I love the show, watch it every week, and although i think Patricia is a great actress and a great human being in real life, i absolutely hate her character on the show. Am I the only male who watches and thinks, no wonder marriages are failing, if i were married to this beeatch, i would have pulled an OJ long ago, LOL! Just curious as to what you guys think!

Actually I like Debra. She's the straight man to all the craziness from Ray and his family.

If anyone needs to be shot, it's Ray. LOL!

Debra is showing that she has enough about Ray's crazy family and she seem to be out of control.But,if you had in laws like Ray's parents?Wouldn't you be mad sometimes?I have a controling mother-in law who lives in the same town as my husband and I. I can put myself in Debra's shoes and it's not easy.I can tell you that!

I wouldn't go as far as kill Debra Barone, but I think she is a disgusting character. It's nice to see other Debra Barone haters post.

Debra is hypocritical and snobbish. If Debra had half of her self-credited intelligence, she'd understand that Marie is a tragic character.

Marie's life is mothering and she wasn't ready to "retire" when Robert and Raymond reached adulthood. Marie wasn't raised in an era in which women had more options.

Marie is not an easy person to accomodate but an intelligent person could find a way to work around her.

That's another irony about Debra. She's constantly badgering Raymond to "be the adult" when he's fighting with Robert, but Debra doesn't take her own advice when she's dealing with Marie.

I love Debra. She has to put up with nosy, bothersome in laws, a mopey, feel sorry for me brother in law and not to mention a momma's boy husband. Debra is great.

I agree Debra is a great character.

I understand her in laws are horrible, and always THERE, even in private situations, always butting in. I just meant her marriage to Raymond is in need of major therapy. I was joking about killing her, the way she jokes about wanting to pulverize Ray. That analysis of the mother in law though was so great, i never thought of her as pitiful, just a pain in the derriere! I'm normally in The Lucy Section but ventured here to get some answers and you guys were great, thank you. I LOVE the show, but i just wish the writers would make her more loving and caring towards Ray, and i won;t even discuss her holding out constantly for SEX! LOL!

So SPLAIN could be a takeoff on "Lucy, you have some splaining to do"? Clever.

This used to be a fun little show where everyone in the family loved each other in spite of their annoying and petty ways. Last couple of years it feels darker and more heavy. It seems to have crossed the line where the characters would say things to dig at each other, are now downright nasty. The episode where Ray found out Debra was making bets with the kids about the things he forgot, and insisted she build him up into super-dad, was sad. The way they all turned on Amy when she tried to help their marriage--the only time Ray and Deb agreed on something--not so many big yuks there. I miss the early years.

I can't stand Debra either. I am a fan of Patricia, but there's something about her character I can't stand.

Originally posted by cablejockey
This used to be a fun little show where everyone in the family loved each other in spite of their annoying and petty ways. Last couple of years it feels darker and more heavy. It seems to have crossed the line where the characters would say things to dig at each other, are now downright nasty.

I agree. I used to love watching this show, but now I cringe whenever I see it on TV. I still watch some of the syndicated episodes once in a great while. The condom episode is one of my favorites :lol:

Oh yes, one of my local stations just played the condom one recently, i LOVED it. I agree about the characters, no wonder they want to end the show, maybe they've run out of ideas. It's not just Debra's habits that annoy me, i absolutely LOVE her compared to that idiot brother, he is my least favorite character. On a recent show, he just was so happy about any misfortune that is about to strike his brother, like that Ray isn't already at death's door with everything that happens to him anyway. I think they've gone too far with these exaggerations of the characters main traits. Like we HATE Marie for always butting in, orr her relationship with her own husband, but then they showed them having a real relationship that time in bed with her wearing that heavy cream on her face, it was an Edith and Archie moment. I am always annoyed that Debra doesn't seem supportive but i understand that any woman would say the same thing about Ray. And i agree it used to be funnier, but Debra always treated him badly, lately they did humanize her in a show, i was shocked, and she actually backed down on the dress for Allie which was rare indeed. And seing as i never come here, i have to tell you the unpacked suitcase on the stairs was hilarious. Like that fork and spoon in the kitchen of the parents' house. I had a pair of those and gave them away the next day, LOL!

