6 ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Controversies, From the Premise to the Finale
What To Know
- The Everybody Loves Raymond reunion continues with a second part airing tonight.
- Here, we examine some of the moments from the now-classic sitcom that weren’t so funny.
A great many viewers loved Everybody Loves Raymond when the hit sitcom was airing between 1996 and 2005, and now CBS is celebrating the show’s legacy with a Part 2 of the 30th Anniversary Reunion special, airing tonight, Monday, December 22, at 8/7c on CBS.
But as with many other popular TV shows of its time, Everybody Loves Raymond had its share of offscreen drama and criticism. Here are the Raymond controversies that dampened the laughter…
The gender politics
Like many other sitcoms of its era, Everybody Loves Raymond presents an inept husband and father and a long-suffering wife and mother who has to clean up his messes — and yet the storylines excuse his behavior.
“[Ray Romano’s Ray] is a thoughtless husband and a poor father interested only in television, food, and sex. Cue laughter,” Alison Cameron wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2005. “He is a stereotyped manchild who spends much of his time trying to shirk his responsibilities.”
In the same article, Dr. Marjorie Kibby, a senior lecturer in communication and culture at Newcastle University, added, “[Ray] is an extremely poor role model, he is an ineffective parent and a bad husband and the program says that it is charmingly endearing to be these things.”
CBS/Courtesy: Everett Collection
The real-life family members’ reactions
As Romano and show creator Phil Rosenthal explained to Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, many of Raymond’s storylines were based on real-life events that happened to one of the writers. And the family members of those writers would be none too pleased to see their stories on screen.
“I remember my parents in real life got separated at one time,” Romano said. “And when I broke my arm — I was 12 maybe — and my father would come over to try and take care of it… he thought he knew what he was doing. And that’s how my mom and him got back together. So we did an episode like that [Season 2’s ‘The Anniversary’] and my brother told me, ‘I told Dad, “Raymond’s doing a thing about when you and Mom were separated and he broke his arm.”’ And Dad just looked at him and went, ‘That bastard will stop at nothing!’”
The lack of diversity
Friends wasn’t the only hit 1990s comedy with an all-white cast. Everybody Loves Raymond also left characters of color largely out of the spotlight, as viewers have noticed.
“The Barones’ world feels unusually small on rewatch,” Jane O’Shea wrote for The Shot. “Apart from brief cameos and Ray’s newsroom colleagues, cultural or racial diversity is virtually nonexistent. For a show about modern family life, its narrow focus stands out sharply against the richer, more inclusive storytelling viewers now expect.”
Brad Garrett’s salary dispute
In 2003, Brad Garrett walked off Everybody Loves Raymond’s set in a salary dispute. At the time, he was earning about $166,000 per episode, while Romano was reportedly earning nearly $2 million per episode, per Backstage.
Monty Brinton/CBS/Courtesy: Everett Collection
Romano and other profit participants in the show gave up some of their backend profits to give costars Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle, and Doris Roberts a bigger share of the money, but Garrett held out for a better deal and refused to work. Heaton, Boyle, and Roberts reportedly even called out of work in support of Garrett. Finally, after a two-week stalemate, Garrett agreed to new terms and returned to work.
“The Faux Pas”
In the Season 9 episode “The Faux Pas,” Ray meets the dad of one of his twins’ friends and insults the man by disparaging his work as a custodian. Then Marie (Roberts) assumes the dad is Black when she hears he’s a custodian. In short, classism and racial microaggressions abound.
“This episode is so cringy. And not in a funny way,” one Reddit user wrote.
“I cannot watch this episode,” a commenter added.
The finale episode
“The Finale” — which, aside from a health scare that Ray faces, felt like any other Raymond episode — had fans divided. “I’m afraid to say it’s a bit of [an] anti-climax,” one IMDb user wrote. “I know this was an era where Friends and Frasier ended with big, game-changing finales, but even so, this felt if anything just like a normal episode.”
Rosenthal explained in a 2005 interview with the Television Academy Foundation that he didn’t want to “eventize” the ending to the show. “I thought, ‘What if we did more of a typical episode? We came into their lives in the middle; what if we left in the middle?’” he said. “Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your friends, your family are still there? We go away, but they’re there. … It doesn’t have to end. Families don’t always end.”
Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion, Part 2, Monday, December 22, 8/7c, CBS
Conversation63 Comments
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P
So I guess all the sitcoms based on African Americans that had no or little white content were blasted too???
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S
Not at all the same thing. Black folx were routinely excluded from the entertainment industry and had comparatively little power or influence. Your making a false equivalence similar to asking, 'why isn't there a straight pride say".
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G
Oh boy...
So you're just ignoring stuff like:
The Fresh Prince
My Wife and Kids
Kenan and Kel
Everybody Hates Chris
The Proud Family
Smart Guy
Just a brief selection of some of my favourite shows as a kid - I'm a middle class white man from England, not the target audience I'm sure, but I know for a fact I'm not alone in my position on them.
I haven't even touched on films or any other type of media either.
Your outrage is BS mate.
