Everybody Loves Raymond Purposely Limited The Screen Time Of The Children On The Show
Michael, Geoffrey and Ally Barone had limited screen time on Everybody Loves Raymond but this might’ve been done on purpose.
Ray Romano made a fortune thanks to Everybody Loves Raymond and as it turns out, this did not sit well with the entire cast. There was a huge pay gap between Romano and the rest of the cast, leaving a bitter taste for a lot of those on the sitcom.
In truth, behind the scenes, Ray Romano had a lot of creative control alongside Phil Rosenthal. We’ll take a look at some of their decisions, including why the two decided against involving the children regularly. Michael, Geoffrey and Ally Barone all had limited screen time, but this might have been done on purpose.
Everybody Loves Raymond Creator Phil Rosenthal Has Attempted A Spin-Off And Reunion Of The Sitcom
It started in 1996 and would last almost a decade, enjoying nine seasons. Everybody Loves Raymond was far from a hit at the start, Ray Romano struggled with the show’s name even before it got on the air, while Brad Garrett had his own doubts about Romano carrying the series.
With 210 episodes released, it is clear the show turned out to be a major hit. Creator Phil Rosenthal spoke about a reunion alongside Deadline, stating that there was talk but nothing concrete ever materialized.
“Here’s what I really can’t believe. I’ve pitched to now a couple of different places. We can do a reunion special, we can tell the stories of the things that have happened to us at home…and it seemed to work for Friends and, no takers.”
Phil Rosenthal Has Pitched an ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Reunion But Hasn’t Found Any Takers https://t.co/QrskMWWK3A
— Variety (@Variety) July 30, 2021
“Maybe someone will hear this and say, ‘Hey, this seems like a no brainer.’ I think people like the show, I think they would like to see the cast together.”
The creator also confirmed about chatter of a reboot, though the idea was dropped when the network would not commit anything further than a pilot.
“If they see money, they go for the money. If they see demographics that they want, they go for that. I’m not blaming them. Times are tough for them as well. And I’m not singling out any network.”
For the time being, fans will have to settle for reruns, along with interesting details coming out about the making of the show. One of which is why the children had very little to work with on camera.
Ray Romano And Phil Rosenthal Limited The Use Of Children For The Sake Of A Mature Audience
The show took a close look at the Barone family. However, fans could not help but to wonder why Michael, Geoffrey and Ally Barone had such a limited role throughout the sitcom’s run.
IMDb’s Trivia section wrote, “Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal came up with a few reasons as to why the kids didn’t feature as much. The show was meant to be geared towards a mature audience that would appreciate dry, crass and sarcastic humor. Having episodes focus more on the children would require them to use more childish and kid friendly humor that would potentially turn the show into a kiddie comedy, which isn’t what they wanted.”
“They also wanted to make sure that the kids acted like normal and realistic children, as giving them more screen time would have also required the writers to give the children unrealistic jokes and sarcastic quips for children their age so that the characters could keep a consistent tone in humor with the surrounding adult characters.”
In addition, keeping the children scenes limited would make them that much more special once they actually took place.
Sadly, once the show came to an end, Sawyer Sweeten, who played little Geoffrey Barone passed away at the age of 19.
