Thu, May 19, 2005

For one thing, I am immensely proud of Everybody Loves Raymond for having its last episode be a regular episode. So many other shows try to make it into a big event, forgetting the fact that the show as it was is what we've tuned in to see, lo these many years (most famously Seinfeld, but really everyone is guilty of this). I think ending on a regular, 30-minute episode speaks volumes about a show's confidence in its own quality, and respect for its audience.

I'm among those who felt Raymond had a string of lackluster episodes for a while recently, but I've always liked the show a lot – and respected its approach to the sitcom format, a throwback to the old days of smarter writing. So, I stuck with it, and I was rewarded: the latter half of this season had some of the best episodes in the show's history. And this week's finale was certainly among them.

Part of the reason that Raymond could get away with a "regular" finale is that the humor of the show was so firmly rooted in its characters. So, the big drama in the finale is character drama – everyone having to admit how they feel about Ray – rather than geography drama (will Rachel go to Paris?), for example. The events of the Raymond finale are still a big deal, but they can happen inside an otherwise run-of-the-mill episode, and that's what's so great. The show has had the tremendous good fortune not only to be created by brilliant and devoted people, but also to be stewarded by them throughout its run. (For an example of the alternative, see any Simpsons episode in the last four years.) Thus, all of its characters have remained as compelling as they were at the start, and therefore their interactions continue to be entertaining and hilarious.

To take an example from "The Power of No," a few weeks ago, in which Raymond learns that he can have the upper hand if he denies Debra sex: at some point, Debra finds out what Ray has been up to (she always does) and she starts yelling at him. What's great about Ray compared to most sitcom husbands is that he isn't 100% wrong. He has an argument, too, and his argument isn't invalid just because he's in trouble. Some of the greatest moments on the show have been in battles between Ray and Debra, because just when you think she's got him, it turns out there's a grey area, he has feelings too, and they're both right.

How about an even better example, from "The Finale"? (Sorry, spoilers ahead – in case you haven't watched it off TiVo yet.) At the end, everyone has convened in Ray and Debra's bedroom once Marie finds out about the minor complication after Ray's surgery, and he's learning how people reacted (which is exactly why Debra tried to keep it quiet). He turns to Robert, asking about his response. Of course, Robert has to lie and make a joke at Raymond's expense, because that's who Robert is. He's jealous enough of the attention Ray gets and not interested in buttressing Ray's ego with a story of how torn up he was when he thought Ray might be in trouble. So he says, "I was thinking, with that nose, you'd need an open casket." And Amy chimes in, "On the way home, 'You Are the Sunshine of My Life' came on the radio and he had to pull over." Amy is kind of a busybody but she has enough decorum not to immediately tell Ray about Robert's reaction at the hospital. However, you know that Amy will always defend the truth, so as soon as Robert makes a joke about how aloof he was, Amy contradicts it. It's brilliant, because it's an entirely character-based way of getting the information across. It wouldn't do for Robert to tell the truth, it wouldn't do for Amy to blurt it out – but it absolutely rings true for Robert to make a joke and Amy to step in after that.

That's what's so great about the finale – it's all about the complex relationships that these characters have. Even the Frank/Marie dynamic is excellent. In the end, they realize how much they have always cared about Ray, and that's why it's a shame the episode title is "The Finale" – because "Everybody Loves Raymond" would've been a perfect name for it.

From the very beginning, the thing I've been crowing about Everybody Loves Raymond is "Long scenes!" They have consistently had the longest scenes in the business – even if you don't specifically time them out, you can feel it – and that approach to comedy really sets Raymond apart from other sitcoms. It's very rare for the show to follow the tired "setup-punch line" routine. Instead they set up a situation, and then watch it unravel for three to seven hilarious minutes. It works because the scenes are based on an emotional underpinning, not just slapped together to set up a cheap laugh. The resulting dialogue is more believable and more satisfying. And, because the humor is based on the characters – rather than quick wisecracks that anyone could make – you're building a relationship which makes future episodes more enjoyable. Stacked is fun to watch, and occasionally humorous, but it's 80% wisecrack humor (and 19% boobies humor) – you'll never find its characters as endearing as the Barones, because you'll never get to know them that well.

I still (ha!) love Still Standing and King of Queens is very good, but Raymond was the last multi-camera sitcom that I thought delivered exceptional quality within the format. Long scenes and a regular finale. You can't find anything like that elsewhere on TV. I begrudgingly watched the hour-long Raymond retrospective and I was pleasantly surprised. (Usually those are so sappy and dumb, but this one was interesting and not over-dependent on clips.) In it, I learned that the writers modeled a lot of their work after The Dick Van Dyke Show. See? I'm all for innovation (Arrested Development is my favorite show, and it's like nothing that came before), but there's something to be said for respecting the old masters. Shows like The Dick Van Dyke show are the reason we even have sitcoms. They must have been doing something right.

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