A show about nothing? No, can’t think of any other sitcoms like that.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
mmm
I actually like The Middle with Heaton - however, I believe I read that Heaton is some super right-wing Republican fanatic, but don’t care - her new show is pretty good - got picked up for another season as well.
I think Boyle’s greatest episode is when he was in the hospital after falling through the steps . . . an accident precipitated by a cock-and-bull story fabricated by Ray and Debra. He was on a painkiller IV, and became very mellow and sweet. It was a nice departure from his usual demeanor. (Marie wanted to get some of the painkiller “for the house.”)
And the one scene that epitomized Doris Robert’s acting skills was when she barged into Ray’s house with her friends, to hear the kids’ knock-knock jokes, and Debra wouldn’t let them. Marie’s reaction was priceless . . . barely moving, expressing everything you knew she was feeling, with just a few subtle facial/neck movements. Few actors could have pulled that off.
I don’t think she’s quite a “super right-wing Republican fanatic,” but just a moderate pro-life Conservative. *The Middle *is an ok show, but I watch it to see the youngest kid, “Brick,” played by Atticus Shaffer. I love that kid, and wouldn’t watch the show without him.
And Romano’s new show, *Men of a Certain Age, * is a bore.
Came to post about that one. That was priceless.
“I’m a lesbian!”
I think a perfect example of this is the episode from the first season or two where the cable goes out and the entire family decides to sit down and play a game of “Scruples”. You get a really good glimpse into what a f—ed up family they are in that episode, and it’s freakin’ hilarious.
Said it before, will say it again: I LOVE this show and will sit happily and watch an all day marathon. (I get why people don’t like the parents, I know there are people like that IRL who are not funny at all.) I like that the kids are hardly seen and when you do see them, they’re sitting quietly coloring or watching TV and not interrupting every goddam 10 seconds like real kids. I laugh out loud. I love the father and the brother. I love Amy, and Debra’s pretentious parents are a piece of work. I think ELR is better than 90% of whatever crap is currently on.
I started liking it more when I realised it wasn’t a sitcom. It’s a Beckettian nightmare.
That’s interesting, the name definitely turned me off too.
But from watching snippets I discovered I don’t like any of the characters, except maybe Raymonds father. But even he is a one-note joke.
My favorite thing on the show was some bit they did about the parents being horrified by being given a “Fruit of the Month” gift. It just keeps coming!
I never could stand it because I nearly married a guy like him and would have had those inlaws. And in real life, it is Not Funny!
At least I found out about his parents in time.
But every so often you’d get a glimpse of more. Like the dancing episode I mentioned. Or there was another one where it turned out he had a side job as a lounge singer. You kind of got the feeling that being married to Marie and having a couple whiny kids sort of took the wind out of him and he was once a really cool guy.
So you will watch it when they change the name?
It’s a good show. One of the main attractions IS the inevitable trainwreck.
And for my money, this moment ranks up there with the funniest comedy moments ever, including “Yes you did, you invaded Poland!” It’s set up, blocked and filmed PERFECTLY! You have Ray’s and Robert’s horrified reaction, Amy’s “uh-oh” expression, then the s-l-o-w reveal of Marie. Comedy gold!
What’s with the objections to the lotion thing? Don’t a lot of women actually do that?
Nonsense. She may not be a great actress (I did think she was awful in the TV version of “The Goodbye Girl”) but she executed Debra quite well. Typecasting? Maybe. I think Stanislavsky said “The greatest casting IS typecasting.”
As for the same scripts, well, the premise is that Ray is a spoiled, self-centered jackass, so everything will be set up around that. Debra is perfectly justified in her reactions.
Of course, I’m sure her religious convictions have absolutely nothing to do with your opinion.
Everybody Loves Raymond got its title from a comment that Romano’s older brother, Richard (a sergeant with the N.Y.P.D. in real life) said. It was something like this, “When Ray goes to work, people laugh at him. When I go to work, people shoot at me. Everybody loves Raymond.”
I just ran across one of my favorite clips - watch for the part involving Ray, Debra, and the refrigerator.
Link
mmm
I agree with the people saying they don’t hate the show, but aren’t especially fond of it either- it really does seem to be the textbook example of “Formulaic Generic Family Sitcom”.
As for The Middle, it bothers me that I like it so much, since even though it initially seems to be a rip-off of Malcolm In The Middle, I did rather enjoy MITM and it’s not on anymore, and The Middle is doing a credible job of filling the niche. But I still can’t shake the feeling that keeps saying “This looks a lot like a re-cast Malcolm In The Middle” when I’m watching it.
i was in love with patricia heaton, and it had some great jokes in it. i still laugh about “dead ray”. it just struck me as so true. when they were sitting around writing their wills, ray wanted it in his will that if he died first, she wouldn’t be allowed to marry anyone else called ray. because otherwise, to differentiate between which ray people were talking about, he’d be “dead ray”. 
so very true…
Well, yes. That’s precisely the problem a lot of people have with it. I just don’t find whiny, lazy, mother-ridden man-children amusing IRL, much less want to watch them on my tv screen. Ditto unpleasant old people who snipe at each other incessantly.
Is it really that difficult to see why people would hate this show?
I never really cared about Everybody Loves Raymond, but I never gave it a chance either. As a kid I used to watch Home Improvement some, but even then I knew it was garbage. It’s just unbelievably formulaic: it seems like every goddamn episode he has a fight with his wife, misinterprets some advice from Wilson, and makes it up to her on his show late at night.
Ironically, Curb Your Enthusiasm was also hugely formulaic, yet 10x better.