Everybody Loves Raymond left quite an impression on viewers when the sitcom aired on CBS — but not always in the best way.
The sitcom, which ran from 1996 to 2005, followed a successful sportswriter (Ray Romano) who dealt with raising his family while his overbearing parents lived a few blocks away. Created by Phil Rosenthal, the show also starred cast members Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, Monica Horan, Madylin Sweeten, Sawyer Sweeten and Sullivan Sweeten.
Since Everybody Loves Raymond has come to an end, the cast has shut down the prospect of reviving the series.
“This is a reunion,” Romano, who played Ray, told the studio audience in the November 2025 reunion special. “We are never going to do a reboot because we are missing three cast members — and family members — so we would never try to do it without them.”
Rosenthal agreed that they couldn’t revive the series. “It isn’t the same, and we have too much respect for the show and the beautiful audience to keep it the way it is,” he said.
Romano previously told Yahoo! Entertainment that he didn’t like the idea of reviving Everybody Loves Raymond because he was “a little protective” of the series.
“Just because it was very personal to me,” he explained in December 2024. “I mean, it was based on my life, and I was such a part of the creative side of it and all.”
Heaton echoed Romano’s statement when asked about her hit sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle coming back.
“It was just sort of perfection — and you don’t wanna mess with perfection. You know, we’ve lost so many cast members, you couldn’t reboot it because it won’t be the same show,” she told Yahoo! Entertainment in February 2025. “It was so much fun because almost everybody [on the cast] was having kids. Ray had kids while we were on the show. And I did, Brad Garrett did, Monica Horan did, Philip Rosenthal [as well]. So it was a crazy busy place.”
Keep scrolling for the offscreen drama that took place while the show was filmed:
The Backlash of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Pulling From Real Life Events
Based on shows centered around actual comedians — including Home Improvement and Roseanne — Everybody Loves Raymond pulled from Romano’s life. The stories were also inspired by Rosenthal and other experiences from the show’s writers.
“I remember my parents in real life got separated at one time,” Romano shared with Entertainment Weekly in 2025. “And when I broke my arm — I was 12 maybe — and my father would come over to try and take care of it. He thought he knew what he was doing. And that’s how my mom and him got back together. So we did an episode like that.”
He continued: “My brother told me, ‘I told Dad, ‘Raymond’s doing a thing about when you and Mom were separated and he broke his arm.”’ And Dad just looked at him and went, ‘That bastard will stop at nothing!’”
Rosenthal has a similar experience with his loved ones. “We based Debra’s parents on my brother’s in-laws,” Rosenthal recalled. “We made them from Connecticut and a little high-toned to contrast with our parents [Marie, who was largely based on Rosenthal’s mother, Helen, and Frank, who was inspired by Romano’s dad, Al] in the show.”
He added: “And we made it so that Frank and Marie didn’t like them. Now, these are relatives, right? In-laws. My parents’ real in-laws. At 9:30, right after the show is over, my phone rings: ‘Are you out of your mind? We have to see these people!’ I said, ‘Ma, your comfort is something I’m willing to sacrifice for the program.’”
‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Story Lines Not Always Aging Well
With the show being written in the ’90s, not every idea has stood the test of time. Critics at rhetorical time questioned the dynamic between Ray and Debra — specifically questioning how the lead character supported his wife.
Everybody Loves Raymond was also called out back then for not having many characters of color.
Brad Garrett’s Salary Dispute
During Everybody Loves Raymond’s final seasons, Garrett walked off set due to a pay disparity — with him making $166,000 per episode compared to Romano’s reported $2 million per episode. Backstage reported that Garrett advocated for himself in 2003, which led to Romano and other profit participants in the show giving up their backend profits for Garrett, Heaton, Boyle and Roberts a bigger monetary share.
Garrett, however, held out and refused to work, which caused Heaton, Boyle and Roberts to reportedly call out of work in support. After two weeks, Garrett returned to work with a new deal.
Everybody Loves Raymond’s Controversial Finale
Some shows have gone down in history for their lackluster finales — including Everybody Loves Raymond. The 2005 episode focused on a health scare, which viewers felt was too anti-climatic.
Rosenthal, however, shared in a 2005 interview with the Television Academy Foundation that he didn’t want to “eventize” the ending, adding, “I thought, ‘What if we did more of a typical episode? We came into their lives in the middle — what if we left in the middle?’ Wouldn’t it be nice to know that your friends, your family are still there? We go away, but they’re there. … It doesn’t have to end. Families don’t always end.”
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