Is the Everybody loves Raymond introduction offensive?

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robert_ambrose said:
patricia heaton who plays ray’s wife is a catholic and has a sister a nun, i think that is why some chapters have religious tones. i love it, the show that is.
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I never knew that! I love the show - suprisingly I never watched it when it was on, I only started watching it during syndication. Frank & Marie crack me up - I think it’s because they are just like my in-laws (who are Italian, too!) :rolleyes:
 
I’m a fan of the show. My biggest beef is there are too many episodes around the topic of sex and I can’t watch the repeats because they’re on when the kids are up.

I think the showt portrays both men and women in an honest light. And, I disagree that Debra is portrayed as always being right and perfect.

Remember, the “Ladies Days” episode – where Debra acted like a maniac because she was premenstrual – crying, laughing and tearing into Ray like a psycho. How about the time she was annoyed with Ray for faking an illness to get out of something – she was really nasty to him – and it turns out he really was sick with strep. Then there was the time she fell asleep in a parked car after drinking too much and she was arrested. Then there was the episode where she got fired from an adveristing job on the first day because she was too stubborn and bossy to listen to her boss. Also, she’s a lousy cook – so not perfect.

Ray’s mom, a female and a wife, is definitely not portrayed as being perfect and always right. I love the one where she teaches Debra how to prepare a favorite dish and she puts a fake label on one of the spices . . . so, Debra can’t outdo her. Ha! I miss that show.
 
We’re Raymond geeks. We own most seasons on DVD. The last season includes a bunch of interviews with staff and writers: they’re mostly men! I think this is why most of the humor slams men. When you are a guy, it is MUCH easier to get away with humor that pokes fun at other men. Poke too much fun at women and… ouch! 😉

What I loved about that ‘making of’ show was how many of the story lines came from ACTUAL life experiences of the writers, actors, producers and staff! Love it.
 
When you consider Raymond vs Friends or Seinfeld or Scrubs or Earl or most of the others, it was pretty good. The family went to church, although not all willingly, they weren’t jumping in and out of bed with a dozen different people, and they weren’t as hedonistic and selfish as many of the other characters. I watched Seinfeld when it was new, but eventually decided I didn’t like those people. I liked the people on friends most of the time, but I wanted to smack them upside the head a lot too. Ross’ disposable marriages, for instance, always bothered me. Raymond and Deborah and Marie and what’s his name were all in it for the long haul.
 
daeve said:
When you consider Raymond vs Friends or Seinfeld or Scrubs or Earl or most of the others, it was pretty good. The family went to church, although not all willingly, they weren’t jumping in and out of bed with a dozen different people, and they weren’t as hedonistic and selfish as many of the other characters. I watched Seinfeld when it was new, but eventually decided I didn’t like those people. I liked the people on friends most of the time, but I wanted to smack them upside the head a lot too. Ross’ disposable marriages, for instance, always bothered me. **Raymond and Deborah and Marie and what’s his name were all in it for the long haul./**QUOTE]

Frank.

Out of the group you brought up, probably everybody loves raymond was the most decent, even though I haven’t seen My Name is Earl.

I wonder why Friends was so popular, it was alright, but it wasn’t laugh out loud funny. I think maybe it was the character development :eek: and also that a bunch of thirty somethings were living a lives that many people want.
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TMC said:
I agree, except that it has always been A pattern in sitcoms. But now it seems to be the pattern for MOST sitcoms. I call these types of sitcoms the “fat guy, hot wife” sitcoms. The orginal was the Honeymooners, which if you haven’t seen them were very funny. Raymond is one, King of Queens, Simpsons, Family Guy, that one with Belushi, the list goes on. The guy is usually but not always fat, but the wife is almost always very attractive, and always portrayed as smart, and kind, and correct, while the guy is silly, childish, etc.

Why is this? People think its funny, I guess.
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See, I don’t necessarily think the wives are portrayed well in those shows. I call them “dumb guy, harpy wife” shows. With the exception of maybe Marge Simpson, the wives in those shows are always nagging and harping. My husband isn’t dumb; I’m not a harpy. I get really sick of those shows pretty quickly.
 
whatevergirl said:
I haven’t seen that show in a while, but the show, although funny at times, makes men look like big dummies, who need the approval and permission of their wives to do anything. Everything Raymond says is virtually always wrong…getting endless eye rolls from Debra. Depicting men as wimpy, and stupid–it seems to be the way sitcoms are these days.🤷
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I know what you mean. I love the sitcom though, it’s the only one I really like. It has good family values in it, married life, children, grandparents (hehehe) etc. Though it’s not perfect, I don’t like everything about it, but I like it alot. I own 7 seasons, need to get more.
 
<<Depicting men as wimpy, and stupid–it seems to be the way sitcoms are these days.>>

That’s the way sitcoms have been since at LEAST the 50’s. As one observer wrote, the message of sitcoms is that women are smarter than men, children are smarter than mothers, and dogs are smarter than children.
 
