I started watching ELR in re-runs and was hooked. The only thing I didn't like about the show was how Raymond's father treated and talked to his wife. He was so mean spirited. Does that affect how much you like the show.

I started watching ELR in re-runs and was hooked. The only thing I didn't like about the show was how Raymond's father treated and talked to his wife. He was so mean spirited. Does that affect how much you like the show.
Of course not. That was just part of his character, he talked that way to everybody, do you prefer the way Archie Bunker talks to his wife? At least Ray's dad is a well rounded character, you've seen him be all lovey dovey to his wife on many occasions, like when they snuggled in bed and we found out they had this great sex life at their advanced age. ALSO, remember the time he gave her a Christmas gift after everybody else was out of the room, that's just one of the ways he behaves, he's old and crotchety, sort of like Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. No, i LOVE his character and hers too, the ones i can't stand but even like them sometimes are the wife and the brother. And those God awful kids!

Oh and one more thing, compare it to the way his wife talks to everybody else, she seems like she's complimenting them, but she's really insulting them, as the lady in the retirement home once said. So Frank is God's retribution to her for treating people that way, LOL! Remember that the great writers on this series have based them on REAL LIFE people whom they adore, so they are merely REAL, with sometimes nasty dispositions, LOL! :lol:

Oh and one more thing, compare it to the way his wife talks to everybody else, she seems like she's complimenting them, but she's really insulting them, as the lady in the retirement home once said. So Frank is God's retribution to her for treating people that way, LOL! Remember that the great writers on this series have based them on REAL LIFE people whom they adore, so they are merely REAL, with sometimes nasty dispositions, LOL! :lol:

Good points. I'll remember that next time I watch. And I did hate the way Archie treated Edith. I liked it whenever she was going thru her 'change' and cut him down to size. That's so true about Marie!

Good points. I'll remember that next time I watch. And I did hate the way Archie treated Edith. I liked it whenever she was going thru her 'change' and cut him down to size. That's so true about Marie!
That's funny because i've never been an All In The Family fan, watched every ep when it first ran but never since except for clips on specials and the ONLY ONE ep i would watch again and enjoyed the most when it played was the one where she goes through the CHANGE and tells him off and even slaps him at one point, LOL!

I am a big fan of the show and although I dont approve of the way Frank talks to Marie, I think its played realistically as in All In the Family which is another one of my favorite shows. Frank is an old school thinker who believes that the man is in charge and the woman has no say and ofcourse, he thinks hes boss when in reality Marie is in charge.

I have to agree with SPLAIN's points. Right on!!! I love ELR and the way Frank was to the whole family was not at all the way he was in private with Marie. Marie on the other hand...Oy vey. :crazy:

I started watching ELR in re-runs and was hooked. The only thing I didn't like about the show was how Raymond's father treated and talked to his wife. He was so mean spirited. Does that affect how much you like the show.


His character fits into the show so well its hard to imagine Frank any other way. And everyone only puts up with so much of his crap, esp. Marie who can come up with some real zingers.

Exactly, he talks to everybody that way, it's just HIS WAY, maybe the way he had to work at a job he despised all those years and then was dumped and this is the way he fights back, to show he's still in charge, like when the time they painted the house. You know they don't taljk to each other that way when they're alone, they just don't talk, period, LOL!

What was funny was the ep. where a young man Frank worked with a long time ago comes by to visit AND THEY HUG. They had such a good rapport --that Marie thought the young guy was Frank's love child with some floozy. And the cool ending...that he really likes Frank because of the gruff and rough tough talk (NANCY this, NANCY that, oh boo hoo hoo-should I get you a little dolly )....there really were some great writers for ELR that's for sure