Lots of networks are open to doing reboots of old shows these days but the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond is apparently having a tough time getting anyone to consider doing a reunion special with the likes of Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton.
In a taped appearance on SiriusXM’s Pop Culture Spotlight With Jessica Shaw that’ll air Tuesday, Raymond creator/executive producer Phil Rosenthal admitted there have been “no takers” for a reunion special of the hit sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2005 on CBS.
“Here’s what I really can’t believe,” Rosenthal told Shaw. “I’ve pitched to now a couple of different places. We can do a reunion special. We can tell stories of the things that have happened to us at home, and then show a clip of the Raymond episode, and I think it will be entertaining and funny and you’ll get a chance to catch up with the cast as they are now. And it seemed to work for Friends and, uh, no takers. Not yet. Maybe someone will hear this and say, ‘Hey, this seems like a no-brainer.’ I think people like the show, I think they would like to see the cast together. Again, I think they would like to revisit some of the highlights and outtakes from the show.”
“Listen, this is the business we’ve chosen for ourselves,” continued Rosenthal. “As they say in The Godfather, there’s no, there’s no rhyme or reason to anything. If they, if they see money, they go for the money. If they see demographics that they want, they go for that … I’m not singling out any network. There are plenty of entities who have been involved with the show that could do a reunion show and a reunion special, which certainly doesn’t cost as much as producing a real episode of a show. It’s people sitting in chairs, and then you have clips.”
A reunion special for Everybody Loves Raymond would be bittersweet since four of the sitcom’s most memorable stars — Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle, who played Romano’s parents, and Georgia Engel and Fred Willard, who played the in-laws of Brad Garrett’s character, — have since died.
Everybody Loves Raymond won 15 Emmys during its run on CBS. Two of those were for Outstanding Comedy.
