By Craig Tomashoff | TV Guide Online
After nine years, 210
episodes and 65 Emmy
nominations, Everybody Loves
Raymond is calling it quits.
If any weariness or
discontent has seeped into
the ensemble, it didn't show
when TV Guide gathered
everyone together for the
first time since taping the
finale.
Eating lunch in a Chicago
hotel room, Ray Romano,
Patricia Heaton, Brad
Garrett, Peter Boyle, Doris
Roberts, creator Phil
Rosenthal and Monica Horan
(who's also Rosenthal's
wife) banter as if they are
still hanging out in the
Barone kitchen. Here's a
bonus version of the
interview that appears in
this week's issue of the
magazine due out on
newsstands Thursday.
TV Guide: Do you miss the
show yet?
Phil Rosenthal: That
first day after we'd
finished, Monica sent me to
drop the kids' lunches off
at school because she forgot
to pack them. And as I'm
driving I'm thinking, "I
have to get another show
because this can't be my
life."
Patricia Heaton: Most
of us who are moms are used
to taking lunches and
working also. Phil was being
a wimp, like all husbands.
TVG: Did you all bond
instantly when you taped
that first show?
Ray Romano: That
first year, Peter was more
like my father. We both
lived in this apartment
complex, and he took me
under his wing. He'd take me
to a restaurant where we'd
heard a lot of celebrities
went, and we'd arrive to
find out he was the only
celebrity.
Peter Boyle: We'd go
out to dinner and then back
to the apartment. He'd go
rehearse and wouldn't go to
bed. I was impressed with
his devotion.
Ray: That was
actually the cocaine.
TVG: Who changed the most
during the nine years you've
been together?
Phil: Ray is a
[expletive] now. It took him
two days and it was like,
"Where's my limo?"
Brad Garrett: What's
amazing is to have nine
years of success but still
be a group of people who are
grateful. We know even after
it's done how lucky we were.
It's a great thing that Ray
is still the same guy from
Queens, working his ass off.
TVG: Raymond often seemed
more like a reality series
than a sitcom, turning
uncomfortable family
situations we've all had
into episodes. Was it as
uncomfortable for you to
watch as it was for the rest
of us?
Phil: Our rule was,
"Could this happen?" The
biggest compliment we ever
got was, "You were listening
outside my house last
night." Which, by the way,
Ray sometimes did.
Ray: My wife would
see a scene with me and
Patty and say, "You talked
to her more in that one
scene than you've talked to
me in a whole week." I'd
look at her and say, "Well,
I have writers."
Phil: Then he'd call
up and we'd have to send a
writer over to the house.
Doris Roberts: My son
is very happy I did this
show for several reasons,
but mostly he told me he
liked it because I could get
rid of all that [Marie
attitude] with Raymond and
leave him alone.
TVG: Marie was a pretty
tough mom on the show. But
how was it working with
Doris?
Ray: Doris would
mother me whenever I had an
ailment. Laryngitis,
whatever, she'd be like,
"Put a lemon in your ear and
walk backward. That'll
work."
Peter: It was, "Put a
lemon in your rear." No
wonder you never got better.
Patricia: One
specific time, when I was
overwhelmed by life and
kids, I started to have a
panic attack. My immediate
reaction was to go into
Doris' dressing room, shut
the door behind me, push the
lock and say, "Doris, I'm
having a panic attack and I
can't even say why." She sat
there and said, "Take some
deep breathes. Relax." That
was so comforting. I'll
never forget that moment.
TVG: Did you hear a lot from
fans over the years?
Patricia: I was once
at a boutique in New York
City trying on shoes. A gay
guy came up to me and said,
"Your and Ray's relationship
is exactly like mine with my
partner...." That's when I
thought, we have really
connected on every level and
with every type of person.
Doris: I've been
stopped by people speaking
every language who tell me
how much they love the show.
It happened at an airport in
Bangladesh where there were
21 people. I counted.
Ray: On my website
last week, I got an e-mail
from Ghana saying how much
this person loved watching
the show. Ghana? That's
Africa, right?
