Everybody Loves Raymond : Our Family Album

Rating:
Summary: A Great Show and a Great Book
Review: Everybody Loves Raymond has to be the one of the funniest comedies on TV today. It has been playing since 1996 and is still fresh and funny in it's brand new episodes.
The cast includes:
-Ray Romano as Ray Barone, the overall star of the show. He has a house, a job as a sports writer for Newsday, a wife Debra (Patricia Heaton), and three children- two twin boys (Jeffrey and Michael) and a girl (Ally). Ray's ignorance is quite funny!
-Patricia Heaton as Ray's wife, Debra Barone. she is much more intelligent than him and is always tolerating Ray's family. She's the only "normal one" of the bunch!
-Brad Garrett as Ray's older brother, Robert Barone. Robert is always insanely jealous of his younger brother and how "lucky" he is for living Robert's dream of having a house and a family. Robert, for a time, lives with his and Ray's parents, but eventually moves out and gets his own apartment. Robert is always visiting Ray's home and is also always craving attention from his mother, Marie, since Raymond is undoubtedly her favorite child.
-Doris Roberts as Marie, Ray's mother. Marie lives across the street with Ray's father (Frank) and is an unbelievable cook. She is not particularly fond of Debra, and always finds some flaw with anything Debra is doing or cooking. She loves to make fun of Debra's housework and cooking. She is constantly made fun of by her husband, Frank, who obviously cannot stand her even though they have been married for 45 years. She undoubtedly favors Raymond over Robert, and even openly admits it a few times, such as in one of my favorite quotes: "I knew something was wrong with that meatloaf, I should have thrown it out or given it to Robbie." However, despite her unfriendly sides, she loves her family truly and always attempts to act out of love (though it doesn't always appear that way).
-And finally, Peter Boyle as Ray's father, Frank. Frank is a truly disgusting man who doesn't show love well and totally lacks taste or class in public. According to Ray, he once "peed in the yard" and "threw his shoe at a flamingo to protect his sandwich". Frank's comments to Marie are hilarious (as are Marie's comments to Debra). In one Thanksgiving episode, Frank admits that he truly loves Marie, which is obviously why their relationship has lasted 45 years. Frank thoroughly enjoys all types of food and cooking and also watching TV with his pants unbuckled.

So, there you have it. ELR is truly a great show. And while the upcoming season ('04-'05) will be it's last, this book is the perfect companion to the show, including lots of show information and pictures. If you love ELR, you should get this book.

Also, check out ELR: Season 1 on DVD here at Amazon.