On a sunny Saturday afternoon final month in Los Angeles, excited followers opted for a darkish studio at CBS Tv Metropolis the place a reunion with the beloved Barone household of “Everybody Loves Raymond” would happen. Devotees of the Emmy-winning sitcom gathered for a dwell taping of a 90-minute thirtieth anniversary particular, airing Monday on CBS.
“This is a bucket-list-type thing,” stated longtime fan Kim Brazier, who flew in from Gulfport, Miss. “I only watch ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ I have it on repeat. I watch it when I’m getting ready in the morning, and it’s kind of my lullaby when I go to bed.”
The favored sitcom, which ran for 9 seasons from 1996 to 2005, was recognized for its hilarious depiction of household dynamics. Ray Romano starred as sportswriter Ray Barone, married to Debra (Patricia Heaton). The couple raised three younger youngsters whereas navigating marital squabbles, awkward parenting moments and fixed meddling from Ray’s mother and father, Marie and Frank (Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle), who lived throughout the road with Ray’s jealous, downtrodden police officer brother, Robert (Brad Garrett).
Contained in the reunion, the environment brimmed with nostalgia as Romano and the present’s creator, Phil Rosenthal, hosted the dwell taping from the lounge they as soon as introduced into tens of millions of households every week. The set was meticulously re-created for the event, together with the Barone sofa, which Romano now owns and had transported from his house for the event.
Solid members have been introduced out one after the other all through the afternoon, every remaining on stage because the panel grew, together with Rosenthal’s spouse, Monica Horan, who performed Robert’s longtime love curiosity, Amy.
Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal strolling to the stage for the thirtieth anniversary reunion, which was taped earlier than a dwell studio viewers, identical to the sequence.
(Matthew Taplinger / CBS)
The group reminisced about working with each other and shared their favourite episodes, accompanied by clips on surrounding screens that included a reel of outtakes of humorous strains improvised by Romano and Garrett cracking up their fellow castmates. As every section performed, Rosenthal and the solid watched, absolutely absorbed with smiles throughout their faces, whereas the viewers sat rapt, revisiting these cherished moments.
Every week and a half later, in a Zoom interview with Rosenthal and Romano, the latter mirrored on returning to the set. “It was emotional and surreal. At first it felt so strange to be back, like we went back in time,” Romano says. “And then after we were joking and comfortable for a while, it felt like we never left.”
Identical to the reunion, the unique sequence was filmed in entrance of a dwell studio viewers, a aware option to seize the vitality within the room. “We had me, a comedian, and comedy writers, and we wanted to hear the laughs,” Romano says.
And the laughs have been plentiful. Rosenthal advised the group on the taping that the solid usually needed to pause after punchlines to let laughter die down. Sometimes, he stated, the laughter went on so lengthy it needed to be edited out of episodes. The one time the viewers wasn’t in stitches was when Romano actually wanted them. He as soon as sliced open his hand throughout a scene the place he was chopping cheese; Romano went to the hospital to be sewn up after which returned to complete the episode.
From the stage, Romano recounted the present’s origin story, which dates again to his 1995 stand-up comedy debut on the “Late Show With David Letterman.” His five-minute routine centered on parenting his toddlers and dropping his perspective on adult-oriented humor. He famous that the final joke he’d written dated again to when his twin sons have been infants — a bit about jingling his automobile keys to make them snicker — which he bodily demonstrated through the look. After the “Late Show” crowd laughed, he pushed the bit one step additional. “I’m glad you laughed at that,” he stated. “If you didn’t, I would’ve had to come down there and rub my nose in your bellies.”
The solid of “Everybody Loves Raymond” through the taping of the finale episode of the sequence, which aired in Could 2005.
(Richard Cartright / CBS / AP)
In the meantime, Rosenthal, then a author on ABC’s sitcom “Coach,” was at house with Horan watching Romano’s set. It instantly resonated with the couple. “It made me laugh so hard,” he says. “We had just had a kid, and the material was eminently relatable.”
Two weeks later, when Letterman’s manufacturing firm supplied Romano a growth deal, he met with Rosenthal, and the 2 started shaping the sitcom, mixing their sensibilities. Rosenthal says the ensuing present turned a hybrid of his sitcom expertise with Romano’s sensibility that all the pieces should be rooted in fact. “It had to feel real and honest,” Rosenthal says. “And you don’t do anything just to get a laugh. We had a rule in the writers room: ‘Could this happen?’ Are we stretching credibility so far that we break the bond of relatability with the audience?”
