Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season

Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season

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• Standup comedian Ray Romano stars as Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter who deals with his brother and parents, who happen to live across the street. Frank (Peter Boyle "While You Were Sleeping") and Marie (Doris Roberts "Remington Steele"), love to meddle in his life while older brother, Robert (Brad Garrett "Suicide Kings"), sometimes resents his success. Nevertheless, Ray manages to keep a b

DVD Reviews of Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season

DVD Review: The Best Sitcom You Could Ask For
Summary: 5 Stars

I have been waiting for this DVD for a long time. EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND doesn't just focus on getting cheap laughs. The sitcom serves as a microcosm of American society, namely, the human family.

In order to have good, quality comedy, you need to have some tension. That tension is well provided for with Raymond's parents, Marie and Frank, living right across the street. All families have tension, but the Barone tension is increased as a result of being too close together. Each episode focuses on the problems this family has, but it also focuses on their good days, too, and how they remain together and remain a unit, despite the tension. As we watch, we not only find ourselves laughing, but we find ourselves identifying with the people, because we just picture our own lives taking similar courses. (We also dread even more the prospect of living across the street from our in-laws.)

But there's even more to it than just the great comedy as a result of the family tensions and trials. Each character is also very well developed, and has a lot of backround. Each character is very three-dimensional, and believable. You find yourself relating to them more and more with each passing episode. (NOTE: All references to episodes in this review obviously are from this season 1, so you can see each episode I mention if you buy this set.)

Take Raymond himself, for example. He's not very intelligent and he never has any idea what his wife really means when she says she wants more romance, as we see clearly in the episode "I Love You." Rather than just respond to his wife's need to have more spoken intimacy, he asks his parents what they think. He truly does love his wife, and his kids, but his problems compound from the fact that he's what a woman would call a "typical guy" and from being completely under his parent's control. (To get a better idea of what I'm talking about in terms of the control they, especially Marie, have over him, just watch the Pilot. Then you'll get it.)

Then you have Raymond's wife, Debra. Again, she truly loves her husband. Deep down, she even loves Marie and Frank. However, she has a hard time showing it all the time because her nerves are constantly under the grind when Marie and Frank barge over constantly. In the episode "Fascinatin' Debra," the Barones ruin her interview with her favorite radio shrink, because she's "normal" and all the rest of them are "the front porch of the looney bin." However, we learn that Debra truly is the foundation that holds this entire family together. She has a lot of weight to carry on her shoulders, being the "normal one," so if she seems a bit cranky, that's why.

Marie is the mother that just loves to help. The only problem is she doesn't know where to draw the line between just helping and becoming a meddlesome nag. She would do anything for her family, but more often than not, she just goes a bit too far, which drives Debra crazy to no end. In "Debra's Sick," Marie truly shows her inner colors. While she comes on a bit strong, she is a loving, caring nurturer. But, on the flipside, you see her coming on far too strong with her love in "Turkey or Fish."

Frank is probably the most interesting character of them all. He's disgusting and he constantly makes the most hilarious cracks, especially about his wife. On the surface, they just don't appear to get along, and everyone constantly wonders how their marriage can possibly hold together. However, in "Your Place or Mine?" you see that Marie and Frank are truly compatible. Marie needs to be the nurturer, and Frank needs to be nurtured.

And finally, we have Robert, Raymond's obsessive-compulsive brother. Robert is insanely quirky, and has had a lot to deal with in his life. He's the second favorite son, despite being the firstborn, but he has a lot of love for everyone. Raymond and Robert, although they have typical sibling rivalries, they truly would do anything for each other, as seen in "The Dog."

There is so much more to this sitcom than I can type in this review. Go buy it. It's worth it, and then you can see for yourself.

Description of Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete First Season