"Everybody Loves Raymond" did fine

Successor to "Seinfeld" held its own for nine seasons

Just by accident, I happened to notice “The Finale” on the TV listing for the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” the other day so I taped it. I missed it on the first go-round. Which kind of was the point.

Unlike the “Seinfeld” finale, which was hyped beyond belief, the studio locked down, the script hidden, the final episode way overblown when Jerry finally shut things down after nine seasons and 180 episodes on May 14, 1998, “Everybody Loves Raymond” also ended after their ninth season much more modestly, with a standard 22-minute episode, not much hype or hoopla. It was the 210th episode of the series that ended two days and seven years later than “Seinfeld,” May 16, 2005.

"Everybody Loves Raymond" ran for nine seasons - like "Seinfeld"

In the final episode, Ray had to go in to have his adenoids out and for an instant, when he struggled coming out of anesthesia, it looked like we might lose him. Just a flash. But it was enough to build the episode around to comic effect. And to the viewer, it made you think — for a moment — how quickly all of our lives can change. The final scene had the entire cast, crowded around the kitchen table, laughing and joking as usual. It was a nice and modest way to close the series.

Nine seasons for each show, “Seinfeld” was on NBC, “Raymond” was on CBS. Each series featured a standup comedian in the lead role, Jerry Seinfeld in his, Ray Romano in “Raymond.” And while “Seinfeld” will always be the heavyweight champion of American sitcoms for my generation — it’s still on TV four times a day — “Raymond” was a pretty good No. 1 contender. And it’s still on, too.

You never know how these things will play out but 50 years from now, when and if Americans are still watching TV sitcoms, it’s probably a good bet that these two will be the ones they’re talking about.

In a lot of ways, “Seinfeld” was about the lack of a family unit. The four characters, Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine were sort of their own support system, not necessarily truly supportive, which is where the fun came in. We met Jerry and George’s parents (and Kramer’s mom and Elaine’s dad) but it’d be a stretch to say they did anything but complicate matters from time to time.

In “Raymond,” that was exactly what his parents did, get in the way. And while Ray and Debra were parents, there wasn’t much of an emphasis on child rearing. It was more of Ray-rearing, with his overbearing mom butting into their lives “while just trying to help.”

You could say there was too much love and interference —- one sort of gave her the right for the other, she figured. With the often salty, withering comments from Ray’s dad (the hilarious grouch Peter Boyle) about her and pretty much every situation, the series juxtaposed the constant inner conflict between two long-time married people with the shifts and turns and juggles of a relatively new marriage between Ray and Debra (Patricia Heaton), raising a family, working, dealing with parental interjections and power struggles and real-life situations.

We may not necessarily think of the two shows as interrelated but Ray Romano did. In 1998, he was the host of the People’s Choice Awards and in his remarks, noted that the cast of his series, just two years in, was in the back of the room.

As reported by Warren Burger in the New York Times, Romano said, “Next year we're going to be up front, I promise,'' Mr. Romano called out. Then, glancing toward the ''Seinfeld'' cast seated near the stage, he said, ''I know this table is going to be empty.''

“Seinfeld,” of course, was ending. Romano’s comment made it clear that succeeding “Seinfeld” was their goal

As Burger’s story pointed out. “The hope at CBS these days is that Mr. Romano and his rising, critically acclaimed sophomore series will eventually inherit not only ''Seinfeld's'' preferred seating but perhaps even the NBC show's standing as America's favorite comedy. ''Raymond,'' ranked about 30th in the Nielsen television ratings, has a long way to climb. Still, when the PBS talk-show host Charlie Rose recently asked a panel of critics which show might fill the void left by ''Seinfeld,'' one of the first candidates was ''Raymond.' “

Which it did very nicely, if in a different comedy vein than “Seinfeld.” As the show’s executive producer Phillip Rosenthal was quick to note. “ 'Seinfeld,' as everyone knows, is about nothing,'' Rosenthal said, ''but 'Raymond' is about little things that add up to everything. It's almost the anti-'Seinfeld.' “

That’s not a bad way to look at it. “Seinfeld” certainly contributed more catch-phrases to our national vocabulary - “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” “The master of my domain,” “Serenity now,” “Spongeworthy” and others and “Raymond” may not have contributed one.

But that may be because “Raymond” was based a little more in reality than a loser friend cadging a job with the New York Yankees or a goofball “doofus” managing to live a storied existence, almost never working a day in his life, other than “when old man Leland” was on his case that week Kramer volunteered for a job he never had.

The best barbs in the show, for me, was from Ray’s dad, Peter Boyle. Doris Roberts was perfectly cast as Ray’s omnipresent mom and his ne’er-do-well brother Robert (Brad Garrett) constantly envious of Ray’s “Golden Boy” status, was always a great comic foil. Romano’s whiny, shirking sensibility mocked male assertiveness and you never really got a sense he was a sportswriter. I mean, we have OPINIONS.

But he was likeable, always seemed to be able to comment on things from a distance, always with a light touch.

“Raymond” was a worthy successor to “Seinfeld,” being nominated for 69 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning 15, 10 for acting, 21 Screen Actors Guild Awards and is still in syndication.

“Seinfeld,” of course, is still in syndication, still on Netflix and on TV four to six times a day. It was called the “greatest TV show of all time” by TV Guide. Rolling Stone called it the sixth-greatest TV show of all time and Variety ranked it eighth in the history of TV.

   “Raymond” may not have quite reached the heights of “Seinfeld” but Ray Romano’s show found an audience and kept it for nine seasons. And they ended the series much as they began, with a few laughs, a moment to touch the heart and then, a modest bow. Not a bad way to go out.