I think Debra Barone is the greatest character in the history of televison!

I wouldn't go that far, she's not lovable enough, although lately they seem to be trying to humanize her more, but i'll let you give her number two after Lucy Ricardo though!:lol:

I think her character has turned into a shrew. Of course with a MIL like Marie, and a wimp of a husband like Ray, it was inevitable. The only hope for this show is if the writers pull in fresh story ideas from Robert and Amy (and her kooky family). Unfortunately, the trend in television today is to have characters who know no boundaries, like the MIL from Hell, Marie.

There are so many possibilities with Robert/Amy and I hope the writers choose that path. However I doubt Ray Romano would want his show heading that direction, and if that's the case, I think they should end this show and spin off Robert and Amy. Marie and Frank also need to be left behind. There's plenty of story lines with Amy and her family to warrant a new show.

If they choose to leave ELR on, please, please clean up that dump of a house and get rid of the toys that are EVERYWHERE (and are never played with).

You don't have children do you?Children always make mess around the house even if you clean regulary,they keep doing it,it's in their blood:p I think a spinoff of Robert and Amy would be great.They are so lovable together;)

Yes Celine, I do have kids. Three of them. :) And yes I know what life is like with kids around the house (a tornardo coming through comes to mind). It's the stuffed animals that are EVERYWHERE that annoys me in their house. Heck, we see all the kid toys more than we see the kids! LOL
In the first season (at least in the early shows) the house somewhat looked like a home, not a pre-school room. Kids have toys, and my kids had them all, but I didn't put them on every table or on every bookshelf.

I just think the house is a dump and poor, poor Debra just can't handle the house and the kids. I think the show has just run its course for me, and it's time for new blood...Robert and Amy. There are only so many times you can see Marie be a $#$%^ and IMO, Debra is almost as bad as Marie.

My all time favorite ELR was when Robert proposed to Amy. That was a tear jerker for me....

Though I love Fred Willard, Amy's family is too much of a wet blanket type scenario to sustain any laughs.

They are too straight forward and dry in their sensibilities that the insults and jokes would have to be drier than Fraiser.

No, they are not the answer.

Maybe just Chris Elliott as a regular.

And as far as Ray & Robert's parents:

Frank's stuff doesn't get old to me.
Marie could drop dead though - she is played out.

Is this legit? Are they really talking about a spinoff?

Sorry,twinkle44301!It's asually people who don't have kids who talk like that.I see what do you mean.The house is just a mess with all the toys around and the children never play with them anyway.You're right:)

A spinoff with Robert and Amy could work but,they had to inclued Marie and Frank.It's true that Amy's parents are too boring.They could inclued them sometimes,it would be so bad.But,not Amy's brother,he freaks me out:eek:

Whenever a network panics about losing a hit show, there's inevitable talk of spin offs, but it's the ensemble here that clicks, there is no way i would watch Robert and Amy, can't stand either of them. But her parents and that weird brother do help bring in fresh humor, but would you watch WEIRD every week, no it's warmth that brings you back. I don't even like those kids, they are the worst, although it was nice to see the older girl act in that party dress show, but when you don't lay out things properly and don;t set them up right, like when we had never seen the boys do anything and then they had that one boy who wouldn't go to school,, there's little humor if it's not set up with back story. I think they need to lay things out better, they have great characters who sometimes behave so badly you think if you wre there, you'd punch them out! But they can go another year, easily, most other shows really stink compared to this one, one of the few good ones on tv right now.

Celine...I know what you mean. Usually people who offer advice, don't have kids! LOL My brother comes to mind. Hmmmm...always full of ideas, but has no real clue... :) When my oldest two (boys) were small (under 5) and they would fight, I would make them sit on the stairs together. If they continued to fight, I made them hold hands. If that didn't work, I made them kiss each other on the cheek and say a nice thing about each other. Needless to say, we rarely got past the hand-holding stage. My oldest is now 24 and he now laughs about it... :)

It will be interesting to see how much longer ELR lasts. I'm sure it's tough coming up with fresh story ideas after such a long run.