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Everybody Loves Raymond

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Everybody Loves Raymond
Created byPhilip Rosenthal
StarringRay Romano
Patricia Heaton
Brad Garrett
Doris Roberts
Peter Boyle
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes210 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseSeptember 13, 1996 –
May 16, 2005

Everybody Loves Raymond is an American sitcom, originally broadcast on CBS from September 13, 1996 to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of Ray Romano. The Ray Barone character represents Ray Romano. The main characters on the show are also loosely based on Ramano's family members. It is one of the most critically acclaimed American sitcoms of its time. [citation needed] Everybody Loves Raymond was both nominated for many awards and won many awards.

Show background

Ray Barone

The show revolves around the life of Italian-American, Ray Barone, a newspaper sportswriter from Lynbrook, Long Island. Ray lives with his wife, Debra Barone, their daughter, Ally, and their identical twin sons, Michael and Jeffrey. Ray's parents and jealous self-doubting brother Robert can never give Ray or his family a moment of peace. The three frequently make their presence known to the frustration of Ray and especially his wife, Debra. Unfortunately for Ray, he always has to hear about it from his wife Debra. This is because his wife has to have the greatest degree of patience in dealing with Ray's family, particularly Ray's mother, Marie. Ray often finds himself in the middle of all the problems and arguments. His biggest nemesis is Robert. Robert and Ray are frequently seen fighting like children and picking on each other. However, Ray isn't treated much better by his father, who makes fun of everybody. Though he and his wife have their share of marital disagreements, Ray and Debra have a closeness and always have something to talk about together. In fact, a recurring theme on the show is Ray and Debra having a long interaction each night while in bed, just before going to sleep. Though Ray makes a lot of mistakes and bad choices and Debra seems to nag and blame him for everything, there are many moments in which the two are sweet towards each other and flirt.

Main cast

Supporting cast

Amy MacDougall-Barone (Monica Horan)

Monica Horan plays the role of Amy MacDougall-Barone, a devout Protestant who is married to Robert Barone. She is also the best friend of Debra Barone, Ray's wife, who introduced Amy to Robert. Although Amy married Robert in the seventh season of the show, she had been making appearances since the first season. Many issues have caused them to break up in the first six seasons, with one being caused by Raymond. After Amy broke up with Robert from finding out he was with two other women, Amy only returned three times- once when she and Stefania thought of a way to make him a better mate; again when she dated one of Raymond's friends because of a plan by Debra and Marie to make Robert envious; and once more when she planned to take Ray and Debra to the airport for their vacation (the three of them ended up staying at Marie and Frank's house because the power went out). She wouldn't make another appearance until Thanksgiving, when Marie had to get glasses. Quite often, she apologizes to someone even if she didn't do anything wrong. In an episode from season nine, for example, Amy apologized to Ray for yelling at him, even though she had the right to yell because Ray insulted her.

Amy is a soft-spoken girl who was raised in a family of devout Protestants (the Barones are Catholic) who consider their Bible the "guide to life". She once described her parents as "people who wouldn't yell if they were on fire". Amy's parents and brother live in Pennsylvania.

Amy's Parents

Amy's parents, Hank (Fred Willard) and Pat MacDougall (Georgia Engel), are very devout Christian conservatives who oppose the marriage of their daughter to Robert because of divorce and other transgressions in his past. The matters are not helped as they soon learn that the MacDougalls and the Barones are not the most compatible of families. The two sides still do not like each other after many tries at truce, although the Barones have always loved Amy and the MacDougalls have somewhat come to accept Robert.

Peter MacDougall

Peter (Chris Elliott) is Amy's older brother who has a strange personality and a sneaky, clever mind. He is also opposed to the marriage of his little sister and insists that he will keep trying to break it up. But come wedding day, it turns out that Marie is the one to interrupt the wedding after the priest says "speak now or forever hold your peace". Peter is single but lives with his pet house cat, Miss Puss. At first, Peter and Robert do not get along very well, but in "Peter on the Couch," the two find common ground in the fact that they suffered the same problems growing up (being the overshadowed older sibling and living with their parents for a long time) and gain acceptance of each other. Eventually, Robert even gives Peter his old apartment. In a later episode, he hooks up with Molly's mom, Peggy (Amy Aquino).

Amy's brother was originally introduced as "Russell", the owner of a comic book shop who was played by comedian Paul Reubens in a one-time appearance. When the character reappeared, his name was Peter and was played by Chris Elliott.

Children

  • Alexandra (Ally) Barone (Madylin Sweeten): Ray and Debra's only daughter who is five years old at the beginning of the series. She was named for Romano's real-life daughter.
  • Geoffrey and Michael Barone (Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten): Ray and Debra's identical twin sons who are two years old at the beginning of the series. In the pilot episode, one of the sons is referred to as "Matthew" and the other as "Gregory", the names of Romano's real-life twin sons. A running joke is Frank's insistence that Geoffrey may be latently homosexual.

