The Best of ELR: Your Favorite Moments

[momofsquid]

My all-time favorite moment is the borderline psychotic look on Robert's face when he gets home after Marie screwed up his FBI interview. 

[ShadowSixx]

Marie deserved that tongue lashing from Robert she had no right to interfere in his interview like that. She knew she was sabotaging his chances to become an FBI agent. If it was something Robert wanted to do she should have supported it.

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

All time fav was when Frank and Marie were kicked out of the retirement community and Raymond goes berserk'--"It's not us, it's YOU"

[jaimesommers]

"Marie's Sculpture" still makes me laugh hysterically!

[Inquisitionist]

"Oh my god, I'm a lesbian."

 

Also love the reaction of the nuns who decide they can't accept this "donation."

 

One of my other favorites is "Snow Days," especially when Debra makes up with Frank outside.

[ByTor]

Also love the reaction of the nuns who decide they can't accept this "donation."

I heard on the DVD commentary that the shorter nun ad-libbed her "owww" when Ray tried to close the door on her.  I don't know who the actress was, but from the comments made, they said she is hilarious.

[CherryAmes]

Saw one of my favourites last night.  The one where Robert and Amy get married.  I can live without Marie screwing up the ceremony but when Pat tells her off I love it!  Also love the dance Robert and Amy do at the end.  No matter how many times I see it I watch with a big goofy smile on my face.

[Inquisitionist]

I prefer the episode where Robert proposes.  Beautifully done!

[ByTor]

I'm making tuna casserole for dinner, and I can't help but be reminded by one of my favorite Raymond moments from "The Can Opener".  Tuna juice!!!!  Oh my God!!!

[Adiba]

I always laugh at the episode where Robert goes all "ethnic" with his partner Judy. Big 'ol Robert is pretty light on his feet at the club-- and the scenes where Marie tries to act nonchalant at the thought of Robert and Judy possibly dating--with her fake smile--cracks me up every time.

Frog Lady of Massapequa--hilarious

The one where Robert and Ray fight over "who gets Ma"--funny, sad, and kinda sweet (mixed with a good dose of dysfunctional sibling rivalry)--one of the series' best moments, imo

[ByTor]

I always laugh at the episode where Robert goes all "ethnic" with his partner Judy. Big 'ol Robert is pretty light on his feet at the club-- and the scenes where Marie tries to act nonchalant at the thought of Robert and Judy possibly dating--with her fake smile--cracks me up every time.

Love Marie's reaction of "Is she black?"  And I love the reactions at the restaurant when Raymond exclaims to Robert, "Judy doesn't want to go out with you because you're BLACK!"

[CherryAmes]

The one where Robert and Ray fight over "who gets Ma"--funny, sad, and kinda sweet (mixed with a good dose of dysfunctional sibling rivalry)--one of the series' best moments, imo

 

I think it says a lot about ELR that some of the funniest scenes and best thought out episodes came in the later years. Sure there were a few clinkers but overall the series held up well enough that if I had to make a "10 best" list some would definitely be chosen from the last 2 years of the show.  That's not something I think I could say about most other long running sitcoms.  The Pat smokes episode which was the last to air before the finale definitely would make my top 5 if only for Marie's "don't you know smoking can stunt your growth" comment to Robert.

[ByTor]

CherryAmes, I even loved the mostly reviled episode with the janitor (excuse me, custodian), as well as the one where Frank & Marie got thrown out of the retirement community, so I know exactly what you're talking about :)

[momofsquid]

I agree that the later seasons were at least as strong as the earlier ones. Some of my favorite scenes/episodes are the ones with Amy's parents.

[ByTor]

*small voice* I even like Peter.

[CherryAmes]

I liked Peter in certain episodes particularly, now that I think about it, the episodes where he was the central character - the one where he moves out because his parents have his room to Jesus and the cocktail party where he hooks up with Peggy Hitler :).

[Guest]

The episode where they get kicked out of the senior community is a comedic goldmine.

[momofsquid]

The episode where they get kicked out of the senior community is a comedic goldmine.

 

Yes! When Ray slams Debra into the fridge...

 

[Inquisitionist]

Yes! When Ray slams Debra into the fridge...

