Ray Romano is a pretty good comedian.
Okay. Ray is a very good comedian.
Okay. He is great. Despite his greatness, I wouldn’t call him groundbreaking. He talks about his wife, kids and parents. His very distinctive voice may help him stand out. It’s not unique either for stand-ups to get sitcoms. It is a little more rare for them to do really well like this. Most stand-up comedians have acting ranges that include looking forward and talking to looking sideways and talking. Ray is no Marlon Brando, or even Jerry O’Connell….but he’s good enough. Great writing and the perfect storm of actors filling out the cast made “Everybody Loves Raymond” a smash hit.
Ray Barone is a simple sports columnist. He’s a neurotic Italian man with an overbearing mom, a crabby wife, ornery father, depressed brother and kids that are going to have horrible abandonment issues. They make the kids from “Rugrats” seem well supervised. In later season he gains a bubbly sister in law. Her attitude changes when she receives a reality check as ferocious as a car running into a house.
Every sitcom normally has one breakout character. This show was lucky enough to have at least 4. My favorite is of course Frank “enstein” Barone who very much does not put on the ritz. He does however share the same propensity for human interaction.
He is often found with his pants off watching sports. He is what I imagine George Constanza if he ever stops killing his fiancees.
What kind of women would actually marry George? Enter the controlling, manipulative, button pushing piece of shit Marie Barone. She fights with her husband and derides her kids, but she lives to serve them. If you could have all three men eating her cooking while Ray’s wife Debra is laying dead on the floor…that would be her dream. But that never happened.
Debra gets a lot of guff for being mean. Granted she is pretty horrible sometimes, but everyone else sees what she goes through right? How was she to know she married into the worst family ever? She was thrust into the lion’s den when she had that first baby and she’s been fighting to stay alive. I think the real season finale should have been her and Robert murdering everyone.
This trap she set for Frank sadly didn't do the job.
How can I prove it’s not Deb’s fault? Let’s look at the newest addition to the family Amy. She was sweat, family oriented, and loved Jesus. Then she met Ray’s brother Robert. She tries to stay happy, but the constant anger and tension wears on her. She eventually drinks too much and snaps into fits of rage. She became so terrible she joined in this celebration when they found out her in-laws were going to move far away.
I rest my case.
She acts like this marrying the closest to….”normal” in the bunch. Sure he’s got quirks, but years of feeling neglected leave him oddly unscathed. Abuse from his father, neglect from his mom and a horrible divorce from a stripper. He’s one big basket of crazy.
This show is really kind of a sad tale. It’s not like you don’t know about it. I’ll just leave you with this:
and fade