How the real families behind Everybody Loves Raymond reacted to their portrayals on show: 'Are yo...

Series star Ray Romano and creator Phil Rosenthal reminisce about the show with EW ahead of the comedy's 30th anniversary reunion special on Nov. 24. How the real families behind Everybody Loves Raymond reacted to their portrayals on show: 'Are you out of your mind?' Series star Ray Romano and creator Phil Rosenthal reminisce about the show with EW ahead of the comedy's 30th anniversary reunion special on Nov. 24. By Rebecca Detken :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RebeccaDetkenauthorphoto2bf563aadebef4d09b4636b1dc3921179.

Series star Ray Romano and creator Phil Rosenthal reminisce about the show with EW ahead of the comedy's 30th anniversary reunion special on Nov. 24.

How the real families behind Everybody Loves Raymond reacted to their portrayals on show: 'Are you out of your mind?'

Series star Ray Romano and creator Phil Rosenthal reminisce about the show with EW ahead of the comedy's 30th anniversary reunion special on Nov. 24.

By Rebecca Detken

Rebecca Detken

Rebecca Detken is the editorial director of news and operations for **. She's been with EW since 2018 and has over 25 years of experience working in entertainment journalism.

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November 19, 2025 10:00 a.m. ET

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'Everybody Loves Raymond' stars Ray Romano (Ray Barone), Brad Garret (Robert Barone), Doris Roberts (Marie Barone), Peter Boyle (Frank Barone), and Patricia Heaton (Debra Barone). Credit:

Everybody still loves Raymond — but *Everybody Loves Raymond *star Ray Romano and series creator Phil Rosenthal admit that their real-life families didn't always love the exaggerated portrayals of family members on the show.

While speaking with ** ahead of the beloved sitcom's 30th anniversary special —airing Monday, Nov. 24, on CBS and Paramount+ — Romano and Rosenthal look back at their time working on the show, which first premiered on Sept. 13, 1996, and ran for nine seasons, ending in 2005 after racking up 69 Emmy nominations and 15 wins.

Centered around sports writer Ray Barone (Romano) and his family — including his sarcastic wife Debra (Patricia Heaton), overbearing mother Marie (Doris Roberts), grumpy father Frank (Peter Boyle), and sad-sack older brother Robert (Brad Garrett) — the show hit close to home for viewers and continues to do so today, thanks to its humorous look at family dynamics. What made it even more relatable was that, according to Rosenthal, 90 percent of the show's storylines were based on something that happened to either him, Romano, or one of the writers.

"Stuff would happen in our real lives and [the writers] would say, 'I don't want to see this on the show!' And I think 90 percent of the time, it ended up on the show," Romano laughs.

"We were desperate!" adds Rosenthal.

The Barones on 'Everybody Loves Raymond': Madylin Sweeten, Monica Horan, Sawyer Sweeten, Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle, and Sullivan Sweeten.

Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive/Getty

The characters were also loosely based on Romano and Rosenthal's own family members.

Rosenthal — whose gone on to become a star in his own right thanks to his Netflix food and travel series *Somebody Feed Phil* — remembers his mother wasn't exactly thrilled when she watched the season 1 episode "In-Laws" and realized who the real-life inspirations for Debra's pretentious parents Warren (Robert Culp) and Lois Whelan (Katherine Helmond) were.

"We based Debra's parents on my brother's in-laws," Rosenthal tells EW. "We made them from Connecticut and a little high-toned to contrast with our parents [Marie, who was largely based on Rosenthal's mother Helen, and Frank, who was inspired by Romano's dad, Al ] in the show."

He continues, "And we made it so that Frank and Marie didn't like them. Now, these are relatives, right? In-laws. My parents' real in-laws. At 9:30, right after the show is over, my phone rings: 'Are you out of your mind? We have to see these people!' I said, 'Ma, your comfort is something I'm willing to sacrifice for the program.'"

Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, Robert Culp, and Katherine Helmond on 'Everybody Loves Raymond'.

Romano's mom also had a bone to pick regarding one of her sons' portrayals on the show.**

"The brother Robert is based on my brother [Richard]," Romano explains. "But Brad Garrett brought this, I don't want to say goofier quality to it, but this weird kind of slant to it. [Like the Robert character,] my brother was a NYC cop, and and my mother would say, 'Raymond, does he have to be like that? The guys at the precinct are making fun of him.' I said, 'Mom, it's just a show. It's not him!'"

Romano adds, "And then I have another brother too, so my brother who's not depicted on the show, his name is Robert, so that's why we gave the character his name."

Doris Roberts as Marie, Ray Romano as Ray, Brad Garrett as Robert, and Peter Boyle as Frank on 'Everybody Loves Raymond'. Monty Brinton/CBS/courtesy Everett Collection

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Romano recalls another instance where art imitated life much to his family's chagrin.

"I remember my parents in real life got separated at one time. And when I broke my arm — I was 12 maybe — and my father would come over to try and take care of it... he thought he knew what he was doing. And that's how my mom and him got back together. So we did an episode like that [season 2's 'The Anniversary'] and my brother told me, 'I told dad, "Raymond's doing a thing about when you and mom were separated and he broke his arm."' And dad just looked at him and went, 'That bastard will stop at nothing!'" laughs the Emmy-winning actor. "In print, that's going to look horrible."

While their real-life family members didn't have a say in how they were depicted on TV, Romano says, "They all knew it is what it is, and the thing about the show was, there was no real villain. You could argue things that Marie did and Frank did [were bad], but we also showed the underlying sense of love and family that was behind it, you know? So I think they got it."**

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(Clockwise from top left) Brad Garrett, Ray Romano, Phil Rosenthal, Sullivan Sweeten, Patricia Heaton, Monica Horan, and Madylin Sweetin at the 'Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion' taping.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

Twenty years since *Everybody Loves Raymond* aired its final episode, Romano and Rosenthal are getting the Barone family back together again. They'll be joined by cast members including Heaton, Garrett, Monica Horan (Amy), Madylin Sweeten (Ally), Sullivan Sweeten (Michael), and more surprise guests — in the recreated Barone living room and kitchen — to share memories and reflect on the legacy of the hit comedy, as well as pay tribute to late great *Raymond* stars Boyle and Roberts.

"We hadn't seen a lot of these people in 20 years, and just to think we were there every day for nine years with them," says Romano. "It's kind of like a high school reunion, where you're reliving that magical time in your life. So that was nice."

Phil Rosenthal and Ray Romano host the 'Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion'.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

Adds Rosenthal, "People ask us, 'Do you miss the show?' No, the show is on every day. If i want to see the show, I can see the show. What I miss are my friends. That's what I miss. I miss being with the writers in that room and laughing every day. It was a show for families about a family and then, after a little while, it was being done by a family."

Catch *Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion * on Monday, Nov. 24, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.**

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Published: November 21, 2025 at 10:39AM on Source: MARIO MAG

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