History YMMV / EverybodyLovesRaymond

* HateDumb: Debra attracted one to TV Tropes, making the site look like an embarassment, and it necessitated several re-writes (and fixing of undone edits).

* BaseBreaker: Debra, to the crazed fringe of fans. To Debra's fans, she's a beleaguered, long-suffering heroine with the virtues of a saint. But to her detractors, she's a [[{{Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male}} violent]], hypocritical SmugSnake and KarmaHoudini who can get away with virtually anything due to a {{Double Standard}}.

* BaseBreaker: Debra. To Debra's fans, she's a beleaguered, long-suffering heroine with the virtues of a saint. But to her detractors, she's a [[{{Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male}} violent]], hypocritical SmugSnake and KarmaHoudini who can get away with virtually anything due to a {{Double Standard}}.

* BaseBreaker: Debra. To Debra's fans, she's a beleaguered, long-suffering heroine with the virtues of a saint. But to her detractors, she's a [[{{Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male}} violent]], hypocritical SmugSnake and KarmaHoudini who can get away with virtually anything due to a {{Double Standard}}. The sane fans fall somewhere in the middle, and view the others as strange.

* FollowTheLeader: Helped restart the somewhat-dormant trend in dysfunctional family comedies (after several years of ''HomeImprovement''-style [[Dom Com Dom Coms]], and basically jump-started a whole new era of UglyGuyHotWife sitcoms. ''Many'' of the sitcoms from the ''Raymond'' era are clones -- ''TheKingOfQueens'' being the most notable and famous one.

** [[MarriedWithChildren You]] [[TheSimpsons mean]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink revitalize]]''.

* FollowTheLeader: Helped restart the somewhat-dormant trend in dysfunctional family comedies (after several years of ''HomeImprovement''-style DomComs, and basically jump-started a whole new era of UglyGuyHotWife sitcoms. ''Many'' of the sitcoms from the ''Raymond'' era are clones -- ''TheKingOfQueens'' being the most notable and famous one.

* FollowTheLeader: Helped start the trend in dysfunctional family comedies, and basically jump-started a whole era of UglyGuyHotWife sitcoms.
** [[MarriedWithChildren You]] [[TheSimpsons mean]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink revitalize]]''.

* CharacterDerailment: During the later seasons, Ray became much dumber and morphed into a ButtMonkey. This is in stark contrast to when he was a DeadpanSnarker of at least average intelligence, with excellent writing skills in the earlier seasons. In addition, Debra became increasingly more {{Jerkass}}ish while being portrayed as the smarter one in the relationship. {{Your Mileage May Vary}} on whether Ray, Debra, or both changed.

* {{Anvilicious}}: MEN WRONG, WIMMIN SMRT.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: At first she just showed shades of this, but by the later seasons she had become the living personification of this trope.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Ray's speech at Robert and Amy's wedding. With a single speech, he managed to save the wedding reception.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Literally too many to list.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Ray helping a bed-ridden Robert (who was hit by a charging bull) put on a new upper thigh bandage in "Robert's Rodeo".
** The entire final episode could also count as one big CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.
* DomesticAbuse: An important RealLife issue that's played for laughs. Debra does this to Ray, but it's played for laughs, because apparently {{Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male}}. It's rather important to list this trope due to the fact that it ''is'' a RealLife issue that affects a lot of people.
* DomesticAbuser: Debra. Maddeningly, the show usually treats her like some kind of hero after she beats up Ray.
** What's even more annoying is the fact that DomesticAbuse IS a RealLife issue that the show plays for laughs. That's why many people get annoyed at the way it's portrayed on the show.

