many people appreciated this show. I thought it was hilarious.

Although, not married, no kids, there was something about it that just seemed to resonate with me. Doris Roberts was so fantastic (she really made me hate her character).

I have never watched one episode of this show, can't stand his whiny voice or Patricia Heaton.

[QUOTE] Doris Roberts was so fantastic (she really made me hate her character).

How could you hate Marie? She was so sweet.

Marie was passive aggressive and controlling

Sometimes I felt sorry for Robert because of Marie favoring Raymond but Robbie could be obnoxious too.

I couldn’t stand Raymond or his parents. My favorite stories were about Robert. I liked the episode where he caught his mother-in-law smoking.

[quote] I liked the episode where he caught his mother-in-law smoking.

Having that character be a smoker is a great example of why this show was so good. It was so unpredictable yet it was believable. Great character writing

At first I hated Amy but then gave her and the writers credit for developing her character and came to love her. She was like the sane one in the room. Plus her family was just as fucking nuts. Wish they had been in more episodes. Funny, it was ELR but the three strongest characters were the three female leads. Another outstanding episode was when Frank and Marie got kicked out of the assisted living home. "that is now a one woman show"

We haven't even started discussing Charles Durning as the Baron's priest

The best Robert episode was when all his exes, marie, debra, and his partner got together to tell him everything that was wrong with him. sounds cruel but it was hysterical.

Oh my God, I'm a lesbian

Marie: "I'd prefer NOT to be known as The Whore of Lynbrook."

Debra's brasciole: "that's Italian for roadkill."

Marie: "I have my own opinions. I'm not just some trophy wife!"

Frank: "Trophy wife? What contest in Hell did I win?"

I love how Marie has plastic on all the furniture

OP is posting from a nursing home.

They could do drama really well too. Frank explaining why he didn't hit his kids. Frank wiping the cold cream off of Marie's face. Robert when he gives up on romance. Marie reading Ray's teenage diary. Debra giving up her sister to the convent. Ray at the father/daughter dance. Debra and Ray deciding not to throw away the nursery furniture. A lot more too.

“What am I supposed to do with ALL THIS FRUIT?”

Why is it called “Everybody Loves Raymond”?

HI ROBERT!

[quote] Patricia Heaton is a great actress.

A legendary cunt, perhaps.

R82 The opening montage should explain it!

Love the episode where Warren and Lois take everyone out to an upscale restaurant and Frank and Marie are embarrassing.

Warren, having enough, finally says, "Well, not everyone can understand everything, Frank."

Predictable, sanitized bullshit.

The wife screeches while the idiot husband can't wipe his own ass. Hilarious!

The Jewish-but-not-Jewish mother butts in and wrecks people with words. Hysterical!

The dad makes wisecracks from his chair. Oh, my sides!

It's a show about a family, but you never see the kids and the parents have a lot of free time for restaurant dinners and lengthy arguments in a quiet kitchen. Stop, you're killing me!

[Quote]she is one note. What you’ve described is all she’s got.

Is there really more we need of her?

R57, that’s my favorite episode. When the canister falls down the stairs like it’s haunting her…

Good writing and the *most* important thing - great chemistry

To think the role of Debra almost went to Jane Sibbet ie Ross’s lesbian ex on “Friends”.

Watched this entirely for his brother. I like men I have to climb.

R87 has the need to resurrect a thread that’s a year and a half old, and crap on it.

[quote]The house was messy, the wife could be shrill, the in-laws were annoying and realistic.

The wife could be shrill, but Ray could be an annoying doofus.

C’mon you guys - what a shitty week in LA, Texas and FLA - reading this thread reminded me - we are living through an extra crazy time. It is more normal to be happy and maybe even laugh. …… A few episodes I didn’t see mentioned - The one when Ray says Debra makes too big a production out of paying the bills and he takes over and the power goes out and he has to borrow money from Robert. … The one whe after Debra’s parents get a divorce he brings his old lady girlfriend to Thanksgiving. She was to take a nap and it takes her forever to walk up the stairs…… OR - When Robert gets duped and pays a company to be a male model. He is too embarrassed to tell the family so Raymond does a photo shoot for Robert. …… When Raymond takes his little girl and drops her off for a sleep over and he helps put up the tent. The other mother pays Ray on the behind while he is bent over.

