Reboots of beloved shows from decades past can be easy ways to trap viewers through nostalgia. Some can break off and start to feel like their own entity (as with Frasier), while others are just cheapo cash grabs that bring nothing fresh to the original premise (as with The Odd Couple, to name one of a hundred). But Ray Romano won’t even bother trying to find out how a reboot of Everybody Loves Raymond would fare with audiences, saying it is absolutely “out of the question.”
As for why Romano is shutting down even the idea of an Everybody Loves Raymond reboot, he has plenty of reasons, starting with the simple point that “they’re never as good…and we want to leave with our legacy as what it is.” There, too, would be two key cast members missing: Peter Boyle, who passed away in 2006 just one year after the sitcom went off the air, and Doris Roberts, who died in April 2016. Boyle and Roberts played Frank and Marie Barone, parents to Romano’s Ray. Of course, another go at Everybody Loves Raymond is doable without Frank and Marie, as Frasier demonstrated that the loss of a parent can be handled effectively, as it was with the passing of John Mahoney, who played Crane’s father Martin.
Regardless, a reprisal of Everybody Loves Raymond would undoubtedly be a draw for audiences (hey, maybe even Martin Scorsese would tune in now!). After all, the show ran 210 episodes over the course of nine seasons, making it one of the longest-running of any sitcom starring a stand-up comedian, ahead of The Cosby Show and Seinfeld and not that far behind Roseanne.
There’s definitely something to be admired in Romano’s insistence that Everybody Loves Raymond never be revisited. But it’s not all that surprising, considering he knew when to call it quits on the original show. As he also noted on Real Time with Bill Maher, “The rest of the cast wanted it to go on…but myself and [show runner] Phil Rosenthal, we thought it was time.”
Would you be down for a reboot of Everybody Loves Raymond or is it best left where it is? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.