Even if you find statistics that show "bLaCk pEoPlE aReNt ShOwN aS mUcH aS wHiTeS" - You live in a country with a majority white population. It's representative of that you absolute coin.
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S
You don't know where I live. Also, it's fiction. It can represent whomever we want. Finally, I could name dozens of hit shows that were predominantly white. Was ELR intended to appeal to everyone or just Whites? You may not have a problem with it if a powerful group makes something just for them but I do. It's sort of like when you read magazines or see expensive private jets that are just intended for the wealthy. It's a little obscene. All that said, you called me outraged. I wouldn't say I'm outraged, but I think it's a perfectly valid critique of the show.
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S
Also, I just say that although I am not outraged OG and other posters sure seem outraged which I find kind of amusing.
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J
The Cosby show. 227, In living Color, The Fresh Prince was my favorite show.
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B
Bill Cosby Show... yup black people totally didn't have their own shows. I forgot.
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R
It was the best sitcom on air and I continue to rewatch. These people that have issues with not making the show the way these "miserable in their own lives" people see the world is exhausting. Nothing wrong with nice humor and not everything needs to be picked apart to fit hateful agendas.
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P
I wish that a lot of ignorant people would stop going back and pulling up old sitcoms that were both Great and funny and useing them to analize and fit their agenda.Its only tv for cryin out loud.Race is used about in anything anymore.Its funny how they can pull up shows from the past and allbeit even though the shows were funny you never hear anything about Alll in the Family or The Jeffersons.Get a Life People and something better to do then Pick on Classic TV.
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T
It wasn't amusing.
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S
I guess you aren't aware of the recent reunion special(s)? That's why it's relevant.
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P
I am well aware of the reunion specials but it still doesnt excuse the article.and apparently 58 people agree with me.
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J
Oh my g-d who cares? The Woke Era is over. Move on from manufactured outrage.
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G
And unfortunately it will take years to go back to normal... unbelievable.
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P
What's normal?
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M
Author needs to get a life and not drum up nonsense
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M
The family was white. 99% of the show happened in either his house or his parents house. Was things the family dealt with. Of course black and other races weren't going to be highly shown.
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M
I loved the show now I wanna rewatch it if you don’t like it don’t watch it
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D
Pure crap article
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G
I'd like to have the 8 minutes of my life back I wasted reading it.
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S
Written by a typical liberal moron who no one pays attention to anymore
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S
Whoever wrote thus article is jealous
with an inferiority complex.
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F
I loved the finale because it didn't change things. I kind of hate it when they do that in show finales, especially when the changes come out of nowhere. Change for the sake of change isn't always a good thing.
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T
I agree, we've come to expect diversity. The show would be much better if Ray's mom was black, his father was Asian, his brother was Indian, his daughter had an UK accent, one twin spoke exclusively French and the other only understood Latin. It wouldn't make sense, but it's definitely what we've come to expect.
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K
Add a drug addict and a lesbian couple from next door and you'd have a hit.
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A
What about Robert’s police partner?. Enough with this need to seek justice for gender and race and everything woke in between. As Seinfeld once said in an interview when a moron asked a similar question about race, he replied “People think it's the census or something.. funny is funny”. Feel free to NOT watch. The show was great and brings me back wonderful memories. Merry Christmas (though I bet the author would prefer I say happy holidays)
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D
I can't wait for all the Black/Asian/Hispanic LGBT "comedies" where they just sit in a big circle holding hands reaffirming eachother's life choices.
...Wait, I don't think the majority of those people want that either. As usual it's a very small minority of cnuts that have decided they want to push their BS agendas.
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G
It's always funny to me to see crap articles like this that want to bring up shows that have been off the air for two or more decades and talk about how they were not diverse or fit modern woke BS. The family was Italian and they didn't stray from the fact, that is diverse. I love that Frank never held back on telling it how it is, and yes, even offensive. I miss when shows had a spine and were not out there just to get a politically charged message across due to the pressures of the ones pulling the strings. The creators of the show are Italian, so of course its going to fixate more on Italian family life. The author of this article thinks they are making a difference in the world by writing this kind of crap when all they do is show how sensitive and desperate they are to be liked by people and a company that will drop them without hesitation. I am glad shows from back then didn't fixate on these stupid modern issues. And here is the funny thing, shows like Raymond, Seinfeld, Friends, King of Queens and so on at that time, no one complained, if someone didn't like a show, they just watched something else, simple as that. Sure, some people complained about certain episodes, but that was it people still watched and loved the shows. But these shows were loved by millions and still are. Here's a thought, if you do not like a show and think its not PC, then don't watch it. In the age of streaming, you are 100% in control what you choose to watch or choose not to watch.
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W
Dumb article
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J
Everybody Loves Raymond was a funny, entertaining show because it showed family squabbles, quirks, and conflicts very similar to real life in ANY family! The author is stirring up the old hatred of anything white from the glory days of wokeness. Get a life! And Robert had a black female police partner btw!!!
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K
So basically if it's not littered retroactively with modern era woke trash then it's automatically "controversial"?? The writer of this article has issues they need to work out before they type garbage like this.