They developed the present round their very own lives, modeling the Barone youngsters after Romano’s, and incorporating materials from his Letterman routine. The character of Robert was based mostly on Romano’s real-life brother, a New York Metropolis police officer whose bitter quip when Romano received an award — “Everybody loves Raymond” — turned each the present’s title and a line of dialogue his fictional counterpart delivered within the pilot.
Rosenthal contributed his circle of relatives inspiration too, basing Ray’s TV mother largely on his mom, with elements of Romano’s. On the anniversary particular, he advised the viewers with a wink that his mom had at all times insisted the character was “an exaggeration.”
Phil Rosenthal, left, and Ray Romano on the recreated set of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” (Sonja Flemming / CBS)
Brad Garrett, left, performed Ray’s brother and Patricia Heaton, performed Debra, Ray’s spouse within the sequence. (Sonja Flemming / CBS)
When it got here time for casting, roughly 20 girls auditioned to play Ray’s spouse, however Heaton nailed it, with a daring alternative setting her aside. She was the one actor who really kissed Romano through the audition, whereas the remainder simply mimed it. It wasn’t till the reunion, nonetheless, that Heaton realized onstage that she was the one one who’d finished so.
The reunion additionally revealed that Garrett’s casting as Robert was a shock to Romano. His actual brother is shorter than he’s, whereas Garrett is 6 ft 8, prompting Romano to joke that two brothers had been solid without delay.
Rosenthal famous that to keep away from the looks of nepotism, he by no means prompt his spouse for the function of Amy. Somewhat, it was a author on the present who had put her identify ahead.
The reunion additionally honored Boyle and Roberts, who died in 2006 and 2016, respectively. The taping coincided with what would have been Boyle’s ninetieth birthday, and his spouse, Lorraine, was within the viewers. Romano shared that Boyle was nothing like his grumpy character Frank. In the course of the first rehearsal, Boyle gave the nervous Romano recommendation: “It’s just like water. Just let it flow.”
Roberts, in the meantime, was the present’s matriarch on- and off-screen, recognized for making pots of soup in her dressing room and searching for the solid. Horan recalled Roberts as skilled and protecting, declaring at any time when anybody was unwittingly blocking Horan’s gentle in a shot.
Frank and Marie, performed by Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, have been remembered through the reunion particular. The taping coincided with what would have been Boyle’s ninetieth birthday.
(Robert Voets / CBS)
Later within the afternoon got here one other poignant second when Madylin Sweeten and youthful brother Sullivan Sweeten, who performed Ray and Debra’s youngsters, Ally and Michael Barone, joined the panel. Madylin was 5 when the present started, whereas Sullivan was 16 months previous. His twin brother, Sawyer, who additionally appeared on the present as Michael’s twin, Geoffrey, died by suicide in 2015, simply earlier than his twentieth birthday.
Talking about his late brother, Sullivan stated that he tries to remain optimistic by reflecting on his finest moments with Sawyer, sharing that the majority of them occurred on the set of the present. Madylin stated that she and Sullivan work with the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Hotline, noting that the majority who search assist do survive.
Now 34 and a mother herself, Madylin mirrored on rising up on successful sequence. On the time, she was too younger to totally grasp its significance, revealing that she remembers being upset one 12 months when she couldn’t take part in a college play as a result of she needed to be on set. As scenes of the Barone youngsters performed above the stage, she wiped away tears on the sight of Sawyer as a toddler.
It was simple to see what made the solid really feel like an actual household. Their chemistry crammed the studio as soon as once more, and their connection endures.
“Imagine spending nine years with people and then staying in touch,” Rosenthal says. “Phil and I see each other all the time,” Romano provides, earlier than Rosenthal chimes in: “Our families vacation together.” They shared that they’d had lunch with the present’s writers earlier that day.
The love among the many solid is matched solely by the devotion of the followers who crammed the studio. All through the taping, the viewers erupted in laughter, cheers and applause, a testomony to how deeply the present stays embedded in individuals’s lives. Even 20 years after its finale, everyone nonetheless loves Raymond.
“It was the ultimate honor,” Rosenthal says of the enthusiastic followers who confirmed up for the reunion. “We can die happy that we made something of lasting value.”
Requested why they’ve by no means thought of a reboot, Romano is obvious. “This was our legacy, this was our baby, and we wanted to treat it right,” he says. “We wanted to leave on a high note and go out on top, and that’s what we did.”