This show was tightly written and perfectly cast.

Nobody wants to see more of ‘the kids,’ aside from r87, apparently.

Kinda weird.

Marie is like my Italian grandmother. She knows when to flip the emotional/gaslighting/maniuplation switch.

I wanted to see Ray Romano naked.

I love the show as well and watch it every day on SLING. But I have to be honest, I hate the character of Raymond. He comes off as intellectually deficient. I'm madly in love with his mother Marie and her 'I do what I do and I can't give a fat rat's ass who cares', even though I realize that both she and Frank were profoundly mentally ill.

I always wanted to see his pal Gianni naked. That tight, hairy chested little Guido.

I did not love Raymond

The girlfriend/fly episode is inspired lunacy.

The canister. Perfection.

It’s a very, very funny show.

The Italian American Cosby show with small kids and no teens.

R99 - no, you don’t.

The strength was Phil Rosenthal being behind the scenes the entire time.

Ray was like so, so many married guys I know. Somewhat immature and selfish, bored with being a dad.

I liked the four episode story when Debra and Marie stopped talking. because each episode was different and didn’t just continue the story in a linear way. Part one was the fight, part two was the men using it to their advantage, part three was their customary end-of-season flashback episode which integrated the fight into the story, and part four was Robert joining a cult as he was so upset by everything.

This thread has inspired me to spend the next few weeks cooking through all of Marie's special dishes. I did something similar after rewatching The Sopranos recently and it was great fun.

Tomorrow night I'm doing beef braciole and canolis.

Hope this isn't too personal of a question R109 ...... for curiosity's sake, what do you weigh?

R110 Haha, I don't eat the food I cook other than little tastes as I go or I would be as big as a house. I just love cooking for other people.

You seem cool, R111

OP-You think Friends was a GREAT sitcom?

Oh brother.

Compared to Friends Joannie Loves Chachi was a GREAT sitcom

[QUOTE] I liked the four episode story when Debra and Marie stopped talking. because each episode was different and didn’t just continue the story in a linear way. Part one was the fight, part two was the men using it to their advantage, part three was their customary end-of-season flashback episode which integrated the fight into the story, and part four was Robert joining a cult as he was so upset by everything.

Textbook example of what made Raymond so good.

Why so much hate for Friends. These vanilla ass Gen X cunts were funny. They had great chemistry. So what they ain’t have no mafuckin back friends. A brother would have been chopping them all done, the ladies. And Keisha would have told Rachel bout herself in season 2, after that bitch kept doing the same dumb shit over and over in relationships. They would have had a great time smoking an L with Phoebe and Joey.

[quote]Compared to Friends Joannie Loves Chachi was a GREAT sitcom

One of DL's strictest rules is that posters must have an irrational hatred of "Friends" and act as though it was a huge dud instead of the very popular show it actually was.

R116 It's so true. Friends, Seinfeld, and The Office alike.

I could not STAND Patricia Heaton's character .. because I kept feeling like the constant negativity and nagging were a demonstration of who she really is. After seeing her interviews, I think that's correct.

She served her purpose. What would you be like as a person R118 if you were married to a lazy, childish, inconsiderate dope like Ray with Marie as your mother-in-law living right across the fucking street? How was Debra supposed to be, cheerful and encouraging?

I saw Patricia Heaton once at Spago having dinner with her husband. The waiter asked if she wanted Wolfgang to come to her table and say hello. She declined. What a cunt.

R120 I wouldn't want that guy to watch me eat, either.

R120 How is that being a cunt. She wanted to eat in peace. Even though she is indeed a cunt though.

She was done eating when the waiter asked her that. I get not wanting to kiss the ring but WTF does that cunt think she is? I hate her and her politics.