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H
I think Dan is an idiot.
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K
Fact.
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J
Wow...its a TV show for crying out loud. Who chooses a fictional TV character as a role model? And only liberals care about diversity in a sitcom.
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K
Exactly and that is why modern day sitcoms are loaded with woke garbage and nobody watches them.
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N
I think Dr. Kibby need a stickectomy to remove that annoyance making her so dour. If comedians are meant to be role models, our civilization is in a world of hurt.
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T
I never could stand the show. He was an anachronism. My husband thought it was funny. I ended up divorcing him.
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H
Diversity? You mean like inserting a person of color character just for the appeasement of the woke crowd? A "token" character? It's really sad that it's almost 2026, and people are actually being critical of the fact that there were all-white comedies in the 1990s and 2000s. Do Hispanic comedies have token white or black characters? How about Black or Asian comedies? It seems like the writer is simply looking for racism where no racism was ever intended. Gaslighting much?
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G
Well this article was a horribly written piece of drivel. This undoubtably self hating author has probably seen like 5-10 episodes
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U
What crying whiny tripe. This is exactly why people can't laugh about things anymore.
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F
I wonder what all the whiners would say about all in the family? One of the greatest sitcoms out there
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B
Everyone in the comment section either suffers from lack of critical thinking, the self-inflicted white burden, or having a "back in my day" mindset of being stuck in the nostalgia riddled late 1900s. And it shows lol.
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G
Go talk a long walk off a short pier you waste of oxygen.
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A
lol… critical thinking. Sounds like someone is regurgitating a couple of phrases from their gender studies professor trying to impress us.
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L
The truth often isn't.
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L
So what? If whites created the shows then they can make it an all white cast. That's the norm for white families, friends etc. Blacks weren't in their lives. Get over your victim attitude and go watch your all black cast shows.
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L
They're certainly able to create their own work etc-they did it with the all black cast shows so....there's that! Get over it and stop riding on the backs of white people.
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It's what black people continue to insert themselves into and expect/insist from whites. They have their shows and we have ours and that's OKAY!
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L
The diversity comment is ridiculous! Most white families had no black people in their lives at all. And what about all the all black cast shows? Why is THAT ok? STOP trying to make everything about race and blacks don't have to be included in everything white. Whites can have their own lives too.
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C
Question ? Wasn't Sherri Sheppard Robert's partner?
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W
After reading several other Dan Clarendon articles, I've concluded that for the most part the shows are not the source of any "problems"
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S
Debra was no saint of a wife. She was very selfish when it came to their relationship. You compare her to Jill from Home Improvement...yeah, ELR was funny but she was the main reason I never watched it regularly.
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T
This article is silly. It was about the Ramono family. Not everything has to have diversity. The show was perfect
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K
Yet another pinhead doesn't want this show to be a comedy but wishes to retroactively switch it to a documentary.
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J
I love this show. I'm sick of hearing all the BS about diversity and gender roles. IT IS FUNNY like it's supposed to be. I don't see the same criticism of the "Jeffersons".
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S
Reading that crap article is three minutes I'll never get back
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R
It was a great COMEDY, show. Of course Ray was a pretty sorry excuse of a husband. That was part of its charm. Don't like it, don't watch it. Those critical of it must live in a miserable world with themselves as the only important item. Narcissistic, sad people.
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D
So some snowflakes found some episodes "cringe worthy" sounds about left ..I mean right
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M
My most dearing and closest to my heart comedy show. I'm a person, I don't see even my own color, I just see humans living amongst other people's judgements. Let freedom of speech, expression, and most of all free to be yourself. Live a little, if you can't laugh at yourself then you have bigger issues then the need to correct what your perception of what is freely being shown to you. We cannot change history, we can only learn, if you can't move in from the marooned island you been living in, then more power to you, but don't expect people to swim to you, it is you who are distancing yourself by expecting everyone else to bend to the your own perception of the world. If a human being is struggling due wrong does physical harm, then help, if someone is mentally struggling, help. If someone is simply providing entertainment from infinite possibilities of real or non fictional situations to try and make light of the world while also not forcing you to watch, then let them be. You will never be able to please everyone's perception, because it is their own. Maybe quantum relativity natures will one day be able to put you in the perception of anyone in existence so that you can enjoy or be displeased to your hearts content all at once.
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F
Stop the over analysis. This show is so entertaining with each cast member sticking to his/her persona. It's so good to laugh. Love them all!
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J
Personally the mom was trash, the wife was a hunchback nag, brother was a loser, the father was a misogynistic pig and Ray tho inept was a breadwinner who didn't even wanna live that close to his family. It's hard to see the show as needing much color in the cast when it's about his family. Friends for sure was crap as was other all all white shows because most of us just don't compare to the talent melanin brings to the table. Friends Creator literally admitted he copied the idea from living single
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K
There was an article a while back complaining about Friends and the lack of diversity. The author of that piece suggested Living Single as a diverse alternative. So all-white Friends isn't diverse. Okay. But all-black Living Single is diverse? Yeah, got it.
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D
Gotta say I never really liked the show
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