Recurring characters

  • Lois Whelan (Katherine Helmond): Debra's aloof mother.
  • Warren Whelan (Robert Culp): Debra's eccentric and alcoholic father.
  • Gianni (Jon Manfrellotti): A contractor, ex-futon repairman, and friend of Raymond. He was also on The King of Queens.
  • Judy (Sherri Shepherd): Robert's NYPD patrol partner.
  • Andy (Andy Kindler): A fellow sportswriter and friend of Raymond.
  • Garvin (Len Lesser): A friend of Frank.
  • Bill Parker (David Hunt): Ray's nemesis neighbor (played by the real life husband to Patricia Heaton) Parker is often seen showing Ray up as a father, and Ray often makes jokes that Debra wishes she had married him instead.
  • Carrie Parker: wife of Bill Parker
  • Stefania Fogagnolo (Alex Meneses): Robert's ex-girlfriend from Italy.
  • Peggy Ardolino (Amy Aquino): Single mother of Ally's best friend who has bullied Ray and later becomes Peter's girlfriend.
  • Marco Fogagnolo (David Proval): The intimidating Italian father of Stefania.
  • Doug Heffernan (Kevin James): A friend and golf buddy of Raymond's and an IPS deliveryman (a takeoff on UPS). (See The King of Queens.) Before 1998 James appeared as Kevin, a fellow sports writer who worked for the Mets.
  • Gerard (Fred Stoller): Ray's annoying cousin.
  • Lee and Stan: Friends of Marie and Frank. Often talked about, but usually not seen.
  • Harriet Lichtman: Marie's bridge partner, and Frank's fantasy woman. Often talked about, but usually not seen.
  • Albert, played by Ray Romano's actual father, Albert Romano. Albert is a lodge friend of Frank and has been seen in various lodge-related episodes.
  • Molly, played by Ray Romano's actual daughter, Alexandra Romano. Alexandra plays Ally's best friend Molly in the contemporary era, but was first seen as a flower girl in a flashback of Ray and Debra's wedding.
  • Amy, played by show creator Phil Rosenthal's actual wife, Monica Horan. Amy was first introduced as Debra's friend from her old P.R. days, and later married Robert after many breakups and reconciliations.

Errors and actualities

  • Originally, the door from Marie's kitchen to the back yard is on the right-hand side of the set, and by the next episode, the kitchen has been re-arranged, so that the door is on the left-hand side.
  • The first time we see Ray & Debra's bedroom, the doors and woodwork are all painted off-white. For the rest of the series, they are shown as unpainted wood.
  • In later seasons, the audience had become so familiar with the characters that the editors actually had to remove laughter from certain episodes for timing purposes. This is an unusual twist because most sitcoms have to add extra laughs into episodes, something which ELR has never had to do.
  • In the pilot episode the twin boys Michael and Geoffrey are called Matthew and Gregory.
  • In the episode "Debra Makes Something Good", Marie explains she doesn't make Frank's favorite meal for him all the time in case he got sick of it. Frank replies "I'm 64 years old Marie. What are you saving it for?" This episode is in the 4th season; however in the 2nd season's episode "The Gift", Frank has a 65th birthday.
  • In the episode "Baggage", Marie tells Debra that Frank nailed a big wooden spoon to their kitchen wall to anger Marie, but in return, she nailed a big wooden fork to the wall next to it, but a little higher. The positions of the fork and spoon change from episode to episode.[1] Some early episodes show a much larger fork and spoon in a dark color.
  • In the episode "Why Are We Here" (Season 1), Ray and Debra have a flashback to three years earlier. When "Ally" is seen in this episode, it is really one of the young actors that plays Ray's twin boys dressed up like a girl.
  • In the episode "Fairies" (Season 5); just before the twins go on stage, Ray yells at another child dressed as a lion who roars. The child is played by Matthew Romano who is Ray's real life son.
  • There was a rare lapse in the show's continuity. (After his cameo appearance, Reubens was arrested on child pornography charges; this prompted Ray Romano to object to his being part of the show's cast [1], and Elliott was re-cast as Amy's brother. Reubens later settled his court case, but did not re-appear on the show.)
  • Much like the references to Superman in Seinfeld episodes, there are often monkey and jungle references in the episodes (examples: Raymond calling himself a "stupid monkey" when Debra turns him down for sex, Raymond dancing to "Jungle Love" by The Steve Miller Band, and Robert saying that "Bungle in the Jungle" by Jethro Tull is the greatest song ever written).

Show Info

  • There were 6 different intros to the series. One for a specific episode, and 5 for the 5 different seasons. Seasons 4, 5, 8, and 9 didn't have introduction sequences. The episodes in those seasons would start without one.
  • The show's score, including the opening and closing themes, was composed by longtime session drummer Rick Marotta [2]
  • In early seasons, Kevin James frequently appeared as one of Raymond's friends, called Kevin. Kevin James later assumed the title role in his own sitcom, The King of Queens, and was from then on Ray's friend Doug. Ray, Robert, Debra, Marie and Frank also guest-starred as the Barones on The King of Queens in several episodes.
  • Some of the returning characters, as well as many walk-on roles, have been played by various cast members' families.

