\u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d was a family show in more ways than one.<\/p>\n
Series creator Phil Rosenthal is sharing which storylines were inspired by his own life \u2014 much to the dismay of his loved ones.<\/p>\n
He spoke about the series\u2019 real-life origins and what it was like in the writers\u2019 room while celebrating 30 years of the CBS sitcom at The Paley Museum in New York City on June 16.<\/p>\n
Ray Romano (Ray Barone), Patricia Heaton (Debra Barone) and Maggie Wheeler (Linda Gruenfelder) were also in attendance.<\/p>\n
Rosenthal, Romano, Heaton, Wheeler and \u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d writers celebrated 30 years at The Paley Museum on June 16. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Debra\u2019s parents, Warren (Robert Culp) and Lois Whelan (Katherine Helmond), once landed Rosenthal in hot water with his own mother. The \u201cSomebody Feed Phil\u201d star, 65, explained that he loosely based the Whelans on his own brother\u2019s parents-in-law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen that show aired, the moment it was over, I got a phone call. It was my mother,\u201d Rosenthal exclusively told The Post on the red carpet. \u201c\u2018Are you out of your mind? We have to see these people!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Rosenthal clarified that it was an exaggeration, his mother continued, \u201c\u2018Yes, but they don\u2019t know that you\u2019re exaggerating. They\u2019ll think that we feel that way about them. What did you do?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosenthal loosely based Debra\u2019s parents on his own brother\u2019s parents-in-law. CBS<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Mom, your comfort is something I\u2019m willing to sacrifice for the show.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
During the panel, the writers took turns sharing a personal story that made its way into an episode, followed by a corresponding clip from the show.<\/p>\n
Writer and executive producer Lew Schneider said pulling from their experiences was part of the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came in every week, and Phil said, \u2018What happened to you this week?\u2019\u201d Schneider, 63, told The Post. \u201cThe idea that anyone else would care \u2014 I think that\u2019s why the show works\u2026 it\u2019s like a support group. You weren\u2019t the only one suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lew Schneider at The Paley Museum anniversary event on June 16. Getty Images<\/p>\n
As for which storyline mirrored his life a little too closely, Schneider pointed to the series\u2019 hundredth episode, \u201cThe Wallpaper.\u201d<\/p>\n
In it, Frank and Marie (played by the late Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, respectively) crash their car into Ray\u2019s house, prompting Frank to say that the walls are \u201clike paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAcross the street, my neighbor used to back his car out of his driveway and periodically run into my dad\u2019s Plymouth Satellite Wagon,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cAnd that was Phil\u2019s idea: \u2018What if they don\u2019t hit a car? What if they run it into the house?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wallpaper\u201d was pulled from Schneider\u2019s experience with his neighbor.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, a storyline hit so close to home it caused tension with the writers\u2019 families.<\/p>\n
For Schneider, it was \u201cBoob Job,\u201d where Ray\u2019s enthusiastic reaction to a friend\u2019s boob job upsets Debra, leading her to stuff a pair of socks in her bra.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I went to a Super Bowl party, and the hostess had had a boob job and showed Liz [Abbe], my wife, the results of the surgery,\u201d Schneider explained. \u201cI was too excited about the procedure, and it started a big fight about how maybe all I cared about was boobs. And that\u2019s not true!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBoob Job\u201d got Schneider in trouble with his own wife. CBS<\/p>\n
Writer and co-executive producer Cindy Chupack, for her part, said \u201cDriving Frank\u201d and \u201cWhat\u2019s With Robert?\u201d were among the episodes inspired by her own life.<\/p>\n
In \u201cDriving Frank,\u201d the Barones become worried about Frank\u2019s driving. It turns out his license has expired, and he must take another driving test to renew it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had gone through that with my dad,\u201d Chupack, 60, told The Post. \u201cIt was a tricky time for our family and my dad\u2026 he was a terrible driver anyway, so we always felt like we might die, but our kids shouldn\u2019t die in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDriving Frank\u201d was inspired by Chupack\u2019s father\u2019s driving abilities. CBS<\/p>\n
Unlike Schneider\u2019s and Rosenthal\u2019s families, Chupack\u2019s father embraced the attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever I used to write about my dad, he took it as a compliment, even if it was not complimentary,\u201d Chupack said. \u201cHe was just excited to have something out there. He was like, \u2018No publicity is bad publicity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Cindy Chupack at The Paley Museum anniversary event on June 16. Getty Images<\/p>\n
In \u201cWhat\u2019s With Robert?,\u201d the family grapples with the possibility of Robert (Brad Garrett) being gay after he and Amy (Monica Horan) break up.<\/p>\n
Chupack said the storyline came from her own lack of \u201cgaydar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have experience with this sort of thing, having been married once to someone who realized he was [gay],\u201d she said. \u201cBut I love how it brought out how a family, and some who might have been homophobic at the time, loved him and accepted him. It was just a sweet way to see how their family would react to something and then grow and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chupack said \u201cWhat\u2019s With Robert?\u201d was based on her own lack of \u201cgaydar.\u201d CBS<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d premiered on September 13, 1996, and ran for nine seasons on CBS until 2005.<\/p>\n
At the anniversary event, Romano and Heaton addressed rumors of a possible revival<\/a> \u2014 and explained why it\u2019s unlikely.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe obvious is Peter [Boyle] and Doris [Roberts] and one of the kids \u2014 they\u2019re no longer with us,\u201d Romano, 66, told The Post. \u201cWe\u2019re all heartbroken. They\u2019re a big part of the show, the dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n Romano revealed that an \u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d reunion is in the works. Getty Images<\/p>\n Heaton, 67, agreed, adding: \u201cTo try to do it again without the cast members that we\u2019ve lost would be a disservice to the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Boyle died from multiple myeloma and heart disease in 2006<\/a> at the age of 71. Roberts died in 2016 at the age of 90<\/a>. Sawyer Sweeten, one of Romano and Heaton\u2019s on-screen twin sons (Geoffrey Barone), died by suicide in 2015 at age 19<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, Romano said a reunion isn\u2019t off the table.<\/p>\n \u201cWill there be a reunion? That we would love to do,\u201d the \u201cNo Good Deed\u201d actor said. \u201cSo I think we\u2019re considering and working on that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d was a family show in more ways than one. Series creator Phil Rosenthal is sharing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[171,12257,6335,12258,12259,399,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-11365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-everybody-loves-raymond","10":"tag-exclusive","11":"tag-phil-rosenthal","12":"tag-sitcoms","13":"tag-television","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114739674057504554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}