* EpilepticTrees: One theory that's been posited online is the idea that the ''real'' reason why Marie and Debra don't get along is because they both want complete control over Ray. This makes their goals mutually exclusive. Thus, Marie sees Debra as a threat to the control she's had over Ray since he was a child (which is why she's always quick to insult Debra), while Debra sees Marie as an obstacle to her own goal of ''gaining'' complete control over Ray now that they're married.
** To take that theory a step further: Ray, Frank, Robert, the kids, and even Amy, are all pawns in a sick, never-ending chess game for power between Marie and Debra.
* FollowTheLeader: Helped start the trend in dysfunctional family comedies, and basically jump-started a whole era of UglyGuyHotWife and {{Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male}} sitcoms.
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: One episode had Marie ask Ray and Debra if they were to take her in if her husband dies before her. He is very offended, but everyone jokes that he will die first. PlayedForLaughs.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Ray, Debra, and Robert all experience this trope in the episode where Frank and Marie declare that they still have a very "active" sex life in their old age and start going on about how much they love it. Best exemplified by the following quotes:
-->'''Robert:*hearing part of it from the next room*''' ''Mother of God!''
** and
-->'''Ray:''' ''C'mon honey, I think there's a bottle of scotch across the street with our name on it. *turns back to Frank and Marie* Oh by the way, no eye contact for the next 6 months.''
* {{Informed Wrongness}}: Ray in practically every episode of the later seasons is portrayed as being wrong no matter what, whether or not it actually makes sense. Even in episodes where Debra does the exact same thing or does something worse, ''Ray'' will inevitably be the one forced to apologize and/or the one who gets humiliated at the end of the episode.
** Perhaps the most obvious example is the entire episode "Lateness" from one of the last few seasons. Ray, fed up with Debra constantly making them late for the past 15 years, makes a deal: if someone isn't in the car the minute it's time to leave, the driver is allowed to leave without them, and Debra agrees. Debra is late again thanks to accidental circumstances (however Ray didn't know this), and thus Ray leaves without her......and yet Debra and the entire family begin freaking out, as if Ray had just committed a horrific war crime or something, even though Debra had ''agreed'' to these terms. The episode ends with Debra forcing Ray to sit upstairs waiting for her all night while she plops down on the couch downstairs, laughs to herself, then goes to sleep down there, leaving a petrified Ray sitting upstairs waiting in terror for his punishment.
* {{Jerkass}}: * {{Jerkass}}[=/=]JerkSue: Debra. There were many unjustified instances where Debra mistreated Ray but was still portrayed in a positive light with no repercussions. ''[[{{Moral Event Horizon}} In one episode, she's shown to actively encourage Ray's own children to think of him as an idiot and to make fun of him behind his back]]''. Ray may have been lazy, but he was certainly never malicious, and didn't deserve that kind of treatment. The whole Ray-Debra relationship was just filled with {{Double Standard}}s.
** Rewatch the "Moral Event Horizon" episode. By the end of the episode, Ray had successfully gotten Debra to see his side of the issue, and not only did she agree to stop, she promised to ''build him up'' to the kids, ''and'' proceeded to do so right then and there when Ray insisted, even though she felt it would be awkward. Yeah, she's a horrible, irredeemable monster.
** This sort of thing seems to vary with whoever writes the episode, because while that episode does indeed portray Debra in a negative light by placing bets with the kids on stupid things Ray does, another episode states that Debra often builds up Ray behind his back, by stating to her friends that Ray has a Master's degree.
*** Except that on the rare occasions when we actually ''see'' Debra gossiping with her friends, Debra appears to be doing the exact ''opposite'' of "building Ray up." In an early episode (the one where Robbie administers an IQ test), Debra and Linda are seen talking at Nemo's and comment about how much obviously smarter they both believe Debra to be than Ray.
** YourMileageMayVary, but arguably if Ray had ever gotten mad at Debra and called her an "idiot," or shoved her, or told her that she's "not allowed" to go hang out with her buddies (and note, Ray ''never'' did any of these things), he would have been rightly portrayed as a misogynistic monster. But Debra ''DID'' do all three of these things to Ray over and over again throughout the series, and yet the show never fails to portray Debra as wonderful. She fits the definition of {{Jerk Sue}} to a tee.
** And beyond the issue of rudeness and meanness, there's the issue of [[{{AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale}} physical abuse.]] In "Bad Mood Rising", Ray finally confronts Debra about her behavior, to which she responds by shoving him into a bookshelf, knocking several books off. Sorry, but there's just '''no''' justification for {{DomesticAbuse}}. If the roles were reversed, there's no way Ray would be let off the hook so easily.
* MarySue: She ran the gamut of Mary Sue-dom throughout the series. One can only assume that if EverybodyLovesRaymond had been a {{sci-fi}} series, the writers would have eventually found a way to turn her into GodModeSue by the end of the series. She's been:
** MarySueClassic
** CanonSue
** JerkSue: possibly her most defining trait.
** PossessionSue: She was meant as one for suburban housewives.
** SympatheticSue: No matter how bitchy Debra was acting in a particular episode, the show's writers inevitably tried to play the sympathy card to justify it.
* {{The Scrappy}}: Debra is this to numerous fans and TV Tropes editors, to be certain.

