Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005) is a long-running CBS sitcom in the US. Based on many of stand-up comedian Ray Romano's real experiences as a husband and father, it revolves around the family of Ray Barone, a Lynbrook, Long Island native. The show is scheduled to go off the air in May, though old episodes will still be rerun in syndication.

Contents

1 Main Characters 2 Supporting Cast 3 Show Background 4 Robert and Amy's wedding 5 The charm of 'Raymond' 6 Trivia 7 External links

Main Characters

• Ray Barone (Ray Romano), the main character. Ray is a sportswriter for Newsday.
• Debra Barone (Patricia Heaton), Ray's wife. Much of the show's humor is derived from Debra's constant attempts to deal with the many quirks of her in-laws.
• Robert Barone (Brad Garrett), who is Ray's brother, is a NYPD police officer. Though Robert is four years older than Ray, he constantly feels as if he's stuck in Ray's shadow, and lets his feelings be known.
• Marie Barone (Doris Roberts), the matriarch of the family. She is compulsive about cooking, and extremely obsessive about having a clean house.
• Frank Barone (Peter Boyle), Marie's husband and the father to Ray and Robert. A boorish slob, he constantly complains about his relationship with his wife, yet in many episodes, a sort of love between Frank and Marie is evident.

Supporting Cast

• Amy (McDougal) Barone (Monica Horan), Robert's wife since the 2002 season.
• Alexandra Barone (Madylin Sweeten), Ray and Debra's eldest daughter
• Geoffrey and Michael Barone (Sawyer Sweeten and Sullivan Sweeten, respectively), Ray and Debra's twin sons
• Hank McDougal (Fred Willard), Amy's father, an austere, religious family man
• Pat McDougal (Georgia Engel), Amy's mother, a polite, soft-spoken woman who enjoys jigsaw puzzles
• Peter McDougal (Chris Elliott), Amy's brother, an eccentric comic book geek

Show Background

Based on the experiences of Romano, Everybody Loves Raymond premiered in 1996 on CBS. It originally held the Friday night time slot, a time period traditionally known for its poor ratings. Everybody Loves Raymond was no different. CBS executives, however, saw a promising series, and moved the show to a better slot on Monday nights, where it outshined its competition. It continues to hold that time slot today. For a few years in a row in the late 1990's, the show consistently held Top 5 ratings.

Robert and Amy's wedding

It could be reasonably argued that the biggest moment on the show, while not necessarily the highest rated, was the 2002 episode in which Robert married his long-time on-again, off-again love Amy McDougal. With the marriage came a slew of new recurring characters, including Amy's parents and brother.

With the new characters in place, rumors have been circulating that when the show ends its run in May 2005, that a spin-off of the show may star Robert and Amy, showcasing their life and the conflicts between the two and between Amy's extended family.

The charm of 'Raymond'

One of Raymond's charms is its realistic continuity - the writers have kept track of key moments and quirks in the lives of their characters and regularly make reference to them. Debra is forever borrowing Marie's "big spoon"; she frequently reminds Ray of his insensitivity in taping over their wedding video with a football game; he often praises her for her lemon chicken (the first meal she prepared for him in a flashback episode chronicling their first meeting); several times Marie has referred to the Christmas that Raymond enrolled her and Frank in a Fruit-of-the-Month "cult" (a scene in the show's pilot - and premiere - episode). Even wardrobe is reworn; Marie is frequently seen in the same blouses, easily recognized by their vibrant colors and patterns. (In fact, their renaming of Amy's brother seems odd in light of the writers' usual attention to detail.)

Just as I Love Lucy provided a legacy of "classic" episodes, Raymond has contributed several that will go down in sitcom history as being among the funniest moments in television. Ray dealing with Debra's PMS mood swings; Marie and Frank attempting to retrieve from Bloomingdale's an inscribed toaster - which they had returned unopened - that Ray had given them as a Christmas gift; Marie's interference with Robert's interview with the FBI after ruining his "lucky suit" - even after repeated viewings, these episodes are freshly funny. And like Lucy, Raymond may be seen seen in perpetual reruns - at present it airs not only in syndication on local broadcast stations but on the cable network, TBS, as well.

Trivia

• The name of the show was originally an inside joke intended to be ironic, that is, implying that not everybody loves Raymond. Romano wasn't keen on the name because he felt the irony would be missed.
• Jokes about Ray's large nose and "whiny" nasal voice, Robert's height, and Frank's baldness - all real-life traits of the actors portraying them - are often incorporated into the show's humor.
• A noticeable change from most family sitcoms is that the show's three children usually have extremely small parts, although at times each has been at the center of a particular plot line.
• Each of the major actors and actresses, with the exception of Boyle, have received Emmy Awards for their performances, and the series has been honored as Best Comedy.
• For the first several seasons, new opening credits were introduced; the best of the lot was arguably a comic sequence in which Raymond and Debra attempted to hide from the Barones approaching from across the street, staged to the strains of "Ode to Joy" (this sequence, complete with the credits zooming into the screen also spoofs an infamous teaser trailer for the film Die Hard). Formal credits are no longer used; cast member names simply appear over the episode's opening scene.
• In Raymond 's early seasons, fellow stand-up comic (and friend) Kevin James frequently appeared as one of Ray's buddies. Early in the run of his own series, The King of Queens, Romano and Heaton guest-starred as the Barones.
• Although Raymond is set in Lynbrook, the houses seen as those belonging to Ray and his parents in establishing shots are actually located in the town of Merrick, though they actually are across the street from each other in real life.
• Eagle-eyed viewers know that the Barone living room differs from the one seen in the show's pilot.
• A box of Flutie Flakes is visible on top of the fridge in Ray and Debra's home.

External links

• CBS Everybody Loves Raymond official site (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/everybody_loves_raymond/)
• Official syndication site (http://www.everybodylovesray.com/)
• IMDb entry for Everybody Loves Raymond (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115167/)

nl:Everybody Loves Raymond zh:人人都爱雷蒙德