MH84 said:
daeve;2906192:
When you consider Raymond vs Friends or Seinfeld or Scrubs or Earl or most of the others, it was pretty good. The family went to church, although not all willingly, they weren’t jumping in and out of bed with a dozen different people, and they weren’t as hedonistic and selfish as many of the other characters. I watched Seinfeld when it was new, but eventually decided I didn’t like those people. I liked the people on friends most of the time, but I wanted to smack them upside the head a lot too. Ross’ disposable marriages, for instance, always bothered me. Raymond and Deborah and Marie and what’s his name were all in it for the long haul./
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QUOTE]

Frank.

Out of the group you brought up, probably everybody loves raymond was the most decent, even though I haven’t seen My Name is Earl.

I wonder why Friends was so popular, it was alright, but it wasn’t laugh out loud funny. I think maybe it was the character development :eek: and also that a bunch of thirty somethings were living a lives that many people want.

Frank! Of course. Thank you.
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  1. On the “Honeymooners” archetype: there was an episode of The Simpsons a few years ago where the TV Museum (the one featured in a very early episode) was closing. They went to an exhibit of a show that was (from our perspective) a direct Honeymooners parody. I forget the exact dialogue, but they came as close as they could to breaking the fourth wall without directly acknowledging it. Homer says something like, “Aww, I thought I was an original.” Marge kisses him and says, “That’s OK, I still love you RalphFredArchieAlKingofQueens, I mean, Homie.”
  2. On the behind the scenes stuff: Patricia Heaton is practicing Presbyterian, actually. While she’s great by Hollywood standards, she’s got issues (i.e., she’s pro-life on abortion but supports contraception and gay marriage). Most of the cast, though, were Catholics or raised Catholic in real life, including the obviously Italian Ray Romano. Peter Boyle suffered a heart attack around the third season and experienced a deep personal conversion–the overt references to Catholicism starting around the fourth season were due as much to Peter Boyle’s influence as to Patricia Heaton’s.
  3. I’ve been watching Raymond on TV Land the past few months–over the years I’ve never watched it in a “dedicated” manner but just if it happened to be on or whatever, so I’ve never been able to piece together the overall storylines till recently.
    Anyway, I think the show’s gift is its problem (in regards to being a show). As Eliot said, “Humankind cannot bear much reality,” or, as the adage goes, “truth is stranger than fiction.” Often times, the more authentically “realistic” TV shows are, we interpret them as “weird”. The whole point of Everybody Loves Raymond is that no one’s perfect, we’re all flawed, and everyone’s a little bit crazy.
    But in a fictional comedic world, you need a “straight man.” Bob Newhart’s two classic and eponymous series both feature him as a straight-laced character dealing with a bunch of nutty supporting cast members. Andy Griffith’s Andy Taylor is similarly the straight man to the various crazy denizens of Mayberry. On The Office, the original purpose of Ryan was to be the “straight man,” but audiences attached to Jim, so that role shifted to Jim.
    Yet on Raymond, neither Ray nor Debra quite qualifies for the role.
    Ray’s so fundamentally jerky when it comes to his constant desire to play golf or watch sports rather than associate with his wife and kids, and Debra’s so high strung and easily offended that it gets to be hard after a while to identify with either one of them.
 
TMC said:
I agree, except that it has always been A pattern in sitcoms. But now it seems to be the pattern for MOST sitcoms. I call these types of sitcoms the “fat guy, hot wife” sitcoms. The orginal was the Honeymooners, which if you haven’t seen them were very funny. Raymond is one, King of Queens, Simpsons, Family Guy, that one with Belushi, the list goes on. The guy is usually but not always fat, but the wife is almost always very attractive, and always portrayed as smart, and kind, and correct, while the guy is silly, childish, etc.

Why is this? People think its funny, I guess.
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Wow! Guess I’m not the only guy who calls them the “fat guy, hot wife” sitcoms! 😃
 
TMC said:
I agree, except that it has always been A pattern in sitcoms. But now it seems to be the pattern for MOST sitcoms. I call these types of sitcoms the “fat guy, hot wife” sitcoms. The orginal was the Honeymooners, which if you haven’t seen them were very funny. Raymond is one, King of Queens, Simpsons, Family Guy, that one with Belushi, the list goes on. The guy is usually but not always fat, but the wife is almost always very attractive, and always portrayed as smart, and kind, and correct, while the guy is silly, childish, etc.

Why is this? People think its funny, I guess.
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It has a lot to do with the comedian getting his own show. The main character is the comedian around which all the humor is based on, and a lot of the times the comedian just happens to be fat (comedians don’t have to be pretty boys, they just need to be funny). Naturally, since it’s his show, his ideas, and his humor, it’s also going to be his own little fantasy world, so he gives himself a hot wife.
 
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