Standup comedian
Ray Romano stars
as Ray Barone, a
successful sportswriter and devoted husband to Debra (Patricia
Heaton), who deals with his brother and
parents, who happen to live across the
street. Frank
(Peter Doyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts) love to meddle in his
life, while older brother Robert (Brad Garrett) sometimes resents
his success. Nevertheless, Ray manages
to keep a bight
outlook and a sense of humor
as he balances his
family and work lives.
CRITIQUE
Everybody Loves
Raymond was funny in its first season and I'm glad to see the
quality of the comedy reach even higher for its third season. The
stories are a little better and the characters have a lot of
things to talk about, to confront, to mend, to explain, to
entertain, etc. Season 3 works very well and a little better than
the previous seasons as the scripts, acting, and comedy overall
have more punch and kick, meaning the show's writers know the
characters very well at this point and so do the actors.
THE VIDEO
HBO presents
Everybody Loves Raymond in 1.33:1 fullscreen. Video
quality looks pretty accurate. Colors and flesh tones look
natural except during some moments. The show looks a little
better than it does on TV, and that's just fine. Optional
subtitles include English, Spanish, and French.
THE AUDIO
HBO presents
Everybody Loves Raymond in English 2.0 Dolby Surround.
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The two front speakers
get the job done well enough. Nothing major happens on the show,
but the soundtrack is presented well. Also available are Spanish and French 2.0 dub tracks.
THE EXTRAS
This five-disc set
comes in attractive and durable packaging. In my Season 1 review
I predicted there wouldn't be many extras on future sets but
what we have here for Season 3 proves me wrong.
There are audio
commentaries by Ray Romano and creator Phil Rosenthal on the
episodes The Toaster and How They Met. There is
some good information in these but the general consensus is the
tracks are rather dry.
The longest extra
is the Museum of Television & Radio Panel Discussion with
Creator and Cast which talks about the show up until Season
3. Fans will appreciate it the most as there is good information
presented in this discussion. The only downside is the rather
poor sound quality.
Disc 5 has all the
extras. Deleted Scenes (20 min) are available for about a
dozen episodes. There are some funny ones here that fans will
appreciate. A Blooper Reel (11 min) is also featured that
is good for a laugh.
SUMMARY
If you're a Raymond
fan there's nothing else I need to tell you about the show. Season 3
is funny and funny again. The extras are good to have, especially
seeing how this is an HBO release and most TV-DVD sets from them don't
have this generous amount of material. Highly recommended to fans.
