Everybody Loves Raymond: Things you never knew

HOW much was Ray Romano getting paid and why did he hate the title of the show? Here’s what you never knew about Everybody Loves Raymond.

FOR nine years Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the most watched shows on television.

We laughed as Ray did his best to diffuse the tension between his wife Debra and his mum Marie, we sympathised with his brother Robert’s desperate attempts to get noticed and we cringed at some of the harsh words that came out of Frank’s mouth.

It’s been almost 10 years since the show wrapped up, so we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and unearth some little known facts about the family sitcom.

The hilarious cast: Peter Boyle, Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Ray Romano and Doris Roberts.

The show was created after Romano performed stand up comedy on Letterman:

“I was doing stand-up for about 12 years,” said Romano.

“And then I did a David Letterman spot. And a week later, the Letterman producer, Rob Burnett, called me and said we’re interested in trying to develop a show just based on what they saw, my stand-up, which was talking about my family. And we said fine.”

Letterman was one of the show’s producers, but he wasn’t too hands on according to Romano.

“He just watches from afar,” said Romano in 2002.

“He’ll watch the show now and then ... But he trusts us. He lets us go.”

Ray Romano hated the show’s title:

“It invites hatred,” said Romano.

“It came about from a sarcastic comment my brother made, who is a police officer. And he said, ‘look what I do for a living, and look at Raymond, yeah, everybody loves Raymond.’

“So we used it as a working title. And it just grew on CBS, and we couldn’t get rid of it.”

Looks like someone may have accidentally passed wind.

Peter Boyle was in a terrible mood when he auditioned for the part of Frank Barone:

Peter Boyle had the producers in stitches with his rage filled audition but it turns out he wasn’t acting at all. He was in a filthy mood after he got lost on the way to the audition.

“I was out here with (in LA) and my kids were visiting from back East because I live back in Manhattan and my girls go to school there,” said Boyle.

“But we couldn’t get on the lot. Then we couldn’t get a parking space. Then when we finally got all of that worked out, we went to where the office and they said, no, the auditions are being held in another place.

“So when I walked in, Ray and Phil were there and I was enraged.”

Peter Boyle (who played Frank) passed away in 2006.

Patricia Heaton wasn’t the TV network’s first choice to play Debra Barone:

CBS actually wanted Jane Sibbett (who played Ross’s ex-wife Carol in Friends) to play the part of Debra. But the show’s creator, Philip Rosenthal, was so certain the Heaton was the right choice that he threatened to quit if she didn’t get the role.

“That was a deal breaker,” said Rosenthal.

“They were suggesting someone to play Raymond’s wife that I just couldn’t live with, and so I was quitting over that.

“I don’t know if I called their bluff or whatever, but I wasn’t trying to — and I wasn’t bluffing. But sometimes, if you say that you’re going to actually quit, it’s the strongest move you can make in the situation.”

“I can’t believe how funny we are!” Phil Rosenthal with Ray Romano.

Ray’s TV kids are all related:

In the show, Ray and Debra have three kids: a daughter called Ally and twin boys named Geoffrey and Michael. If you thought the kids were convincing as siblings in the show, that’s because they’re actually siblings in real life.

PS: If you want to see what Madylin Sweeten (who played Ally Barone) looks like now, click here.

The three kids are actually related.

Ray Romano was the highest paid TV star:

For the eighth and ninth season of Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano’s salary more than doubled to an incredible $A1.88 million per episode. That was slightly more than Kelsey Grammer who was reportedly getting paid $A1.77 million per episode for Frasier.

She doesn’t look too thrilled does she?

The filming of the finale was delayed because Patricia Heaton (who played Debra) was sick:

“We were ready to film ... literally, as we were ready to be introduced, Patty (Patricia Heaton), in the beginning of the day, her voice was hoarse, so we waited, we waited,” said Romano.

“At showtime, the voice was gone. We had to send the audience home and do it the following week.”