Some actors like to go back and rewatch the shows they appeared on, but when Ray Romano revisited Everybody Loves Raymond, he went the extra mile.
The actor, 66, admitted to PEOPLE in a recent interview that in recent years, he finally watched all 210 episodes of the sitcom for the first time since the series finale aired in May 2005. In doing so, Romano used a rating system, giving each episode a score on a scale of 1 to 100.
“I got on a little kick there. I hadn’t seen the episodes,” he says, adding, “They took on a new look to me. I was appreciating them more. I was very hard on them back then. … But you see when you’re removed from it a little, I felt like an audience member. And then I said, ‘Let me rate them.’ I rated them, and I was hard on some.”
According to Romano, just a handful of episodes achieved a 96 — the highest score he was willing to give. “We were never perfect,” he explains.
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‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ stars Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, Sawyer Sweeten, Ray Romano, Sullivan Sweeten, Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton and Madylin Sweeten.
Three of those episodes include the season 2 episode “Good Girls,” in which Marie (Doris Roberts) favors Amy (Monica Horan) over Debra (Patricia Heaton) and “She’s the One” in season 7, where Ray learns Robert’s (Brad Garrett) new girlfriend eats flies. (Yes, really.)
“It’s bizarre and crazy, but it ended up being a great episode,” Romano says.
Romano also gave the season 7 episode entitled “Baggage,” where Ray and Debra bicker for three weeks over who should bring a suitcase up the stairs, a score of 96. That particular episode earned Everybody Loves Raymond an Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series.
On the flip side, Romano declined to name his lowest-rated episodes — and with good reason. “I still have dinner with the writers, and I’ve written a bunch myself,” he quips.
“When you do 210 episodes, you’re going to have episodes that you think are brilliant and you’re going to have episodes that you think, ‘Wow, you know what? We kind of missed it on that one,” Romano continues. “Then you’re going to have episodes that are very good, great and somewhere in the middle, you know what I mean? That’s just to be expected when you’re cranking an episode out every week.”
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Everybody Loves Raymond – Season 6 Ep 1
‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ stars Brad Garrett, Ray Romano, Doris Roberts, Patricia Heaton and Peter Boyle. CBS
Everybody Loves Raymond ran from 1996 to 2005 for nine seasons, with a cast that included Romano, Heaton, Garrett, Roberts and Peter Boyle, who died in 2006 from multiple myeloma and heart disease. Besides the Emmy it received for “Baggage,” the show would go on to win another 14 Emmys, including outstanding comedy series, outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Heaton, outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for Garrett and outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Roberts.
During his interview with PEOPLE, Romano expressed a particular fondness for Boyle, who received seven Emmy nominations for his grouchy portrayal of patriarch Frank Barone.
When Everybody Loves Raymond debuted in September 1996, Boyle was an accomplished actor with a long list of credits spanning decades, from his breakout role in 1970’s Joe and the 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein directed by Mel Brooks to the 1989 comedy thriller The Dream Team.
“When I met him, he, of course, was a well-known movie actor, star, and I was nobody. I was a stand-up who got his own sitcom and was trying acting,” Romano recalled of Boyle, adding, “I was very intimidated, and he took me in. He made me feel welcome. He made me feel part of the club.”
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Peter Boyle and Ray Romano during 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards – HBO After Party at Pacific Design Center
Peter Boyle and Ray Romano. JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC
It helped that during the show’s first season, the two coincidentally lived in the same apartment complex, where they would hang out, rehearse and have dinner.
Starring with Boyle on the show ultimately proved something of a dream for Romano, who honors the late actor every year by hosting The International Myeloma Foundation Gala, which benefits the Peter Boyle Research Fund and advances in myeloma research.
“It was as surreal as it could be,” Romano added. “I’m doing stand-up one day, and the next day, I’m on my own show and Peter Boyle is my buddy.”
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All nine seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond are available to stream on Paramount+.