 

That's actually from the episode before, when Marie and Frank announce their intention to move (The Home).  In the next episode (Not So Fast), Debra and Ray visit them and are called into the director's office to be informed that Marie and Frank are being kicked out.  I actually like that one a little less, but they both have their moments.  The clip above is hysterical.

[momofsquid]

Oops, sorry! I didn't remember they were separate episodes. That whole story was brilliant though.

[ShadowSixx]

I was watching some ELR episodes on Netflix and the one where Ally is having trouble sleeping where she hits Ray in the groin. I had to laugh when they were tired one morning and Ray questioned Debra on the juice top being tampered with. Ray asked if it was, Debra said it wasn't and something along the lines of not drinking it, Ray asked some more about it and Debra said there was nothing wrong with it because she just had some and Ray calls Debra out on saying she didn't drink any and Debra said she forgot, then Ray asks when she brought it did she know if the juice top was tampered with and Debra screams that she doesn't know as she's tired and Ray says he's not drinking it as he'll wait and see if something happens to Debra first. Cracks me up all the time.

[CherryAmes]

I just watched the "She's the One" episode.  I don't care how many times I see it I always laugh out loud at the scene between Robert and Marie when she tells him to admit "I'm a gay".  Doris Roberts is such a great actress - too good as sometimes I just hate her for the way Marie behaves :).  And of course the ending with Amy is just golden.

[ByTor]

The greatest thing about it is that we're supposed to assume that Marie is intolerant, but she's not.  She mentioned her gay cousin Frieda and said it would be fine by her if the twins were gay.  I loved Marie's reaction when Frank was mad at Jimmy from the grocery store & called him the fruit guy...Frank, they're HOMO-sexuals.

[LADreamr]

And of course the ending with Amy is just golden.

As much as I love that ending, I think I love the audience's reaction to it even more.

[CherryAmes]

Definitely agree.  Anyone who for some reason was new to the show must have wondered what was going on though!

[twoods]

I agree that the later seasons were at least as strong as the earlier ones. Some of my favorite scenes/episodes are the ones with Amy's parents.

I loved the episode that Robert goes to see Amy's parents and they say no to him asking to marry Amy. Their dead panning "no" cracks me up. What was even funnier was when they were doing the Jesus puzzle and Ray asked if it was the guy selling t shirts on the street, and when Amy's mom almost fainted when Peter told her that Amy wasn't a virgin. Good stuff.

[VCRTracking]

 

What was even funnier was when they were doing the Jesus puzzle and Ray asked if it was the guy selling t shirts on the street

 

Robert looks at Ray with his eyes wide open shaking his head like "Bad idea!"

 

One of my favorite episodes is where Debra gets jealous of Lisa, the young babysitter because the kids love her. The part where she tells Raymond she wants to fire her always makes me laugh:

 

Deborah: You know, I don't think I'm gonna have Lisa sit for us anymore.

Ray: What? No! Listen, I never think of her, ever.

Deborah:(disgusted):Uck. No, idiot. God! No, I was just thinking-- I don't know, leaving the kids with a sitter so much it just-- it feels wrong.

Ray: Wrong? What-- it gives us more time to love each other.And if loving you is wrong Baby, I don't want to be right.

 

 

When they have Marie look after the kids and then she ends up tripping and hurting herself playing a game:

 

Frank: I told Nemo you were hurt, he threw in some free breadsticks.

Marie: Oh, these seem old.

Frank: "You are what you eat.

Marie: Oh, Robby, give your father his order of miserable bastard.

 

 

Debra feels guilty and confesses and after enjoying that she did something wrong instead of him Ray gloats:

"Yet you know what the beautiful thing is here? Whenever I do something connivy like this, you always look at me like, "How could you do that?" When what you're really thinking is, "How do you do that?"

 

 

Ray actually has one of his best moments when he assures her:

 

Ray: Would you stop that! Will you come on? You don't have to compete with some babysitter. You're Mommy, huh? The kids love Mommy. Every time I want to do something with them, they always yell, "We'd rather have Mommy!"

Debra: Oh, yeah right, they yell that.

Ray: Yes! Yes! "We prefer Mommy!" "All things being equal, where's Mommy?" Shut up.

Come on, you're-- you're number one.

 

Edited August 5, 2015 by VCRTracking

[ByTor]

I loved the episode that Robert goes to see Amy's parents and they say no to him asking to marry Amy.

