Actually, Paul Reuben played a comic book store owner. Raymond gave one of Ally’s Pokemon-rip-off cards to another kid or something and he went to get her another one only to find that Reuben wanted him to pay a couple of hundred dollars.
Right, and that comic-book store owner was also Amy’s brother.
Huh? Medium is, (and always has been) on NBC.
Absolutely not intended as an insult. Apologies if it felt that way to you.
Of the American shows we get over here (Oz),
I hates me some:
Everybody Loves Raymond
Friends
Joey
According to Jim
Yes Dear
Will & Grace
Medical Investigation
ER
Home Improvement
And I likes me some:
Frazier
Oz
The Sopranos
Sex & the City
Arrested Development
Oh yeah, and I also liked those shows about a law firm in Boston featuring James Spader. Mostly because of James Spader (mmm…)
Mmm, James Spader. 
What I don’t get about *The Practice * is that it was spectacularly awful for so many years, then about the time they decide to wind it up, they suddenly bring on James Spader (wistful sigh) and William Shatner (who was hilarious in his role) and put a lot of the fun back into it.
I’m glad they did it, but it seemed a shame to wind it up once they’d made it fun to watch again.
Medical Investigation is incredibly stupid. Whenever I catch it (it’s on prior to Stargate: Atlantis, so I’ve seen a couple of episodes) I wonder how depressed the actors must feel about all their effort and hard work having lead their careers to this point.
The other prime-time(ish) show I can’t stand is The Amazing Race.
The network’s site says it’ll be back next year!
I think Bites When Provoked meant *The Practice * was wrapped up, not Boston Legal. I never watched *The Practice * (I couldn’t have been less interested in another overly-serious lawyer show), but I really got into Boston Legal because Spader and Shatner’s characters were so great, and they especially worked so well together. I’m glad *Boston Legal * will be back next year.
Wow, exactly the opposite (almost). I thought the show sucked throughout, but when they brought in Spader and Shatner, it went into gigantic Hoover-On-Steroids mode.
This girl hates Raymond more than you.
Until now, I’d never heard of Boston Legal. If it’s got the good stuff from the end of The Practice, I hope they bring it Down Under.
Is this a whoosh? Because the answer to the last two questions is ‘yes’. In particular the last. Shades of grey is something that children have a tough time grasping. Moral ambiguity is most definitely a defining characteristic of ‘adult’.
Um, yeah, pretty much by definition.
Really? Color me surprised.
That is a fair point. Your reasons are your own.
Personally, I can’t stand The Shield. I just find the actors overly earnest in their performances.
I have never seen an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, but I did see a commercial for it once. As near as I can remember, it went like this:
Narrator: This week on Everybody Loves Raymond, there’s a strike and Raymond is forced to hire replacement workers.
[Scene in a reception area. The phone rings. Replacement workers sit around doing nothing. Raymond walks in and looks at the replacement workers.]
Raymond: Would it have killed one of you to pick up the phone?
[Studio audience bursts into hysterical laughter.]
???
Malcolm in the Middle is the one show that I cannot even bear to have on for three minutes while I’m cueing up a DVD or something. Every one of the characters seems to be a breath away from completely reverting to toddlerhood and having a screaming, kicking, pants-wetting tantrum at the top of their lungs. In fact, don’t some of them do that already? Anyway, I just can’t deal with it. Any other show I can tune out, but not MItM.
Holy Billboard Batman! I hope that’s not permanent!
I’ll fess up to liking Raymond. It probably shows my level of sophistication but I laugh my ass off.
I don’t watch a lot of “network” television, the commercials drive me nuts but I saw my first episode of House the other night and it was quite interesting. The one about the young girl diver who turned out to be pregnant.
From the comments I’ve read here I should give Boston Legal a look. Seems to be popular. What about the “reality” shows? Am I the only one who thinks these are the lowest form of entertainment on TV?
I do like ELR, but I don’t like any of the characters! I just watch to see how big a train wreck there’s going to be! In that sense it’s like “Absolutely Fabulous”, which I really disliked at first, but came to appreciate in the same way. It’s the crazies against the slightly crazies, Edina and Patsy vs. Saffy, Ray and his folks vs. almost everybody else.
I can’t understand why Debra didn’t divorce Ray long ago. Or marry him, for that matter.
Since I was born in 1951, I don’t think so. I think humor in general (and I include things like South Park) has in some ways regressed farther than that - possibly to the slapstick of the silent film/vaudeville era (my limited knowledge of which comes only from Harpo and Groucho Marx’s memoirs).
I only watch Leno if Letterman is a repeat. Leno’s jokes are obvious. I used to like Letterman a lot more than I do now. He’s increasingly predictable and has shown flashes of hostility to the audience, not a winning tactic, whether real or “joking”. I’ve watched Conan a few times, but he’s as obvious as Leno, just more outrageous. The only time I really liked his show was when Triumph the Insult Dog pissed off a few Quebecois. Now THAT was funny!
This probably dates me, but I always hated Welcome Back Kotter. I was a senior in high school when it was on and even though I was probably the target audience, I just couldn’t stand it. To me, it seemed like a vehicle to promote Gabe Kaplan’s stand up act.
I’ve never been good at sticking with a sitcom for it’s whole run…I usually get bored with most after a few seasons.
Right now, I only enjoy two sitcoms: Two and a Half Men and Scrubs.
Most of the others are just stupid.
Seinfeld - I have never been able to figure out what people think is so funny about this show. I find it extremely blah…I’ll watch Raymond over that nonsense anytime (even though it sucks too)