I didn’t watch it in its first run, but seeing it in reruns, it’s okay. I usually only watch it if I’m in the kitchen getting a late night snack or something and it happens to be on. Ranges from meh to pretty funny.
These things are what make it so great! If you don’t approach it as a show about a quirky family, but rather as a dark comedy about borderline sociopaths forced to spend lots of time in one another’s presence, it becomes a lot more enjoyable.
Sorry, but like I said, I think I have an irrational hate for the show. I mean seriously, I got all worked up just writing that post.
And don’t get me started on Malcolm in the Middle :mad:
Too much sanitizing and self-censorship in order to make a easy to swallow tv product, which it seems did not come from the producers alone but from the writers also.
The laugh track was hideous too, as they all are.
The difference between Ray and Malcolm is that in Malcolm the parents had issues, but when all the shit started flying they would pull back for a moment and show that the parents really did love each other. They did the same thing for the kids vs. parents dynamic, where there would be constant infighting but then when an outside threat would appear the family would pull together.
In Ray there was none of that, there was no evidence of love between the characters. There wasn’t hatred just an indifference to each other. It was depressing that that was portrayed as normal.
You’re jesting,of course, but the title is meant sarcastically. It was clearer in the first season when they had Robert saying at at the end of hte credits.
I am not a huge fan of the show, but I enjoy the occasional episode, if only for Heaton’s comeliness.
I was just about to criticize you all for such silliness when I realized that this is the exact reason I have not seen a single episode of ‘Cougar Town’.
mmm
Interesting. Home Improvement is, at least in my opinion, easily one of the best sitcoms created. It’s right up there with Cheers.
And for what it’s worth, I liked ELR well enough. Brad Garrett and Peter Boyle were fun to watch.
My roommate watches this all the time, but I’ve never been able to sit through an episode.
Could somebody explain this hand lotion thing you’re talking about?
The show was fairly funny. Not great or anything. Deborah was an amazing bitch all the time though.
I alwys thought Deborah was one of the hottest TV moms looks wise out there up until she got real skinny. I think I’m in the minority here though.
What did Robert say at the end of the credits?
I agree with this. Heaton was a very attractive person. The same time she got skinny was the same time she got a boob job. She did a ton of interviews after that, and pulled down a couple made-for-TV movies that allowed her to break out of the housewife role (and show off her new tits). In my view, she got really cocky about it. Yeah - new boobs are confidence boosts. But she really let them go to her head.
He would title drop in a deadpan sorta way.
Yeah… you could hear the eyeroll in his voice.
I get why people hate the later seasons, because by then everyone has become a caricature of their former roles. But early on, the love between Ray and Debra is shown a lot better, and Marie wasn’t nearly as grating. They have a few episodes that go back in time and show Deb and Ray meeting for the first time, how they fell in love, etc. And there’s a beautiful one where Deb is pregnant and finds out she’s having the twins, the way Ray acts when she tells him is super sweet.
Eh, and I guess I even like the newer ones if they have Amy and her family involved. That shit is comedy gold.
She should sue her plastic surgeon. He clearly didn’t understand anatomy.
Yes! I never understood how everyone else on the show got Emmys and he didn’t. I think it’s because he was a much better actor than the rest and a lot more subtle about it. And the people who decided who wins those things are idiots.
I pretty much only watched it in reruns when there was nothing else and it did get grating after a while but there were some good episodes. For example there was an episode where Debra disses Frank. I think there was a power failure or something and Frank dances with everyone. Debra makes a thoughtless comment along the lines that she didn’t think he could be that classy. He was genuinely hurt. He was so good in that episode and in my mind it solidified Debra as a colossal bitch.
I thought their family life was a little too soft. Yeah, they’d get snarky with each other, but you never got the sense that Ray would be out of a job and his family on the street.
I only watched this show a few times and have no idea if these topics were ever actually broached. But the few times I saw it, I thought Ray was awfully whiny for a guy with a fun, secure piece-of-cake job and a smokin’ looking wife. If the characters on Roseanne ever went on a crime spree, Ray’s family would be easy pickin’s.
Oh, and by the way, the title refers to the character, not the show. Ray was his parents’ favorite, the beloved son, with a great job and a great family of his own. Robert was doomed to be second fiddle.
They’re not saying everyone loves the show, only that many of the characters love Ray.
It wasn’t a big deal, and it really didn’t happen all that often. Deborah and Raymond would be getting ready to go to bed and Deborah would be sitting there lotioning up her hands in a compulsive and aggressive manner that would drive me, if she were my wife, out of my everloving skull.
I had forgotten about that episode and how outstanding Boyle was in it.
mmm