Everybody Loves Raymond built nine seasons of comedy on parents living across the street
The premise was tiny: a Long Island sportswriter whose meddling mother, insulting father and jealous older brother live directly opposite his house. Everybody Loves Raymond ran for 210 episodes on CBS between 1996 and 2005, won 15 Emmys and is credited with helping pull the network out of a long slump.
Philip Rosenthal created the show around the comedian Ray Romano, whose real family, like his character's, included twin boys and a girl. Ray Barone writes about sports for Newsday and lives in Lynbrook with his wife Debra and their three children. He jokes his way through every crisis, dodges housework and parenting, and above all refuses to take a side if it might upset his mother. Most episodes were taped before a live studio audience, and a recurring bit ends the day with Ray and Debra hashing things out in bed.
The comedy comes from the household across the road. Marie, played by Doris Roberts, rifles through the couple's mail, rewashes their laundry, outcooks Debra and dotes on Ray at his brother's expense. Frank, played by Peter Boyle, is a retired bookkeeper and Korean War veteran who insults everyone, cares nothing for hygiene and claims he married Marie for her cooking, though episodes reveal real affection under the bluster. Patricia Heaton's Debra, overworked and overlooked, often boils over.
Brad Garrett's Robert steals much of the show. At six foot eight and a half he towers over the family, carries a gloomy air, and, oddly, dabs each bite against his chin first. A New York police officer who rises to lieutenant, he resents being second in his mother's eyes but turns out to be a fine dancer and the most emotionally open Barone. His long on-and-off romance with Debra's friend Amy ends in marriage; the actress, Monica Horan, is married to Rosenthal in real life.
Critics have kept it on their all-time lists. TV Guide placed it 60th among the best series ever, Rolling Stone ranked it 35th among sitcoms, and a Hollywood Reporter survey of more than a thousand actors, producers and directors put it at 96th among all programmes.
Source: Everybody Loves Raymond
