Post by D on May 25, 2004 7:58:32 GMT -5
Enough chuckles to keep 'Raymond' on
May. 25, 2004 12:00 AM
Despite the title, everybody doesn't love Raymond, and Monday's season finale reminded us why.
But with sitcoms on the wane, viewers appreciate Everybody Loves Raymond enough to want it back for another season, and there were enough chuckles Monday night to make that argument as well.
Money talks
It looked for a time as if this might be Raymond's last season, that it would join Sex and the City, Friends and Frasier as Emmy-winning comedies leaving the air this year. But to no one's great surprise - money talks - executive producers Ray Romano (the Raymond of the title) and Phil Rosenthal agreed to one more season, albeit a shortened 16-episode one, much like how Friends handled its final season.
Monday's episode was designed to serve as a season or a series finale, however negotiations worked out, and in that regard it worked.
Raymond and Robert (Brad Garrett) waited all night for a slot on a golf course, and eventually the talk turned, as it always must on this show, to their annoying parents, characters who loom so large that they are always present, even when they are not onscreen.
The boys figured their dad (Peter Boyle) would die first, leaving them to decide who would care for their meddlesome mom (Doris Roberts). Neither wants to; then, racked by guilt, both do. First, whoever loses at golf gets her, then it's whoever wins.
Favorite son
They pushed each other's buttons while touching on all the family's familiar hot spots: namely, how Raymond is his mother's favorite son.
Raymond is often described as an old-fashioned sitcom.
You can't get much more old-fashioned than the food fight that ended the scene.
Or much sillier.
As is often the case, the big laughs went to Garrett.
Their mom makes affection easy for Ray, he says. "You're just a fat kid sitting with his mouth open at the end of a chocolate assembly line."
That they wound up fighting was no surprise.
Fighting is what they do on Raymond. At least this time it was between brothers.
Usually it's between Raymond and his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton).
Grating comedy
Has there ever been an unhappier sitcom marriage? At first it was kind of funny. Now it's just grating.
There's one season left. Maybe for a sweeps stunt they could actually get along or something.
Article Link:
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0525goodycol25.html
May. 25, 2004 12:00 AM
Despite the title, everybody doesn't love Raymond, and Monday's season finale reminded us why.
But with sitcoms on the wane, viewers appreciate Everybody Loves Raymond enough to want it back for another season, and there were enough chuckles Monday night to make that argument as well.
Money talks
It looked for a time as if this might be Raymond's last season, that it would join Sex and the City, Friends and Frasier as Emmy-winning comedies leaving the air this year. But to no one's great surprise - money talks - executive producers Ray Romano (the Raymond of the title) and Phil Rosenthal agreed to one more season, albeit a shortened 16-episode one, much like how Friends handled its final season.
Monday's episode was designed to serve as a season or a series finale, however negotiations worked out, and in that regard it worked.
Raymond and Robert (Brad Garrett) waited all night for a slot on a golf course, and eventually the talk turned, as it always must on this show, to their annoying parents, characters who loom so large that they are always present, even when they are not onscreen.
The boys figured their dad (Peter Boyle) would die first, leaving them to decide who would care for their meddlesome mom (Doris Roberts). Neither wants to; then, racked by guilt, both do. First, whoever loses at golf gets her, then it's whoever wins.
Favorite son
They pushed each other's buttons while touching on all the family's familiar hot spots: namely, how Raymond is his mother's favorite son.
Raymond is often described as an old-fashioned sitcom.
You can't get much more old-fashioned than the food fight that ended the scene.
Or much sillier.
As is often the case, the big laughs went to Garrett.
Their mom makes affection easy for Ray, he says. "You're just a fat kid sitting with his mouth open at the end of a chocolate assembly line."
That they wound up fighting was no surprise.
Fighting is what they do on Raymond. At least this time it was between brothers.
Usually it's between Raymond and his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton).
Grating comedy
Has there ever been an unhappier sitcom marriage? At first it was kind of funny. Now it's just grating.
There's one season left. Maybe for a sweeps stunt they could actually get along or something.
Article Link:
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0525goodycol25.html
