Created by Philip Rosenthal and starring stand-up comedian and screenwriterRay Romano,Everybody Loves Raymondwas one of the most beloved sitcoms when it aired on CBS from 1996 to 2005 and is still quoted and revisited today. The story focuses on a married couple, Italian-American Ray Barone and his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton), who live on Long Island with their three children: their daughter Ally (Madilyn Sweeten) and their twin boys Michael (Sullivan Sweeten) and Geoffrey (Sawyer Sweeten).
Ray is a sports columnist who often goes out of town to cover the games, while Debra is a stay-at-home mom. Their life together would have been somewhat peaceful, except for one recurring annoyance: the Barone in-laws live right across the street, and they often pop in unannounced and intrude in their affairs. There is Marie (Doris Roberts), Ray’snurturing yet possessive mother; Frank (Peter Boyle), Ray’s sardonic father who lacks manners and constantly orders his wife around and berates her; and Robert (Brad Garrett), Ray’s tall and gawky divorced brother who works as a police officer and is jealous of him.
Everybody Loves Raymondearned a lot of nominations and awards, winning a total of 15 Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Heaton, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Roberts, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Multi-Camera Sound Mixing for a Series.
Here is a selection of some the show’s most memorable quotes and the context that led to them.
11"Are you hungry, dear?"
This is Marie’s most repeated line throughout the seasons, and it expresses so much in very few words. As an overbearing mother who constantly criticizes her daughter-in-law’s cooking and use of ready-made sauces, store-bought snacks, and frozen dishes, she automatically assumes, whenever Ray visits her, that he’s starving or has just had an unsavory dish or sandwich at home. So, she asks him, “Are you hungry, dear?” as soon as he opens her kitchen door, and Ray doesn’t help change her mindset because he immediately sits down for whatever she is willing to prepare for him.
PerCheat Sheet, Roberts played a big part in developing her scene-stealing character. The actress said, “She is a control freak, she’s a pain in the neck, she’s a buttinski. I mean, she’s so many things that are annoying, but I make you laugh.”
Related:Everybody Loves Raymond Cast, Character Guide, and Where They Are Now
10“You’re born, you go to school, you go to work, you die.”
In season 6’s 19th episode “Talk to Your Daughter,” Ray clumsily attempts to explain the birds and the bees to Ally, but she is more interested in philosophical questions on a grander scale, which gets the whole family thinking and discussing the meaning of life. When Ray and Deb panic in front of him, Frank dismisses the issue as not complicated, and says, “Listen to me. Here is what life is. You’re born, you go to school, you go to work, you die. That’s it. That’s all. Cannoli, Marie!” Food and watching sports games are all that matter to him.
9“What contest in hell did I win?”
In season 3’s 12th episode “The Toaster,” Ray wants to get his parents a meaningful Christmas present, so he has a toaster engraved with a love message from his little family to theirs. Unaware that it’s personalized, Marie and Frank return it for a coffee maker. When an outraged Ray finds out and explains it isn’t just an ordinary toaster, they attempt to get it back from the store, but it’s no easy task with so many toasters around. As Marie and Frank are bickering about the best way to approach the salesman regarding the issue, he asks her, “Can’t you just ever be quiet?”, to which she replies with, “Don’t you tell me to be quiet! I have a mind of my own, you know. I can contribute. I’m not just some trophy wife.” Frank then looks at her in disbelief, and says, “You’re a trophy wife? What contest in hell did I win?”
8“This is the woman who shows up once a month to rip into me like a monkey on a cupcake!”
One of the show’s most memorable episodes is season 4’s 22nd chapter “Bad Moon Rising,” in which Debra shows clear signs of PMS and Ray clumsily attempts to calm her down, avoid clashing with her, and even brings her medication to ease her irritability. He is terrified of her, compares her moody alter-ego to Hyde, and has the nerve to secretly get her outbursts on a tape recorder as evidence. Enraged, Debra pushes him into a corner and asks him whether he considered giving her a simple hug to comfort her. He then protests with, “This is not huggable! This? This is not Debra. This is the woman who shows up once a month to rip into me like a monkey on a cupcake!
