It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Ray Romano lead a new TV series. However, he's back in action now with his show on Netflix’s 2024 schedule, No Good Deed. So far, the ensemble dark comedy starring him and Lisa Kudrow has received rave reviews and there's a lot of chatter surrounding it. However, whenever Romano comes back into the spotlight, there's also talk about his beloved sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. And recently, he opened up about why that project is in his review mirrors rather than his windshield.
Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the best sitcoms of the ‘90s and 2000s, running for 9 seasons on CBS. Its spin-off King of Queens was just as successful too with a similar 9 season run. Then, when the reboot and revival revolution was running at full speed, King of Queens' spinoff, Kevin Can Wait, got green-lit in 2016. So, it makes sense that Romano is still asked if he'd be willing to reboot his OG sitcom. However, he's not so keen on the idea as he told Yahoo Entertainment:
I'm just a little protective of Everybody Loves Raymond. Just because it was very personal to me. I mean, it was based on my life and I was such a part of the creative side of it and all.
I get why Romano feels this way, because he has a major personal investment in his original sitcom. Rebooting it would be a lot, and it'd be hard to do in a satisfying and meaningful way. Honestly, I think that's why we haven't seen shows like Everybody Loves Raymond directly revived often.
The other show that comes to mind as similar to Everybody Loves Raymond is Seinfeld. They are not so similar in terms of content, but rather in circumstance. Both were created by comedians about their own lives, and then said comedians played "themselves" as the main character in their show. I don’t know about you, but I can’t picture Jerry Seinfeld signing off on a reboot either.
For them, it’s their pride and joy, and more often than not, reboots and revivals run on nostalgia for the first season before flopping in the second. That’s what happened with Kevin Can Wait. The reboot hardly ever lives up to the original show. So, sometimes it is best to leave a good thing alone, which is how I imagine The Irishman actor feels whenever the idea of reboot is presented to him.
However, there’s more than one way to give a show renewed life, and while Romano is not a fan of the reboot, he fully supports remakes of Everybody Loves Raymond in other countries. The classic American sitcom has been adapted in countries all over the world, such as Russia, Egypt, and India, among others. The Bupkis actor sees it as a great honor to his beloved show, as he said:
I actually like that it's rebooted there because it just shows how other cultures — we're all the same. So it's good to see them appreciate it.
While I loved watching Everybody Loves Raymond with my dad as a kid, I don’t feel the need to experience a reboot. I understand fully why the Made for Love actor is protective over his self-titled sitcom, and I think fans will respect his decision.
Besides, if you are really missing the show, you can relive all the hilarious familial dynamics with a Peacock subscription. Meanwhile, the Somewhere In Queens actor has moved onto bigger and better things, so be sure to check out No Good Deed with a Netflix subscription, among his other stellar performances.