Notable Incidents

Robert and Amy's wedding

The episode that may be the biggest moment on the show, while not necessarily the highest rated, was the May 19, 2003 episode in which Robert married his long-time on-again, off-again love, Amy MacDougall. With the marriage came several new recurring characters, including Amy's parents and brother. A rumored spin-off featuring Robert and Amy never materialized.

Mother's Day Fight

One event in the series that could be the most dramatic was the month-long feud between Debra and Marie. The argument lasted four consecutive episodes, between the 6th and 7th seasons.

Episodes

Main article: List of Everybody Loves Raymond episodes

DVD releases

HBO Home Video has released the Complete Series of Everybody Loves Raymond on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4.

DVD Name Ep # Release dates
Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
The Complete 1st Season 22 September 14 2004 January 17 2005 December 16 2004
The Complete 2nd Season 25 December 14, 2004 July 4, 2005 April 27, 2005
The Complete 3rd Season 26 May 3, 2005 January 16, 2006 July 12, 2005
The Complete 4th Season 24 September 13, 2005 May 1, 2006 April 5, 2006
The Complete 5th Season 25 December 6, 2005 July 3, 2006 July 5, 2006
The Complete 6th Season 24 May 9, 2006 October 2, 2006 October 4, 2006
The Complete 7th Season 25 September 19, 2006 January 15, 2007 April 4, 2007
The Complete 8th Season 23 May 8, 2007 July 16, 2007 October 3, 2007
The Complete 9th Season 16 September 18, 2007 November 12, 2007 October 3, 2007
The Complete Series 210 October 30, 2007 TBA TBA

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Everybody Loves Raymond on CBS.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. All times mentioned in this section were Eastern & Pacific

With the exception of the 2004-2005 season, the ratings data seen in this table is from Nielsen Media Research which was published in a May 15, 2005 USA Today article.[3]

The series-finale scored a 20.2 household rating, 32.94 million viewers (29% of all viewers at the time) and an 11.2 rating among adults 18-49. At 8pm, Everybody Loves Raymond: The Last Laugh averaged a 15.3 household rating, 24.52 million viewers and a 7.5 among adults 18-49. Template:Nielsen Media Research

Season Timeslot Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Friday 8:30 p.m.
(September 13, 1996 to
February 28, 1997)

Monday 8:30 p.m.
(March 3, 1997 to
April 7, 1997) 		September 13, 1996 April 7, 1997 1996-1997 #82 10.6
2 Monday 8:30 p.m. September 22, 1997 May 18, 1998 1997-1998 #30 13.3
3 Monday 9:00 p.m. September 21, 1998 May 24, 1999 1998-1999 #11 15.5
4 September 20, 1999 May 22, 2000 1999-2000 #12 17.1
5 October 2, 2000 May 21, 2001 2000-2001 #5 19.1
6 September 24, 2001 May 13, 2002 2001-2002 #4 20.0
7 September 23, 2002 May 19, 2003 2002-2003 #7 18.6
8 September 22, 2003 May 24, 2004 2003-2004 #10 17.4
9 September 20, 2004 May 16, 2005 2004-2005 #10Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page). 17.4Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page).

Awards & nominations

Awards won

Emmy Awards:

  • Outstanding Comedy Series (2003, 2005) 2 wins
  • Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Ray Romano (2002)
  • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Patricia Heaton (2000-01) 2 wins
  • Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Brad Garrett (2002-03, 2005) 3 wins
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Doris Roberts (2001-03, 2005) 4 wins
  • Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for "Baggage" Tucker Cawley (2003) 1 win

Screen Actors Guild:

  • Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2003)

Writers Guild:

Award nominations

Emmy Awards:

Golden Globe Awards:

  • Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy Ray Romano (2000-01) 2 nominations

Screen Actors Guild:

  • Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1999-2000, 2002, 2004-06) 6 nominations
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Ray Romano (2000, 2002, 2003-2005) 5 nominations
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Brad Garrett (2004)
  • Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series Peter Boyle (2002, 2004) 2 nominations
  • Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Patricia Heaton (2002-2006) 5 nominations
  • Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Doris Roberts (2004-05) 2 nominations
Preceded by Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Comedy Series
2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Emmy Award Winner - Outstanding Comedy Series
2005 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ "The Mystery of the Big Fork and Spoon".
  2. ^ http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/PressReleaseDetailPF/0,,CNTID%25253D65387%252526CTID%25253D551436,00.html honored by ASCAP
  3. ^ Keveney, Bill (May 15, 2005). [http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-05-15-raymond- finale_x.htm?csp=N009 "'Raymond': Sweet run, and now, sweet dreams"]. USA Today. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); line feed character in |url= at position 65 (help)
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