Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Seventh Season – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews


(Credit: amazon.com)

Created by
Philip Rosenthal

Cast:
Ray Romano …. Raymond “Ray” Barone
Patricia Heaton …. Debra Barone
Doris Roberts …. Marie Barone
Brad Garrett …. Robert Barone
Peter Boyle …. Frank Barone
Madylin Sweeten …. Ally Barone
Sawyer Sweeten …. Geoffrey Barone
Sullivan Sweeten …. Michael Barone
Monica Horan …. Amy MacDougall Barone
Chris Elliott …. Peter MacDougall
Georgia Engel …. Pat MacDougall
Fred Willard …. Hank MacDougall


The Show:

It’s no surprise that in its seventh season Everybody Loves Raymond, kept rolling out the laughs. By this time, few sitcoms have ever had the chemistry that the Barone family and friends did on screen together. The laughs seem to come easy and often, with Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton remaining an amazing, true to life, onscreen couple, Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts stealing nearly every scene they appear, and Brad Garrett making us love him with his genuine performances.

What is surprising is how much insight into everyday relationships that the show was still able to feature after being on the air for so long. Deep down this was probably reason for the show’s longevity as much as the hysterics ever were. With so many shows of this ilk containing not a shred of actual reality, an audience often has a hard time relating to sitcoms. Raymond’s combination of goofy, headstrong relatives, and heartfelt romantic marriage kept it ahead of the rest of the pack by giving their audience stories that made them feel like there were others out there that had to deal with the same situations that they did whether it be in love, work, or family.

Now mind you, Everybody Loves Raymond did have its fair share of wacky situations. In the seventh season premiere episode “The Cult”, Raymond’s brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), joins a group called “The Path” due to stress over a feud between Ray’s wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) and the brothers’ stubborn mother Marie (Doris Roberts). Soon, Robert is happier than he’s ever been, and completely freaking everyone out with his new age philosophy. Things, of course, go south for the elder Barone brother when he finds that his new life group has initiated him only to possibly recruit his popular younger brother.

This relationship between Ray and Robert is an important key to the success of the show. How many of us have ever had a friend or relative that had a bit of a jealous streak in them? With Garrett’s performance, the emotion is so strong that when he finally realizes that Ray truly cares for him and wants to help him, it brings a real emotional impact with it. Two of the season’s best episodes, “The Bachelor Party” and “Robert Needs Money” contain as much heart as they do laughs because of this wonderful dynamic between these two characters and the actors that portray them.

The show’s best relationship, between Raymond and Debra keeps going strong during this seventh year with several amazing episodes depicting the give and take of a long running marriage and family. Episodes “Counseling”, “The Sigh”, and especially “Baggage” create wonderful situations discussing everyday life in suburbia. Romano shines in “Counseling”, when Heaton’s Debra makes the couple go to a counselor to try and solve their problems. The results are hysterical, as Ray manipulates their Couples Counselor by saying all the right things, and making Debra fume as she looks like the bad guy. “The Sigh” involves a life and death struggle for time in the bathroom, with Ray feeling as if he’s got no room in the house to call his own until he makes a play to reclaim his throne.

“Baggage” is probably the best episode of the entire season, as Ray and Debra go on a weekend getaway and then leave their luggage on the landing of their stairwell. What starts initially as a simple bit of laziness turns out to be a subtle power struggle, with Ray and Debra silently battling for supremacy while the bag stays where it lies. When Ray sees his wife actually wearing a garment from the suitcase, the battle intensifies, while neither speak to each other about the event. The half hour installment has a subtle charm that absolutely typifies the greatness of this show, with neither wanting to give in, yet knowing that compromise is better than making their lives miserable. But not before Ray leaves a huge piece of cheese in the suitcase before he leaves for the weekend.

By the time the two part season finale, “Robert’s Wedding” rolls around, the season has already made a great case for itself. Then you’re hit with a wall of comedy, as Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle give tour de force performances as they try to out do the likes of Chris Elliot and Fred Willard for laughs. This is a terrific, heartfelt, uproarious finale to a great season of sitcom TV.

Everybody Loves Raymond was absolutely the best sitcom on TV while it was still on the air and its too bad there aren’t any shows like it that can match it for quality at the moment. This seventh season is loaded with terrific TV as the Barones charm and wisecrack their way to greatness. There are hardly any bad eggs among 24 episodes in this set, and a number that should rank as some of the best in the series.

Score: 8.5/10


The DVD:

The Video
The print on these discs is beautiful. The image is crisp and looks terrific all the way through with no visible flaws. The show is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.

The Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Soundtrack is also quite good, making this experience superior to watching it on TV.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio Commentaries, Deleted Scenes, Bloopers.

Commentary on four episodes by series creator Phil Rosenthal, Ray Romano, Chris Elliott, Monica Horan, Anna Romano, Fred Willard, and writers Tucker Cawley and Mike Royce – The four commentaries on this set are all pretty entertaining, particularly the one on “Counseling” featuring Romano, series creator Phil Rosenthal and writer Mike Royce. As Royce goes into a story about how biographical the episode is, Romano cell phone starts going off. The moment is spontaneous and funny and gives the trio some more material to talk about.

Deleted Scenes – You get several of these throughout the set, and I have a feeling that a lot of them were cut for time more than anything else. Most of them are just as funny as anything in the episodes themselves, but they didn’t move the plot along as well.

Bloopers – The fifth disc features a blooper reel, which is pretty funny. Too bad it doesn’t go much longer than it does.

Score: 6.5/10

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Seventh Season
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE SHOW

8.5
THE VIDEO

8.5
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

6.5
REPLAY VALUE

8
OVERALL
8
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
This is a terrific season of Everybody Loves Raymond and is great example of the show’s wonderful formula. The DVD set is full of deleted scenes and commentaries, and the video and audio make this a superior experience than watching the show on TV.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.