* SmugSnake: Every time Debra would insult Ray (or one of the other family members), or literally beat Ray, she'd often have a self-satisfied smirk on her face. In general, she had a rather mean attitude in the later seasons. In one episode, (albeit with goading from Marie) she openly admitted that she believes herself to be intrinsically superior to everyone else. Marie finally forced it out of her -- it's with a tone of release, and she puts emphasis on the word "am", screaming "I ''AM'' BETTER!" indicating that on some level, she ''does'' believe it
** Said "admission" was only achieved after half an episode of Debra ''denying'' that she felt this way, despite Marie and Ray hounding her about how she ''should'' think she's better than them. Her admission had more of an air of frustrated sarcasm than smugness (and was followed by her sincerely apologizing to Frank for the thoughtless comment she had made earlier that started the whole mess).
*** Um, regardless of how the statement was goaded out of her, Debra certainly ''acted'' like she felt herself to be better than Ray and his family for most of the mid-to-late seasons of the show, which made the admission seem pretty credible to a lot of fans.
*** Well, if you see it that way, Ray did give some fairly good, albeit drunk, reasons for why she should. Really, how would ''you'' feel about people like them? (And again, she did apologize to Frank.)

* TearJerker: "A Loveless marriage!"
** The family's reactions to Ray appearing to almost die in the final episode. Amy reveals that on the ride home from the hospital, Robert had to pull the car over because he had tears in his eyes.

* {{What The Hell Hero}}: In one episode, Ray discovers that Ally has been bullying a little girl at school, and informs Debra. Debra simply shrugs and brushes the matter away. When Ray presses the issue, Debra replies that she doesn't think it's anything to be upset about. Ray then * BitchInSheepsClothing: At first she just showed shades of this, but by the later seasons she had become the living personification of this trope.
* DracoInLeatherPants: CBS appeared to pick studio audience members entirely on whether or not they would go "Ohhhhh" sympathetically every time Debra seemed sad, and whether or not they would cheer ecstatically every time Debra would abuse her husband. The studio audience appeared to cheer every single time Debra did something bitchy. One really has to wonder if they would still be cheering if the roles were reversed and Ray started treating Debra the way she treats him.asks Debra why she doesn't mind the fact that Ally is bullying other kids, and Debra expresses disinterest in the whole thing. When Ray complains about Debra's lack of concern about Ally bullying a little girl, [[{{Jerkass}} Debra actually utters the line "So, you're upset that I've taught my daughter to be self-confident?!"]] When Ray is, quite justifiably, surprised and upset at Debra for saying this, Debra then calls him a wuss and begins making fun of ''him''......[[{{DracoInLeatherPants}} while the studio audience cheers ecstatically for her.]]
** That last part could also be a case of "What the Hell Audience", if such a trope existed.
** Except Debra didn't "shrug it off". She said she would talk to Ally about her behavior.
** She ''did'' shrug it off. She told Ray she didn't think it was that important. Ray and Robert had already explained how it felt to be bullied as a kid earlier in the episode, and Debra still didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal. And again, the scene does end with Debra calling him a wuss.

* {{What The Hell Hero}}: In one episode, Ray discovers that Ally has been bullying a little girl at school, and informs Debra. Debra simply shrugs and brushes the matter away. When Ray presses the issue, Debra replies that she doesn't think it's anything to be upset about. Ray then asks Debra why she doesn't mind the fact that Ally is bullying other kids, and Debra expresses disinterest in the whole thing. When Ray complains about Debra's lack of concern about Ally bullying a little girl, [[{{Jerkass}} Debra actually utters the line "So, you're upset that I've taught my daughter to be self-confident?!"]] When Ray is, quite justifiably, surprised and upset at Debra for saying this, Debra then calls him a wuss and begins making fun of ''him''......[[{{DracoInLeatherPants}} while the studio audience cheers ecstatically for her.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: At first she just showed shades of this, but by the later seasons she had become the living personification of this trope.
* DracoInLeatherPants: CBS appeared to pick studio audience members entirely on whether or not they would go "Ohhhhh" sympathetically every time Debra seemed sad, and whether or not they would cheer ecstatically every time Debra would abuse her husband. The studio audience appeared to cheer every single time Debra did something bitchy. One really has to wonder if they would still be cheering if the roles were reversed and Ray started treating Debra the way she treats him.
* MarySue: She ran the gamut of Mary Sue-dom throughout the series. One can only assume that if EverybodyLovesRaymond had been a {{sci-fi}} series, the writers would have eventually found a way to turn her into GodModeSue by the end of the series. She's been:
** MarySueClassic
** CanonSue
** JerkSue: possibly her most defining trait.
** PossessionSue: She was meant as one for suburban housewives.
** SympatheticSue: No matter how bitchy Debra was acting in a particular episode, the show's writers inevitably tried to play the sympathy card to justify it.
* SmugSnake: Every time Debra would insult Ray (or one of the other family members), or literally beat Ray, she'd often have a smirk on her face. In one episode, (albeit with goading from Marie) she openly admitted that she believes herself to be intrinsically superior to everyone else.
** Said "admission" was only achieved after half an episode of Debra ''denying'' that she felt this way, despite Marie and Ray hounding her about how she ''should'' think she's better than them. Her admission had more of an air of frustrated sarcasm than smugness (and was followed by her sincerely apologizing to Frank for the thoughtless comment she had made earlier that started the whole mess).
*** Um, regardless of how the statement was goaded out of her, Debra certainly ''acted'' like she felt herself to be better than Ray and his family for most of the mid-to-late seasons of the show, which made the admission seem pretty credible to a lot of fans.
*** Well, if you see it that way, Ray did give some fairly good, albeit drunk, reasons for why she should. Really, how would ''you'' feel about people like them? (And again, she did apologize to Frank.)

*** Well, if you see it that way, Ray did give some fairly good, albeit drunk, reasons for why she should. Really, how would ''you'' feel about people like Frank and Marie?

*** Um, regardless of how the statement was goaded out of her, Debra certainly ''acted'' like she felt herself to be better than Ray and his family for most of the mid-to-late seasons of the show, which made the admission seem pretty credible to a lot of fans.

* BaseBreaker: Debra. To Debra's fans, she's a beleaguered, long-suffering heroine with the virtues of a saint. But to her detractors, she's a [[{{Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male}} violent]], hypocritical SmugSnake and KarmaHoudini who can get away with virtually anything due to a {{Double Standard}}.

* HateDumb: Debra attracted one to TV Tropes, making the site look like an embarassment, and it necessitated several re-writes (and fixing fo undone edits).

* SmugSnake: Every time Debra would insult Ray (or one of the other family members), or literally beat Ray, she'd often have a self-satisfied smirk on her face. In general, she had a rather mean attitude in the later seasons. In one episode, (albeit with goading from Marie) she openly admitted that she believes herself to be intrinsically superior to everyone else.
** Marie wouldn't leave her alone about it. Debra had to say that she was better just to get Marie off her back.
*** Um, she didn't ''have'' to say it. And when she finally does admit it, it's with a tone of release, and she puts emphasis on the word "am", screaming "I ''AM'' BETTER!" indicating that on some level, she ''does'' believe it.

* DomesticAbuser: Debra. Maddeningly, [[{{WallBanger}} the show usually treats her like some kind of hero after she beats up Ray.]]

** And beyond the issue of rudeness and meanness, there's the issue of [[{{AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale}} physical abuse.]] In "Bad Mood Rising", Ray finally confronts Debra about her behavior, to which she responds by slamming him into a bookshelf at full force, actually causing some books to fall off the shelf. Sorry, but there's just '''no''' justification for {{DomesticAbuse}}. If the roles were reversed, there's no way Ray would be let off the hook so easily.
*** I'd call it more of a light push than a slam. Although admittedly, it's still abuse either way, as it's aggressive unwanted contact with the intent to control. And you're right in the fact that that episode had an unpleasant tone to it, largely because of Debra's intimidating demeanor and over-the-top crankiness. What kind of a marriage is it when one of the parties is afraid of the other party?
* {{Mary Sue}}: Over the course of the series, Debra ran the gamut of {{Mary Sue}}-dom. At various points, she's been a {{Jerk Sue}} (her most dominant trait in the middle and later seasons), a {{Purity Sue}} (as the writers endlessly tried to beat us over the head with the idea that Debra was uber-perfect, uber-competent, and Always Right), {{Possession Sue}} (she served as one for suburban housewives), SympatheticSue (as the writers would inevitably try to play the sympathy card for her no matter how bitchy she was acting), and of course, {{Mary Sue Classic}}.
* {{The Scrappy}}: On any other show, Debra would be this.

* TheWesley: Debra.
** ShillingTheWesley: The show had many moments where Ray, despite being a perpetual victim of Debra's physical assaults and insults, declares that Debra is wonderful.

* SmugSnake: Every time Debra would insult Ray (or one of the other family members), or literally beat Ray, she'd often have a self-satisfied smirk on her face. In general, she had a rather mean attitude in the later seasons. In one episode, (albeit with goading from Marie) she openly admitted that she believes herself to be intrinsically superior to everyone else. Marie finally forced it out of her -- it's with a tone of release, and she puts emphasis on the word "am", screaming "I ''AM'' BETTER!" indicating that on some level, she ''does'' believe it.

* {{Jerkass}}: Debra. There were many unjustified instances where Debra mistreated Ray but suffered no repercussions. ''[[{{Moral Event Horizon}} In one episode, she's shown to actively encourage Ray's own children to think of him as an idiot and to make fun of him behind his back]]''. Ray may have been lazy, but he was certainly never malicious, and didn't deserve that kind of treatment.

