History Headscratchers / EverybodyLovesRaymond

** Ray Romano was at least aware of this, if Ray Barone wasn't. In an HBO comedy showcase after ''EverybodyLovesRaymond'' was off the air, he said something like "You have no idea how many times on the show I wanted to say 'Shut the fuck up, Debra!'"

** That assumes they don't show up early - or that they stay away from the house long enough to allow everyone to set up.

**** You would really hate ''BringingUpFather'' then -- the ''entire comic strip'' is about the hilarity of a large woman beating up her short, drunken husband. In this show, the wimpy, obnoxious sarcastic Raymond is frequently insulted by his short, angry wife, who (on may two or three occasions) has smacked him or shoved him. It's comedy.

* This is a bit petty, but it nags at me every time I watch the episode. Did anyone else find it strange in "Anniversary" that Ray and Debra took Frank and Marie to brunch before the anniversary party? I mean, usually brunches in America serve huge amounts of food, and it's usually a meal that satisfies you for most of the day. I just always found it a strange idea to go out and get a big meal and then come back to a party for another one. Wouldn't it have made a hell of a lot more sense to have the affair at Ray and Debra's house and invite them over for a certain time?

** The latter.

* The attempts to justify Debra's behavior. It really needs to be said that if the roles were reversed and Ray was the abuser, ''no one'' would be trying to defend him. But due to {{DoubleStandard}}s, apparently Debra is innocent. {{Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male}} indeed...

* AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale. The fact that the show kept using this trope and portraying it as being justified was irksome and just plain bad. If Ray and Debra's roles were reversed, the studio audience probably wouldn't be cheering so much.

** Ray *is* abusive toward Debra, albeit not physically. He is a pathological liar, which is often considered a form of emotional abuse. Debra's aggression toward Ray is unforgiveable, but he's just as bad in his own way.

* Robert lived with parents. Fair enough. But according to Frank and Marie's numerous discussions about money throughout the series, it's apparent that Frank paid for rent and all the food despite being fired from his job without a retirement fund. While Robert is a new york police sergeant and he doesn't pay for anything. WhatTheHellHero?

** The anti-Debra attitude comes from that fact that she ''is'' shown as right most times, even though she's not completely right most times. Whenever she yells at and/or ''physically abuses'' Ray, even when it's for next to no reason, the audience cheers. Also, whenever there's a fight, the majority of the time, Debra is portrayed as in the absolute right and we're not meant to sympathize with the other person at all, despite the fact that you could see where the other person was coming from. Yes, Ray calls her a "cranky yell machine", but when he does, it's a joke and meant to be taken as such. When Debra insults and attacks Ray (such as when she decided that encouraging the kids to see him as less of an authority figure than her by making bets on what he would do), it's supposed to be taken seriously, evidenced by the wildly inappropriate clapping and cheering from the audience.

** You have to admit though that Ray's character spent a lot of time being lazy idiot. This is still an unfair portrayal of men, but Debra's attitude does make sense in context. Granted, there are several occasions where her actions are wrong, but one cannot possibly say that she is out of line all the time.

** Ray *is* abusive of Debra, albeit not physically. He is a pathological liar, which is often considered a form of emotional abuse. Debra's aggression toward Ray is unforgiveable, but he's just as bad in his own way.

**** Maybe not, but there are still plenty of examples that come to my mind in regards to that (and I haven't even seen every episode). And while she may not always be ''portrayed'' as right, she almost always gets her own way, not to mention the fact that the studio audience ''cheers'' when she is, essentially, abusing Ray, be it physically or verbally. I think that's why so many people are anti-Debra (including myself).

* In the episode "Robert's New Apartment", Ray is unwittingly caught by Debra when she brings Robert some linens for his new place, and she sees the real reason Ray spends so much time over at Robert's is to ogle over all the beautiful women who populate his building. She remarks, "Come on, Ray, I saw those women... like you had a shot!" I've always been a little mixed up about the context of Deb's comment, was she saying, "Like you had a shot" as if looking at the women was like he had a B-12 shot, or was it a biting sarcastic remark like Ray didn't stand a chance trying to nail one of them?

* Why, in the episode Civil War, are they reenacting the battle of Gettysburg, one of the most famous battles of the American Civil War, in Long Island, in the middle of winter? Gettysburg wasn't in Long Island, and it was in July. It seemed like one giant episode of ArtisticLicenseHistory and TheyJustDidntCare, especially as the entire episode revolves around it.

* So, is being a sportswriter a pretty good paying job then? Ray, Debra and the kids seem to live pretty well, they have a really nice house and everything, and I remember one occasion where Ray was bantering with a player about their salaries, and Ray seems to have a ''very'' nice yearly income... just for being a sportswriter. Maybe it's just me, but I never really thought of writing, let alone sportswriting, would be ''that'' great of a living.