Everybody Loves Raymond is your classic dysfunctional family sitcom. Ray, Debra, and the gang all make terrible decisions with hilarious consequences.
Raymond and debra from everybody loves raymond
While Everybody Loves Raymond is seen as a ’90s sitcom, it’s still a series that really encapsulates the genre. While it might seem a bit dated now, there are still a lot of funny scenes for fans to enjoy, as they laugh at the Barone family’s antics that stem from their outlandish behavior.
One thing about Everybody Loves Raymond does well is its depiction of the realistic issues of dealing with family. However, it’s still a sitcom, and creating laughs is the goal. Everything about these characters and their family situation is exaggerated for comedy, but there are still some choices the main characters made that were questionable and had fans shaking their heads.
Debra quitting all of her career goals
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In her marriage, Debra is shown to be the smarter of the two, and while Ray is clearly capable and has a good career, Debra quits working in PR to be a homemaker. While this isn’t a bad thing and it was her choice to make, it’s weird how she seems to give up on any of these goals entirely. Instead of shelving them to possibly revisit when her kids are older, she seems to completely lose this part of herself, and it seems like she’d have been happier if she had more professional aspirations.
Robert’s obsession with Debra
Robert makes a lot of poor decisions in his life, and overall, his worst fault is that he doesn’t believe in himself and is always competing with his brother. However, he’s also got a lot of issues when it comes to women. Because he’s always thinking Raymond is better than him, he is envious of Ray being with Debra. His crush gets creepy at times, and it also impacts his relationship with Amy, his eventual wife.
When Frank “sampled” food from the grocery store
Frank Barone in Grandpa Steals episode of Everybody Loves Raymond
Fans know that Frank is a bit selfish and rude, and the show doesn’t try to convince them otherwise. It’s expected that he’ll behave poorly in any given situation.
However, one example of a bad life decision he made was when he was sampling — stealing — food from the grocery store, and acting like it was okay. What made it worse is that he did this in front of his granddaughter, Ally.
Debra and Ray staying together
Everybody Loves Raymond Debra Bet with Kids against Ray
This sitcom really plays into some of the tropes of the genre that people analyze and criticize. There are a lot of stereotypes about gender and about relationships, and while sometimes these are funny, often they go too far.
Because of these sitcom tropes, Debra and Ray don’t appear to like each other much. They seem petty and unhappy most of the time, so it doesn’t make sense that they stayed together.
Robert spending so much time around his family
Robert Barone Everybody Loves Raymond
Robert is someone who always feels horrible when he’s around his family. He compares himself to Ray, and he deals with his parents favoring Ray over him. For this reason, it doesn’t make sense that he is always around them. Even though he has a good job, he relies too heavily on his parents, resulting in a stunted adulthood.
Frank and Marie’s meddling in their children’s lives
Debra and Marie in Everybody Loves Raymond
Frank and Marie are rather obtuse when it comes to their own failings. A lot of the humor of the series relies on the fact that they don’t have any boundaries and that they are too stubborn to listen or learn. They aren’t really happy people, and their constant meddling and invading into their children’s lives isn’t healthy for anyone involved. However, they clearly don’t seem to know what else to do with themselves.
Ray’s lack of interest in his own kids and wife
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Ray is definitely a better dad than Frank ever was, and he seems to care about his family more than what he learned growing up. However, he’s also quite distant. While he and Debra have divided their roles according to traditional gender roles, he still could have been more invested in his own kids.
Ray also won’t even take the time to learn about Debra’s interests or really help her out, so he often comes across as a bit of a selfish jerk.
Robert marrying Joanne
Robert definitely struggles to find love over the course of the show. Eventually, he does find some happiness with Amy, but it takes him a while to get there.
Fans learn that he was previously married to Joanne, and in flashbacks, it’s made clear how bad of a choice that was. They weren’t a good match, and Joanne didn’t seem like she ever liked Robert much at all.
Frank and Marie not getting a divorce
While, at times, it seems like Ray and Debra would have been happier splitting up, Frank and Marie definitely should have gotten divorced. They straight-up seemed to despise each other, and they obviously stayed together because that was the norm from their generation.
In one episode, it’s revealed that they actually almost got divorced when their boys were children, and honestly, this probably would have been best for everyone.
Debra and Ray living across the street from his parents
Marie Barone Ray Barone and Debra Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond
While Frank and Marie make some bad choices in their lives, Debra and Ray might make the worst life decision on the show. By choosing to live across the street from Ray’s parents, they have to deal with their intrusions every day. Furthermore, they continue to live there even though they seem to be miserable with the set-up.