7“‘Whack’ means something different to us.”
In “Robert’s Date,” the 15th episode from season 3, Robert’s African-American partner, the bubbly and feisty Sergeant Judy (played by Sherri Shephard), takes him out to her favorite joint. Robert has so much fun there dancing and hanging out with her friends that, over the weeks, he starts adopting their mannerisms, dressing like them, and using their slang. Ray and Judy try to get him to stop acting like he’s part of that community.
Robert:That is so wack!
Ray:Right there! See? That’s what I’m talking about. We’re Italian, Robert. Okay? ‘Wack’ means something else to us.
6“He hates it when I cry. It reminds him of our wedding night.”
In season 1’s third episode “I Wish I Were Gus,” Ray’s great uncle Gus dies, and he’s asked to give the eulogy. Distressed he has to give a speech in front of people, he nevertheless asks Marie to make use of the opportunity to mends things with her sister Alda, whom she hasn’t spoken with in years. Marie then tries to get out of attending the service, under the excuse that she’d become too emotional, which Frank can’t stand. “He hates it when I cry,” she tells Ray. “It reminds him of our wedding night.”
5“I’m a cop and live with my parents. I’m on a steady diet of human suffering.”
In season 1’s 19th episode “The Dog,” Ray finds a lost bulldog in the neighborhood and brings him home. Debra disapproves of this decision, arguing that she’s swamped enough as it is with the kids and all the house chores, and then Robert comes in and interrupts them, asking for Maalox. Debra then asks him, “What’s the matter, Robert? Did you eat something bad?”, to which he dramatically replies with, “I’m a cop and I live with my parents. I’m on a steady diet of human suffering.” And then he spots the dog, and his discomfort is immediately lifted; the solution to his brother’s quandary is he adopts the dog instead.
4“When you’re on the Titanic, you lower the lifeboats. You don’t stop to yell at the iceberg.”
On top of taking care of the children, cooking, and cleaning, Debra is also in charge of the household’s finances. In “The Checkbook,” the 16th episode from the second season, Ray attempts to prove to her that he can manage their spendings and savings all by himself, but he fails miserably. When he can no longer conceal the consequences of his arrogance, he has no choice but to hand the checkbook back to his seemingly calm wife, and then he asks her, “Shouldn’t you be yelling at me, or something?”
She then looks up from her calculator and checkbook and retorts, “Ray, when you’re on the Titanic, you lower the lifeboats. You don’t stop to yell at the iceberg.”
In an interview she gave toTelevision Academy, Heaton recalled that married women would come up to her to express their frustration with their husbands' behavior and tell her they identified with Debra, who was exhausted, underappreciated, and constantly criticized by her mother-in-law. She added, “The writers were in touch with their wives and their feelings and they did a great job writing about how women feel about how their husbands behave. They really nailed it, and that’s what people loved about the show.”
3“I’ve been told that’s how I feel.”
In “The Christmas Picture,” the 11th episode of season 4, Debra invites her parents over for Christmas and wants to include them in the family portrait, much to Marie’s distress. When Robert expresses his surprise after Ray announces his in-laws’ arrival is imminent, Ray says, mechanically, as if he’s repeating Debra’s words, “Yeah, they don’t come around much anymore, so we want to spend as much time as possible with them.” Because Robert then stares at him in disbelief, he immediately adds, “I’ve been told that’s how I feel.”
2“You know when you fall asleep and you stop breathing? When you’re married, there’s always somebody there to nudge you back to life.”
In “The Lone Barone,” season 3’s ninth episode, Robert is upset with his girlfriend Amy after she attempts to redecorate his apartment and hints at wanting them to get married soon. He decides to seek his brother’s wisdom on marriage, and Ray is happy to oblige with, “Ok, Robert, you want to know the advantages of marriage? Fine… There’s… Uh… OK! Here! Got it! You know when you fall asleep and you stop breathing? When you’re married, there’s always somebody there to nudge you back to life.”
Realizing Robert is freaking out, Amy eventually breaks up with him.
Related:8 Things You Didn’t Know About the Cast of Everybody Loves Raymond