Monica Horan: I met a
Muslim from Pakistan. He
said, "You are Amy? I call
my son and we talk about
your show." And we ended up
talking about how Phil's
family is Jewish and his is
Muslim and how the issues we
deal with are still the
same.
Brad: I was in New
York City once, and a cop
came up to me out of nowhere
and said, "How's your ass?"
It was right after the
episode where I'd been gored
by the bull. The scary thing
was, he'd never seen the
show.
Phil: Speaking of
which, that's not trick
photography in that episode
when you see Brad running
down the street chased by a
bull. We actually told Brad,
"You're going to run down
the street now." "Why?"
"Don't worry. Just run."
Brad: I was never a
fast guy. So you can imagine
the fear. I think they gave
the bull a couple Percocets.
The handler was saying, "The
bull is fine. But run. You
still want to run." And the
first couple of takes, the
bull was like, "Whoa! I'm
winded!" So the handler put
a cow at the other end of
the street, the bull's
girlfriend, to get him to
go.
Phil: It was insane
to do because if Brad
slipped and fell, the bull
would have run over him.
Brad: Luckily we had
a stunt double. Bea Arthur
was free that day.
Ray: If he fell, that
could have been our finale
right there. We missed out.
TVG: Did you ever hear from
people who didn't like your
show?
Phil: We got letters
saying, "This isn't funny.
It's too close to home. Why
do you want to hurt people?"
Monica: Remember what
that one guy wrote when you
were testing the first
episode? There was this guy
who was British, and he
said, "Raymond's a wimp, and
I hate these shows about men
who are wimps. And I
wouldn't watch this show.
Unless my wife forced me
to."
Doris: My favorite
was from a guy in prison,
who sent me a letter telling
me I was very attractive and
he'd be out in five.
Brad: I hope that
story has a happy ending for
you.
TVG: The story lines were
always so relatable. Weren't
a lot of shows inspired by
events in your real lives?
Phil: A perfect
example was the "Angry
Family" episode which, like
90 percent of our shows,
came from something that
happened to one of us. In
this case, it was me. We
went to my son's first-grade
class, where the kids read
stories out loud that they
had written. Even my parents
came. So the children read
their little stories like
"Escape from Blue Planet"
and "The Lion Who Had
Chicken Pox." And then Ben
Rosenthal gets up and reads
"The Angry Family."
"The mommy is mad at the
daddy and here's a picture.
The daddy is mad at the
mommy and here's a picture."
He turns to look at us and
we're mortified. And in the
next split second I think,
"How lucky am I that I have
a kid who writes for my
television show?"
TVG: You guys have been
through a lot together,
including being in New York
on 9/11. What was that
experience like?
Ray: I remember
walking in Central Park when
we saw a guy walking in a
catatonic state, covered in
soot. He had been outside
the World Trade Center when
it fell and had no way to
get home to New Jersey. We
had an extra hotel room so
we let him have that for the
night. He happened to be my
size, so I gave him a pair
of my jeans. And he came out
to dinner with us. I
remember him saying, "People
will believe I was in 9/11.
Nobody will believe I had
dinner with the cast of
Everybody Loves Raymond."
Doris: [Fighting
tears] Later I met some
firemen from Ground Zero who
gave me a tour [of the
site]. At the end of it,
[one of the men] said, "We'd
like to give you something."
I thought it would be a pin
or something like that. He
gave me a flag that flew
over the site and a piece of
the first building that came
down. I said, "I'm so
honored, but why give it to
me?" He said, "We've been
here looking for pieces of
our friends all this time.
We go home at night, turn on
the TV and there you are.
You make us laugh and you
bring us back into life.
That's why we're giving this
to you."
TVG: Everybody Loves Raymond
was never the hippest show,
but you survived for nine
seasons. Any idea why you
were able to stick around so
long?
Ray: I'm not good at
talking about the show's
legacy. Half of me thinks it
wasn't very good anyway.
Phil: We've never
been the hot show of the
moment, the one the media
descends on and puts on the
cover of every magazine. But
I'd rather be what we are.
My attitude was, we should
make this have some lasting
value. I'm very happy with
the way things turned out.
