Trivia / Everybody Loves Raymond

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: In "Christmas Present", a clueless Marie asks, "What is a DVD player? Is it for pornography?" She's not wrong, and actually The Rule of First Adopters applied to DVD just like it did to VHS.
• Banned in China: "Marie's Sculpture" has never been screened on British TV because the episode involves Marie making a large sculpture of a vulva, much to the rest of the family's disgust (erect male genitalia and exposed female genitalia are no-no's on UK screens). The explicit nature of Marie's abstract artwork and the fact it is on prominent display throughout the show probably called for the decision; it can't have helped that the series aired before the watershed on Comedy Central and way before the watershed (in the mornings, in fact) on Channel 4. Ironically, US audiences didn't seem to have a problem with it.
• Breakup Breakout: Averted, as Romano, Heaton, Garrett, and Roberts have all had continued success since the show ended — a very rare (and perhaps unique) event for a sitcom cast. The only exception is Peter Boyle, who died shortly after the show ended. But even then, he was already an established actor going into the show, so in his case the show is seen as the culmination of his career.
• The Cast Showoff: Patricia Heaton and Brad Garrett have showed off their singing abilities from time to time, Robert even lampshaded this by saying that, in chorus, he originally was going to be a "basso profundo" (although most school choruses aren't that specific beyond soprano and alto for girls and tenor and bass for boys).
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: A prevalent piece of misinformation during the show's run was that child actors Madylin, Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten are relatives of Full House actress Jodie Sweetin...never mind that their surnames are spelled differently.
• Creator Backlash: A minor example: Ray Romano reportedly hates the title of the show, since he feels the ironic meaning^note It was inspired by his brother Richard telling him, "I had a day where people were shooting at me, and you're bringing home trophies. Everybody loves Raymond, don't they?", which is paraphrased by Robert in the pilot is lost and makes the show seem like It's All About Me.
• The Danza: Ray Romano as Ray Barone.
  • They only had occasional guest appearances, but Ray Romano's father Albert and Phil Rosenthal's father Max appeared sporadically as friends of Frank named "Max and Albert".
  • Comedian Andy Kindler played one of Ray's best friends, Andy.
  • Kevin James originally played a guest character named Kevin, until he got The King of Queens, after which his character on Raymond was retconned into being Doug Heffernan, just like on Queens.
• Edited for Syndication: As with most any show, certain lines are removed to make room for commercials. In one case, however, it makes a joke even funnier; in the full version of "Counseling", the scene with Bernie and Linda talking about their marriage counseling ends and the next scene is Ray and Debra in the bedroom discussing Bernie and Linda before Debra declares, "We're going to counseling." In the syndicated version, the bedroom scene immediately starts with "We're going to counseling", making it into something of a Gilligan Cut.
• Friday Night Death Slot: The show originally aired on Friday nights, but after the first season, it was moved to Monday nights, where it stayed for the remainder of its run.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: "Robert's Wedding" features a scene where Gianni enters the men's bathroom at the church but is uncomfortable about taking a leak, since Marie is standing there talking to Robert. Despite Marie telling him to go ahead and pee, Gianni says, "I don't have to go anymore!" and leaves. This scene is strangely absent on the season 7 DVD set, and because of this, Ray's line later in the scene ("Out, Ma. You've already got Gianni looking for a fire hydrant.") makes no sense.
• The Other Darrin: Amy's brother was initially played by Paul Reubens. When the character returned, he had a different name and actor, but was clearly meant to be the same comic book store owner that grew attached to Ray. Off screen, Reubens was arrested on public indecency charges, and although he managed to stay out of jail, Ray Romano didn't like the idea of bringing him back and requested that the character be recast. Oddly, not only was the character recast, but renamed (Russell to Peter)
  • Nemo was originally played by Joseph V. Perry, but the actor died in February 2000; his character was subsequently played by Robert Ruth in "What Good Are You?" and "Stefania Arrives".
• Post-Script Season: The series was originally intended to be only eight seasons long, but Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal decided to give one last season to the fans. As a result, the final season was a bit shorter than the previous ones.
• Produced by Cast Member: Ray Romano was made a producer on the show from the get-go, since the basic format was based almost entirely on his stand-up comedy.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Not only are Geoffrey and Michael's actors twin brothers in real life, but the actress who plays their sister Ally on the show is actually their sister.
  • Bill Parker, the handsome father of Ally's classmate, played by David Hunt, is Patricia Heaton's real-life husband. Also, Frank's lodge buddy Albert, played by Ray's real-life dad Albert Romano.
  • Amy is Phil Rosenthal's real-life wife.
  • Ray's real-life brother Richard (the inspiration for Robert) appears in a few episodes, usually playing a policeman.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: According to IMDb, the reason for the recast for Amy's brother was that after his cameo appearance, Paul Reubens was arrested on indecent exposure charges. This caused Ray Romano to object to him being part of the show's cast.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Fred Stoller as Cousin Gerard. Lampshaded in "Cousin Gerard", when much to his horror, Ray realises that he looks like, sounds like, and apparently is just as annoying as, Gerard.
• Star-Making Role: For Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts and Brad Garrett.
• Technology Marches On: Several episodes show Ray working on his column using a clunky desktop computer, and the plot of one episode regards a DVD player as a cutting-edge piece of technology.
• What Could Have Been: Ray Romano's original pitch for the show was Ray and his sportswriter friends hanging out and "discussing current issues at the coffee shop," but Phil Rosenthal pointed out his concept was too similar to Seinfeld and convinced him to retool it into a Dom Com closer to his stand-up material.
• Write What You Know: A lot of the plotlines came from the writers' real-life marital squabbles. One writer's wife even joked that she always wondered if any argument she had with her husband would eventually appear on the show.

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