Joe's TV List Brings Over Some Food

#37: Everybody Loves Raymond
(CBS, 1996-2005)

Make no mistake – no matter who you are, it’s easy to call Everybody Loves Raymond one of the most pitch-perfect comedies of the past 20 years, but it’s even funnier if you’re married. I suspect it gets better the longer you’ve been married, which may explain why it’s the only show besides FOX News and American Idol that my parents in Carolina watch. One time, on a visit, I called them Frank and Marie, and my mom was all, “we’re not like that, are we?” – her tone was mildly incredulous, but it was funny because you could hear in her voice the creeping possibility that it could be true. (It’s not, seriously. Then again, we’ve only stayed for a few days at a time.) Raymond certainly boasts one of the greatest ensembles in sitcom history, but I’m pretty sure it has forever ruined my favorite X-Files case, “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose,” because now, whenever Peter Boyle’s on screen in that episode, all I’m going to hear in my head is Doris Roberts yelling, “Frank, it’s bad enough you go around predicting other people’s deaths, but now foreseeing your own! Have you even considered how this is affecting me? How could you be so insensitive?” And then she’ll make Mulder and Scully eat something.

Comments

[WriterJax]

my mom always says 'oooh i hate that marie!' ...and my brother and i have to leave the room. Immediately.

[Dawn]

Best episode of that show: the PMS episode. I still laugh til I cry.