One of the many things I don't understand about television is - why isn't "Everybody Loves Raymond" a really big hit?
Oh, the show doesn't do badly. It consistently wins its Monday-night time slot. But it has never been a television blockbuster along the lines of "Seinfeld."What "Raymond" has that "Seinfeld" never had is heart and emotions. Not sappy stuff like "Full House" but the sort of emotion that families feel every day.
Actually, "Everybody Loves Raymond" has more in common with "Home Improvement." Both shows are about somewhat harried parents trying to raise three youngsters.
The biggest difference may be that "Raymond" is the better show. It isn't simply the same plot recycled week in and week out.
That "Everybody Loves Raymond" rings so true has a lot to do with the fact that it's based on Romano's real life. Both Ray Romano and the fictional Ray Barone are the married fathers of three - a young daughter and younger twin boys. And both Rays live close to their meddlesome parents on Long Island.
(Well, the real Ray moved to California this past summer. But it was true before that.)
Both Rays have single brothers named Robert who are policemen and who live (or used to live) with their parents. And both the actual and the fictional Robert touch their spoons to their chins before they put the food in their mouths.
"Everybody Loves Raymond" combines Romano's low-key, sad-sack approach to comedy with the more frenetic goings-on that surround him. Ray Barone's wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton) is usually more capable than he is, but his bickering, meddling parents (Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle) are often screamingly funny.
And Robert (Brad Garrett) has developed into somewhat of a morose maniac who's always good for a laugh.
The kids in "Everybody Loves Raymond" have yet to be the focus of much of the comedy, but that's because they're still quite young (the girl is only 6 and the twin boys are 2).
CBS airs the first part of a two-part season finale tonight at 7:30 on Ch. 2 - a pair of episodes that displays many of the show's strengths. The majority of the action takes place 10 years ago - when Ray and Debra got married.
Tonight, the ever-neurotic Ray has big plans to propose to Debra (on his mother's plastic-covered couch, of course). These plans go astray, courtesy of his big-mouth father. And even though Debra enthusiastically accepts the proposal, Ray worries that she didn't really mean it.
After all, the proposal not only came out with his family in the room but he printed it in the newspaper.
"I'm one of those losers at the ballgame that rents a blimp - `Oh, marry me Hilda' ," Ray exclaims. "Hilda can't say no; they'll throw beer on her."
And he can't believe Debra would be interested in him because, in profile, he looks like "a flamingo."
This week's episode, naturally, leads into the wedding next Monday. It's one of those bizarre family affairs, mainly because the family is sort of bizarre. Robert Culp and Katherine Helmond return as Debra's upper-class parents, a nice contrast to Ray's terminally middle-class mother and father.
And while the plot appears to be headed down a rather predictable, er, aisle, there's a funny, touching twist that demonstrates just how much heart "Everybody Loves Raymond" has.
This is the best family comedy on television today. And one of the best sitcoms, period. It deserves to be a big hit - if only because it might encourage others to try their hand at smart family comedies.
If you aren't already in love with "Raymond," you ought to be.