** YourMileageMayVary, but arguably if Ray had ever gotten mad at Debra and called her an "idiot," or shoved her, or told her that she's "not allowed" to go hang out with her buddies (and note, Ray ''never'' did any of these things), he would have been rightly portrayed as a misogynistic monster. But Debra ''DID'' do all three of these things to Ray over and over again throughout the series. She's depicted as overly-cruel and mean, by contrast.
** And beyond the issue of rudeness and meanness, there's the issue of [[{{AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale}} physical abuse.]] In "Bad Mood Rising", Ray finally confronts Debra about her behavior, to which she responds by shoving him into a bookshelf (causing some books to fall off). If the roles were reversed, there's no way Ray would be let off the hook so easily.
* {{The Scrappy}}: Debra is clearly this to many TV Tropes editors. They practically scoured the entire site to find negative tropes to attach to her.

* DomesticAbuser: Debra. Maddeningly, [[{{WallBanger}} the show usually treats her like some kind of hero after she beats up Ray.]]
** What's even more annoying is the fact that DomesticAbuse IS a RealLife issue that the show plays for laughs. That's why many people get annoyed at the way it's portrayed on the show.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Whenever Debra would [[{{Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male}} physically abuse her husband]], or say something bitchy, or do something hypocritical, the people sitting in the studio audience would invariably react by......[[{{UnfortunateImplications}} erupting into wild cheers]].

* {{Jerkass}}[=/=]JerkSue: Debra. There were many unjustified instances where Debra mistreated Ray but was still portrayed in a positive light with no repercussions. ''[[{{Moral Event Horizon}} In one episode, she's shown to actively encourage Ray's own children to think of him as an idiot and to make fun of him behind his back]]''. Ray may have been lazy, but he was certainly never malicious, and didn't deserve that kind of treatment. The whole Ray-Debra relationship was just filled with {{Double Standard}}s.

** YourMileageMayVary, but arguably if Ray had ever gotten mad at Debra and called her an "idiot," or shoved her, or told her that she's "not allowed" to go hang out with her buddies (and note, Ray ''never'' did any of these things), he would have been rightly portrayed as a misogynistic monster. But Debra ''DID'' do all three of these things to Ray over and over again throughout the series, and yet the show never fails to portray Debra as wonderful. She fits the definition of {{Jerk Sue}} to a tee.
** And beyond the issue of rudeness and meanness, there's the issue of [[{{AbuseIsOkayWhenItsFemaleOnMale}} physical abuse.]] In "Bad Mood Rising", Ray finally confronts Debra about her behavior, to which she responds by slamming him into a bookshelf at full force, actually causing some books to fall off the shelf. Sorry, but there's just '''no''' justification for {{DomesticAbuse}}. If the roles were reversed, there's no way Ray would be let off the hook so easily.
*** I'd call it more of a light push than a slam. Although admittedly, it's still abuse either way, as it's aggressive unwanted contact with the intent to control. And you're right in the fact that that episode had an unpleasant tone to it, largely because of Debra's intimidating demeanor and over-the-top crankiness. What kind of a marriage is it when one of the parties is afraid of the other party?
* {{Mary Sue}}: Over the course of the series, Debra ran the gamut of {{Mary Sue}}-dom. At various points, she's been a {{Jerk Sue}} (her most dominant trait in the middle and later seasons), a {{Purity Sue}} (as the writers endlessly tried to beat us over the head with the idea that Debra was uber-perfect, uber-competent, and Always Right), {{Possession Sue}} (she served as one for suburban housewives), SympatheticSue (as the writers would inevitably try to play the sympathy card for her no matter how bitchy she was acting), and of course, {{Mary Sue Classic}}.
* {{The Scrappy}}: On any other show, Debra would be this.
* SmugSnake: Every time Debra would insult Ray (or one of the other family members), or literally beat Ray, she'd often have a self-satisfied smirk on her face. In general, she had a rather mean attitude in the later seasons. In one episode, (albeit with goading from Marie) she openly admitted that she believes herself to be intrinsically superior to everyone else.
** Marie wouldn't leave her alone about it. Debra had to say that she was better just to get Marie off her back.
*** Um, she didn't ''have'' to say it. And when she finally does admit it, it's with a tone of release, and she puts emphasis on the word "am", screaming "I ''AM'' BETTER!" indicating that on some level, she ''does'' believe it.

* TheWesley: Debra.
** ShillingTheWesley: The show had many moments where Ray, despite being a perpetual victim of Debra's physical assaults and insults, declares that Debra is wonderful.