re: Everybody Loves Raymond

I had never watched this until a couple of years ago. I was struck by a few things:

1) How old fashioned, almost Ozzie and Harriet, many of the situations are. The wife is actually a stay at home mom who worries b/c she can't cook as well as her mother in law!

2) It wavers between classical sitcom form and post-Seinfeld quirky. Sometimes it's a standard sitcom, in both style and content, that could have been a Dick Van Dyke Show episode 50 years ago. Other times it's all the cast members standing in a row like talking heads exchanging dialogue for 5+ minutes.

I can't talk about ELR without mentioning it had one of my all time favorite lines. Somebody tells Raymond he's wasting himself on sports and should write something serious, and he replies: "I don't want to write The Great American Novel. I don't even want to read The Great American Novel".

i think the fact that its easy for a lot of people to relate to helps, and i still watch whenever i come across it.

and debra

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It was created like that on purpose, according to the producer, to hearken back to the golden days of sitcoms.

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And they did exactly that, with a modern twist.

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Always thought Ray was the least funny part of that show

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I don't disagree with that. There was a lot of talent around him and it made him funny.

I love how they changed his character from the first season. He's completely different. He was so odd and weird. Whenever I rewatch the series, I start with the second season because of that. He's great.

I agree... I've probably first watched 90% of the episodes in syndication. For some reason it didn't appeal to me when it was on network.

Frank is probably the greatest one liner laugh character in the history of television...

I don't get the Debra hate... she appears the bitch but that always ends poorly for her and justice is served. Then when she loosens the reigns it ends poorly for her also where Ray takes advantage and she is the sympathetic character. To deal with that complexity of character in a sitcom Heaton makes it work as the bitchy sympathetic character and is quite funny.

The show works because we can relate as each character plays out their dysfunction while holding up the facade of normalcy... I mean we are only "normal" because we don't allow our own dysfunctions to overcome and define us.

Love the show...but I admit Marie and Debra almost ruin it.


Frank and Robert make the show

It's solid. Not the best show by any means, but good enough for a laugh.

Robert is my favorite by far....The few shows that Amy's brother was on

I was too young to watch it originally, but enjoy it on reruns. Doris Roberts did such a great job of playing Marie that I couldn't stand the show at first because I hated her character so much. I met her in New York once, and she was really nice and very funny.

I had a crush on Brad Garrett. I'm 5 11 so his height would be just right.