Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ged UK (talk | contribs) at 21:34, 28 November 2007 (removed a superflous 'many awards'). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article may require cleanup to meet Misplaced Pages's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can. (November 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Everybody Loves Raymond
Created by	Philip Rosenthal
Starring	Ray Romano Patricia Heaton Brad Garrett Doris Roberts Peter Boyle
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	210 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 13, 1996 – May 16, 2005

Everybody Loves Raymond was 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 Romano's family members. It is one of the most critically acclaimed American sitcoms of its time. Everybody Loves Raymond was both nominated for and won many awards.

Show background

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

• Ray Barone (Ray Romano)
• Debra Barone (Patricia Heaton)
• Robert Barone (Brad Garrett)
• Marie Barone (Doris Roberts)
• Frank Barone (Peter Boyle)

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.

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

• 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.

• As well as appearing on The King of Queens, Ray and Frank appeared in an episode of Cosby, and Ray appeared in The Nanny and Becker.

• The title of Everybody Loves Raymond has been spoofed by many shows. Chris Rock spoofed the show's title for his own show called Everybody Hates Chris. The ABC drama Lost also spoofed the show's title for the second season episode, Everybody Hates Hugo. A Law & Order episode has a parody title, "Everybody Loves Raimondo's".

• Some of the returning characters, as well as many walk-on roles, have been played by various cast members' families.

• In recent Judd Apatow movies, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, characters played by Paul Rudd have referred directly to the show. Lines include "That's just a good show, I tape it sometimes..." and "Marriage is like an UN-funny version of Everybody Loves Raymond, but it doesn't just last 20 minutes... it lasts forEVER!"

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

DVD releases

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

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.

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

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:

• Episodic Comedy for "Italy" Philip Rosenthal (2002) 1 win

Award nominations

Emmy Awards:

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1999-2005) 7 nominations
• Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Ray Romano (1999-2005) 6 nominations
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Patricia Heaton (1999-2005) 7 nominations
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Brad Garrett (2000, 2002-2005) 5 nominations
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Peter Boyle (1999-2005) 7 nominations
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Doris Roberts (1999-2005) 7 nominations
• Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, 6 nominations: Philip Rosenthal and Ray Romano "Bad Moon Rising" (2000), Philip Rosenthal "The Angry Family" (2001), Jennifer Crittenden "Ray's Journal" (2001), Tucker Cawley "Baggage" (2003), Mike Royce "Counselling" (2003), Philip Rosenthal, Ray Romano, Lew Schneider, Steve Skrovan, Jeremy Stevens, Aaron Shure, Mike Royce, Leslie Caveny, Tom Caltabiano "Finale" (2005)

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

References

1. yamaha.com honored by ASCAP
2. Keveney, Bill (May 15, 2005). [usatoday.com 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 80 (help)

External links

• CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond official site
• Official syndication site
• Outtakes from the show
• Piano Tab for "Everybody Loves Raymond" Closing Theme
• Everybody Loves Raymond at IMDb

• Articles needing cleanup from November 2007
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from November 2007
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from November 2007
• American television sitcoms
• CBS network shows
• 1996 television program debuts
• 2005 television program series endings
• 1990s American television series
• 2000s American television series
• Television series by CBS Paramount Television
• Television shows set in New York
• TBS network shows