TMC
04-17-2013, 06:05 PM
http://splitsider.com/2013/04/everybody-hates-raymond-theyre-wrong/
It is a show that I genuinely enjoy yet never feel as alone in my opinions as when the TV show is brought up in conversation (which doesn’t happen much, granted, but happens more often than you would think for a show that ended its runs more than half a decade ago). The criticism for Everybody Loves Raymond is generally a reductive summation of the show’s set-up: a dopey husband married to an attractive, but demanding wife, and a pair of overbearing parents always butting in. Of course, those things are true about the show and a big reason I avoided it for so long.
Generally, when a show talks about religion at all, ambiguity goes out the window. Either there is a God or you're a fool for believing in religion at all. However, this episode does a great job of showing the ambivalent nature of faith while providing a healthy dose of comedy to lighten the contemplative mood. What’s most impressive is that the writers are able to tackle the most poisonous of network television subjects and not only wring strong laughs out of it, but to do so without being offensive to anyone’s beliefs.
To some, this desire to not offend may be exactly what they dislike about Everybody Loves Raymond. Seinfeld kicked off a new wave of comedy in America with Larry David’s mission statement of “no hugging and no learning.” At the time, this was truly revolutionary and set the show apart from the treacle that infected many of the family oriented sitcoms of the day. And that cynicism is reflected in many of the hit shows of today. Everybody Loves Raymond flew in the face of that motto, but only up to a point. Certainly the show had moments of sweetness, however those moments were earned only after ugly displays of self-centeredness and disregard for others’ feelings were played out to often tragi-comic effect. Often the show took dark, psychological turns that would not be out of place in a Tennessee Williams play.
However, throughout the show’s run the writers do their level best to keep the treacle factor to a minimum, providing truly human moments, while also mining those moments for laughs. It is a thin line to walk on a show centered around family and while they certainly faltered at times, it is more a testament to the cast and crew that the those times were pretty rare.
The same could be said about Ray Romano’s standup. There was a surprisingly long run for much of the 90s when comedians were given their own sitcoms based on their standup. Generally, the first season of the show would be culled straight from the comic’s act until the writers settled into a groove and added more depth to the supporting players. This is certainly true of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Romano's standup bits are much like the sitcom as they seem pretty mainstream on the surface, but as we listen a bit closer we realize that the jokes revolve around a man who, despite whatever success he has earned feels embattled, stuck in an existence where his wants and needs are constantly hijacked by the ungrateful monsters who have infiltrated his life. In a sense, Romano can be seen as a more audience-friendly version of Louis CK, whose thoughts on fatherhood and marriage are just as disparaging, although CK takes a more scorched earth approach to speaking about it.
It is a show that I genuinely enjoy yet never feel as alone in my opinions as when the TV show is brought up in conversation (which doesn’t happen much, granted, but happens more often than you would think for a show that ended its runs more than half a decade ago). The criticism for Everybody Loves Raymond is generally a reductive summation of the show’s set-up: a dopey husband married to an attractive, but demanding wife, and a pair of overbearing parents always butting in. Of course, those things are true about the show and a big reason I avoided it for so long.
Generally, when a show talks about religion at all, ambiguity goes out the window. Either there is a God or you're a fool for believing in religion at all. However, this episode does a great job of showing the ambivalent nature of faith while providing a healthy dose of comedy to lighten the contemplative mood. What’s most impressive is that the writers are able to tackle the most poisonous of network television subjects and not only wring strong laughs out of it, but to do so without being offensive to anyone’s beliefs.
To some, this desire to not offend may be exactly what they dislike about Everybody Loves Raymond. Seinfeld kicked off a new wave of comedy in America with Larry David’s mission statement of “no hugging and no learning.” At the time, this was truly revolutionary and set the show apart from the treacle that infected many of the family oriented sitcoms of the day. And that cynicism is reflected in many of the hit shows of today. Everybody Loves Raymond flew in the face of that motto, but only up to a point. Certainly the show had moments of sweetness, however those moments were earned only after ugly displays of self-centeredness and disregard for others’ feelings were played out to often tragi-comic effect. Often the show took dark, psychological turns that would not be out of place in a Tennessee Williams play.
However, throughout the show’s run the writers do their level best to keep the treacle factor to a minimum, providing truly human moments, while also mining those moments for laughs. It is a thin line to walk on a show centered around family and while they certainly faltered at times, it is more a testament to the cast and crew that the those times were pretty rare.
The same could be said about Ray Romano’s standup. There was a surprisingly long run for much of the 90s when comedians were given their own sitcoms based on their standup. Generally, the first season of the show would be culled straight from the comic’s act until the writers settled into a groove and added more depth to the supporting players. This is certainly true of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Romano's standup bits are much like the sitcom as they seem pretty mainstream on the surface, but as we listen a bit closer we realize that the jokes revolve around a man who, despite whatever success he has earned feels embattled, stuck in an existence where his wants and needs are constantly hijacked by the ungrateful monsters who have infiltrated his life. In a sense, Romano can be seen as a more audience-friendly version of Louis CK, whose thoughts on fatherhood and marriage are just as disparaging, although CK takes a more scorched earth approach to speaking about it.