'Raymond' Ends On An Up Note
After nine years, 210 episodes, 65 Emmy nominations and 12 Emmy awards, the hit TV sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" comes to an end Monday night on CBS.
The decision to quit now, the show's star told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, was a creative one he made with executive producer Phil Rosenthal.
"We had done a lot of stories and we were running out of stories," saysRay Romano. "And we did not want to compromise it and leave it fresh and leave when we think we had done it all and we thought it was at that point."
Rosenthal said he never considered expanding the final episode beyond its usual half-hour format.
"I saw a lot of shows that did it and I wasn't crazy about them. We always lived as a half hour with rare exceptions and I thought for our purposes, that form of story telling, a half hour is right."
There is, however, a one-hour special of highlights scheduled beforehand on CBS.
Both Romano and Rosenthal mined their personal experiences to provide scripts for the show. In fact, Romano says, the name was coined by his brother.
"My brother, a New York police cop, used to compare my life to his and how hard his life was: 'I got to chase criminals and everybody loves Raymond.' Phil said we'll use it as a working title and the name stuck."
At the time, Rosenthal said he had no great expectations, just that "someone would like the script.
"And maybe we would get to make a pilot," he said. "And then for the pilot to go and for us to last 13 episodes and for us to get picked up for the first season and to go beyond that, every sickle thing is a miracle."
The show was ranked 81st in the first season, but midway through, Rosenthal and the cast knew they had something special going.
"We felt like we had a chemistry and we had a uniqueness to us," Romano said, "but no one thought, you know, we were a sure thing because of the ratings. But the critics were nice to us. The reviews were good so they gave us a longer chance you normally get being in 80th place. You know?"
Appearing with Romano and Rosenthal were cast members Peter Boyle, Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts, Brad Garrett, and Monica Horan.
Roberts, who plays Ray's mother, Marie Barone, says many fans tell her she reminds them of their own mothers.
"I travel a lot and every country I've gone to," she said, "they yell and scream and say, 'Thank you for the humor. You bring it to my home.' This is fabulous that we do that. It's very special because we all respect each other. And most importantly, we trust each other."
Heaton observed that the cast members lives changed dramatically during the course of the show. She, Romano and Rosenthal all had more children during those nine years. As a result, the cast became like family and parting has been difficult:
"I actually got it all out that final taping. And, you know, sobbed and sobbed and sobbed," she said.
The following are some trivia facts about the show: