Shark Bytes

ELR jumped the shark after the poignant episode where the kids were abducted and never heard from again.

I mean, they're gone, and the whole gang continues on like they never existed. This isn't cousin Oliver... this was supposed to be their CHILDREN!!! Deborah and Ray can travel to Italy while those poor kids are missing... it's like OJ's hunt for the real killers.

"Personally, I don't feel it ever really jumped but I do have a question. Why is it that so many posters concerning this show and many others that make comments like the show was "terrible","sucked", "horrible" ectera and generally trash the show would take time out of their day to actually post on a forum of a show they can't seem to stand? And on top of that, these people seemed to have watched every episode during the entire eight year run of the show! Normal people would typically stop watching a show they didn't like, much less one they hated...."

You said it perfectly. I know within the first 15 (sometimes 5) minutes of something if I will like it or not. Sometimes if there's nothing I can identify with in the story or it just looks boring or stupid to me I don't watch. I thought ELR was pretty funny, and that's me having only watched it sometimes.

I thought the episode where one of the kids didn't want to go to school and the way Ray related to him as he helped him through his problem was touching and very effective.

The related story of how Ray wet himself while playing on a Sports team shoewd a father willing to be vulnerable in order to benefit his son!

There wasn't one likable character on the whole damned show. How it stayed on for so long will remain one of the mysteries of all time. Right up there with "According to Jim" still being on the air.

Thank you Debrah, for making it acceptable for women to treat their husbands like crap.

Everyone on the show is great, but Debrah's frigid, heartless character makes me want to vomit. the worst was when she made Ray sleep on the couch, took all the blankets for herself, then, as only the meanest, most vile person would do she turns the heat off.

Oh yeah, Bill Cosby had already did the thing about his daughter kicking him in the balls while sleeping in their bed-- wasn't funny then, either, and Ray Romano is no Bill Cosby (and Debrah is even more of a bitch than Claire Huxtable, if that's even POSSIBLE; at least Claire works and had FIVE kids with ZERO help, and doesn't whine and bitch bout how "stressed" she is).
Just one more of the million reasons that that ELR is the ultimate poster-child for bachelorhood AND vasectomy... in more ways than one.

I agree about Patricia Heaton being the weak link in the show; she is the ultimate bitch in every episode, and I just think that I would have divorced her on Day 1; she's got to be even worse than any other TV-sitcom wife-- including Roseanne Connor, or Peg Bundy. I can certainly understand that she was on Dr. Phil to deal with her anger problems, since I can tell she is not simply acting!

I guess the casting-directors were looking for someone who could be a total bitch, and she came across as the most qualified. I also get so sick of hearing that her bitchiness it's due to how "stressed" she is with her 3 kids-- particularly when she doesn't work, and her husband makes a good income. The worst part is how she's an amateur psychologist in every episode, and is able to psycho-analyze everyone and figure out all their problems. I'd divorce her even if she got the house and every penny I ever made for life.
Or maybe I'd just snap and kill her like others here have suggested, then I'd have Robert make it look like a suicide.

I also don't get how she's said to be so "pretty" when she's clearly AVERAGE at best; is there something wrong with these people's eyesight?

Seriously, this bitch is a walking poster for lifelong bacherlorhood!

The kids also are annoying as all hell, but at least they were chosen when they were too young for the producers to know what bad actors they would turn out to be.

They were obviously chosen for their looks and "cuteness" though, since they dont' look a thing like the Italian/Wasp "parents," who don't have a single natural blonde in the family but somehow turn out 3 Aryan kids blonde-haired blue-eyed kiddies. They just shouldn't give the kids any lines-- the kiddie-plots suck anyway, since it's always about some stupid problem they have and the kids whining like a band-saw on a blackboard.

Likewise, Ray and Robert both talk like they're retarded, when neither of their "parents" talks a thing like that. There's more to being funny than just acting like a damn retard. It's just a cheap gimmick that wears thin really fast.

Peter Boyle definitely saved this show-- much better than Jerry Stiller on "King of Queens," who I can't stand; without "Young Frankenstein" Frank, this show would never make it.

Debra is almost a completely different person comparing the first season to the last. You can tell just by looking at Debra's hair length how much of a bitter bitch she is going to be. The longer it is, the overwhelmingly bitchier Debra becomes.

Of course, Debra's hair gets longer as the seasons progress, when the writers deliberately create more conflict in the scripts. The early episodes clearly have a much more lighter tone and substantially less of a cartoonish feel. You never hear the audience go "OOOOOOOOHHHHH" in the earlier episodes like in the later espisodes when one character gives another a "below the belt" snarky remark.

This show jumped when the conflict started to become overly contrived...Debra would have divorced Ray and/or moved away from Ray's parents if this show had any basis in reality.

Regardless of anything else, this show makes me laugh harder than anything currently in production today! The writing is funny and the actors are fantastic--you just don't see a cast like that anywhere on TV today! Even if this show had typical jump the shark story lines, they never actually jumped the shark with them. I can't believe so many people come on this site just to bad-mouth shows. Call me passive if you must, but I tend to only spend time on the shows I like. Seems like an awfully large waste of time...

I just hate this show with a passion,however, I just don't get why everyone in here is frowning on the Debra character -- of course she is shrewish and controlling, what do you expect her to be when she has an over-grown manchild who is sloppy and irresponsible huh?

this was a great show. I especially loved the story arc where Marie and Deb don't speak. climaxing with the cult episode.

Also, I feel that for some reason, I wanted Ray to die in the end. Others will say It should have ended with Marie and frank REALLY moving away, since that was the premise of the show, in-laws across the street. But that is debra's story. ray's should close with death. I just felt that way.

ELR is a feel good show. You see the dumb guy, his nagging wife, dopey brother and intrusive parents trying to deal with everyday situations. And no matter how lousey of a day you had or how dull of a life, when you watched ELR you say to yourself."Damn...I'm glad I'm not them" So you feel good about yourself. Light hearted fun.

For all you posters complaining about the kids disappearing, I should point out Ray's monologue at the beginning of the first and second season's shows. He introduces his wife and his kids, and then clearly states: "It's really not about the kids". The show is not Leave it to Beaver or Family Affair or My Three Sons- the focus is on situations adults experience in married life. You never saw much of Pebbles and Bam Bam in the Flintstones either-same idea

I think this show was so well loved because the stories were so relatable. However, some things always annoyed me. Debra could be such a shrew, always picking at him and calling him names and rolling her eyes. The other was when Ray would do something smart in an episode and get no credit or the writers would turn it around so he would look like an idiot. A lazy husband is fine but occasionally it went to far.

This jumped on Day 1. This is not to say that the actors were not talented, all of them have talent. The plot line was horrible. How is a man who leaches off his parents, an extremely overbearing mother-in-law, and obnoxious father-in-law, and as many have said, a shrew wife funny? Also what was up with the kids disappearing? That should be a category. It happened on Friends with Emma and Ben, and on Boy Meets World with Morgan. Please don't insult people's intelligence.