I love when Hank adds "But thanks for asking"

[ShadowSixx]

You can't hate Pat, she's so funny, Georgia Engel played her so well.

 

I laughed in Meeting the Parents when Pat and Hank arrived at Robert and Amy's apartment and Robert was only wearing his underwear and covered himself up and Pat goes: "That's grandma Trudy's afghan!"

 

Love when Pat calls out Marie, she called Marie out on the Thanksgiving episode and Robert and Amy's wedding.

[Guest]

Based on the last episode I watched, when I read "Pat" above, I heard it in Amy's voice saying "Hank 'N Pat."  I absolutely love the episode with the invitations.  "Hank 'N Pat? They're not hillbillies, Robert!" and then the attire optional part. "There's going to be nude people! At the church! On a Wednesday!"

 

It's one of the lower points for the guys and how low they'll stoop, but it's just so funny. 

[ByTor]

Based on the last episode I watched, when I read "Pat" above, I heard it in Amy's voice saying "Hank 'N Pat."  I absolutely love the episode with the invitations.  "Hank 'N Pat?

I love how she stresses "NNNNNNNNN PAT????"  Anther line I like from this episode is when Ray says "It's not idiotic  it's RIGHT-iodic!"

[Guest]

I love how she stresses "NNNNNNNNN PAT????"  Anther line I like from this episode is when Ray says "It's not idiotic  it's RIGHT-iodic!"

The look on Debra's face when she stops mid-rant to Ray, has a realization and then yells "THE ONE MAN WEDDING BAND!!!!!" cracks me up too.  

[ByTor]

"THE ONE MAN WEDDING BAND!!!!!"

I went to a wedding where they actually had a Zippers type guy at the reception.  For some reason I remember him doing Brown Eyed Girl.  He had people out there dancing, and truth be told he wasn't half bad! 

[momofsquid]

I love the one where Ray catches Pat smoking and she tries to deepen her voice when she tells Hank, "I would have to fight you!"

[CherryAmes]

I think one of my favourite episodes is the one where Debra gets arrested for "intent to nap".  Good line after good line - the classic one from Robert "oh my God she finally killed Ma" but also the other prisoner who, when she sees Debra falling apart because she needs a tissue says "don't make me go in there!"

[momofsquid]

I think one of my favourite episodes is the one where Debra gets arrested for "intent to nap".  Good line after good line - the classic one from Robert "oh my God she finally killed Ma" but also the other prisoner who, when she sees Debra falling apart because she needs a tissue says "don't make me go in there!"

I love "intent to nap", and also when Debra calls Ray and tells him to call "my phell sone - cell phone - shut up!" I do the same thing when I get my words garbled. I'm not sure if I learned it from Debra or not.

[Guest]

I think this show does physical comedy so well. A couple of my favorite examples are "The Suitcase" when Ray and Debra are fighting over carrying it upstairs.  Another example is Ray and Robert in "The Checkbook" when you're watching the whole thing from inside the bank.  Both scenes are very amusing.

[VCRTracking]

The video of Robert running away from the bull on the street will never not be funny to me.

[kassa]

I have a super soft spot for the Christmas family newsletter episode, where Marie is determined to counter the relative's letter with one of her own.  And she hands the relative's letter to Debra, who reads it aloud to the group.  I can't even remember what the woman said, but Debra reads a seemingly innocuous line or two and says "Oooh, she's a bitch!" And she is absolutely right, but the guys are incapable of picking up the bitch move in the woman's comment.  

 

The women get it, though.

 

I thought it was one of those moments from real life they mined so well -- that men and women often operate on completely different wavelengths.  It was also one of the rare but genuine moments when Debra and Marie bonded -- the others I recall are Debra wishing aloud that her mother were more like Marie, and Marie smacking Ray for disrespecting Debra as a mother.    I can't even remember what it was he did.

[Snow Apple]

Marie smacking Ray for disrespecting Debra as a mother.    I can't even remember what it was he did.

I don't remember that one, but it reminds me of the time Marie was horrified that Ray taped over their wedding video. It started with Ray asking if he can move in and Marie gleefully asked what Debra did, then turned a 180 when she found out what Ray did.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Snow Apple

[Inquisitionist]

Marie smacking Ray for disrespecting Debra as a mother.

 

I remember Marie smacking Debra during Bad Moon Rising, but that had to do with PMS, not mothering. 

[ByTor]

I can't even remember what the woman said, but Debra reads a seemingly innocuous line or two and says "Oooh, she's a bitch!"

She said something to the effect of "...living just a stone's throw from each other, not that they'd ever throw stones, ha ha"  To be honest, I thought she was doing a play on words, I didn't take it to imply that they don't get along.  I love that episode as well and rewatch it often, but I always feel as stupid as Ray when she says that line :)

[VCRTracking]

I always love that the show stayed true to the credo "It's not about the kids" but I do love when an episode occasionally is about them. Like when Michael wanted to stay home from school and Ray gets angry but eventually finds out that it's because the kids were teasing him because he accidentally called the teacher "Mommy". Then Ray asks in all sincerity "Why? Was she yelling?" Then when Debra and the other kids come home and Ray tells them, Ally(also being sincere) asks "Why? Was she yelling?" LOL!

Edited August 26, 2015 by VCRTracking

[ByTor]

^^^

I love the "pee pee Raymond" story!

[Milk-Eyed Mender]

I never much cared for the episodes that featured the twins (they had no charisma and perhaps the worst hair in the history of child actors) but I love the scene in Fairies when Robert sings "Old Man River." Basso profundo! I also have a deep and abiding love for T-Ball thanks to Dan Castellaneta's Brian Trenberth and the way Ray smuggles every "approved" snack in that gym bag as though he's carrying 100 pounds of pure heroin. :)

I couldn't even begin to choose my favorite Christmas episode, but The Toaster, Christmas Present and Jazz Records are probably my top three. Lois's "It's so retro chic," Ray's "I got me a black magic woman!" and Robert's "An oval. Oh what a visionary you are" never get old. Nobody did the holidays better than ELR, although a couple of Friends episodes come very close.

[CherryAmes]

Robert's "An oval. Oh what a visionary you are" never get old.

 

Along with his description of the child on the box "that happy brotherless boy" - classic Robert!

[Guest]

I watched two episodes this weekend back to back - one is always a favorite of mine and the other is one that I don't always think of as being as funny as it is.  They were "The Shower" and "Baggage."  Baggage is always one of the first ones that comes to mind for favorite episodes for me but I was absolutely cracking up at "The Shower."

 

Some favorite parts:

-when Debra tries to prove she had "intent to nap"

-when Ray asks her (when she calls from jail) if she knows where his brown belt is

-Robert's casual "Hey Ray. Hey Deb" before realizing what he was seeing and then following up with "She finally killed ma!"

 

Baggage is one of those episodes that hits it on all notes - a realistic fight, great verbal lines, and physical comedy.  

[ByTor]

Baggage is one of those episodes that hits it on all notes - a realistic fight, great verbal lines, and physical comedy.

My favorite part of Baggage was Frank's response to Marie's speech about taking down the giant fork & spoon (and her anger over the image of the fork & spoon on the wallpaper)  "When did we get those?" :)

Edited September 8, 2015 by ByTor

[Homily]

Oh baggage - one of my favourite episodes!  I think it should be required viewing in marriage prep classes :).  It was definitely one of those episodes where I could see my husband and I doing something like that.  Maybe not over luggage or a big fork and spoon but for sure there have been those kinds of fights over other way more important things.  Like emptying a dishwasher...

[BogoGog24]

One of my favorite parts comes from the episode where Ray and Debra were worried their kids wouldn't listen to them anymore.

Debra: The other day Ally asked me if she could buy a mini skirt.

Ray: Oh crap!

Marie: You've already lost!

Ray: You tell Ally no! No skirts of any kind! Pants! Snow pants!

The whole delivery of that gets me every time!

Edit: Another one that just came to me today. Overall the episode about Robert's lucky suit is one of my faves, but specifically the part where Marie apologizes, saying she thought it over while eating banana cream pie. Then she reveals it was actually coconut and says "I don't know why I changed it." For some reason this always cracked me up, I think it's because it's so within her character to do that.

Another favorite line comes from the canister episode when Ray and Robert talk about all the desserts their grandma used to make for them and Debra goes "Hey fat people - who cares!"

Edited October 13, 2015 by BogoGog24