I think I may hate Raymond

Did anyone see the prime time Everbody Loves Raymond last night? I was instantly offended by what seems to be a big change in its production. The laugh track budget has apparently gone through the roof.

I didn’t see the whole show - I usually only catch reruns after the kids are in bed. So it might not even be a brand new change, I don’t remember if I saw any of it last week. But I made my wife check it out too and she agreed it was different. I couldn’t adapt at all - I couldn’t decide if I thought it was still funny. My wife said it was still just as funny, but I guess I was too distracted to enjoy it at all. I liked the older shows a lot.

Did anyone here notice the same thing?

Wait… Something other than Monday Night Football was on?

Wait…were you able to stay awake to watch the entire game? As hepped up as I was to watch some NFL football, I didn’t make it through the first half of Thursday’s Giants-49ers game without channel surfing during the commecials and eventually watching something else. Tried again Sunday night with the Cowboys-Texans game and same thing. I don’t know how people can stand the NFL today. It’s got to be the worst thing on TV when you consider the commerical:stuff actually happening ratio. I have problems with all sports today because of this, though the NFL is easily the worst.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOOTBAAALLLLL!!

What is this “NFL” of which you speak? I have heard of MLB (Dodgers/Angles), NBA (Lakers/Clippers), and NHL (Kings/Ducks), but there is no such thing as “NFL.”

Well Brett, you weren’t watching the OT ATL vs. GB game, were you?
Or the Browns vs. KC game… which ended spectacularly. Or the other OT games. Or the… well, actually there were a lot of great games on Sunday alone. I’ll grant you that Thurs and last night weren’t terrific but I think the NFL is much more fun to watch now than it was during the Dynasty Period, of which I happen to know you enjoyed far more than I.

I am not sure what season we are on here in Australia but the show gets funnier with every new episode. I absolutely love watching Robert ! As for Raymond he is an anal attentive and his wife isn’t far behind. But that is the whole point of the show - Raymond’s brother and parents have a sense of humour but he and his wife don’t.

Funny stuff ! :lol:

What a marvelous unintentionally funny mistake this is. I mean, it even has a pun! The word is “retentive.”

Also, I think that’s an interesting look at the show. Sort of a foreign perspective. I see it as Raymond and his wife are normal. Struggling with their faults. While everyone else is screwed up and totally doesn’t care about changing.

What a marvelous unintentionally funny mistake this is. I mean, it even has a pun! The word is “retentive.”

Also, I think that’s an interesting look at the show. Sort of a foreign perspective. I see it as Raymond and his wife are normal. Struggling with their faults. While everyone else is screwed up and totally doesn’t care about changing.[/quote]

Whoops. :wink:

But I hope the typical American family is not like Raymond & wife. How sad that would be ! It would be like a country full of Seinfelds. :shock:

Don’t find much wrong with NFL that isn’t any different from any other sport on American television these days.

— Alan

NFL… You mean like Madden 2002? You don’t have to just play that on Monday nights, dude. Yeesh.

For starters, there’s something like 9 minutes of action in every 200 minute broadcast of an NFL game. No other sport is close to that. What Bub said about those exciting finishes is true; the opening weekend was apparently full of them. But so what? When you have to sit around and wait three hours plus for those exciting finishes to roll out, who cares anymore?

I occasionally catch glimpses of that show, which is in syndication on an independent station in SF, and really can’t watch it. I know it is popular. But I get the sense from these glimpses that the characters hate all the other characters. They’re -always- fighting. Always yelling. I sense they’re all laboring under some awful burden and that one day the police will force open the kitchen door and discover they’ve killed each other with hatchets.

In fact, with the cancellation of The Family Guy, and the tiredness of Law & Order, I’m not really watching TV anymore, though it’s often on to keep the bird amused while I’m out.

But even then, it’s not tuned to Everybody Loves Raymond.

Peter

Ok, you’re making more sense now. I take it “back in the day” TV games finished faster and with fewer commercials? I’ll buy that. You’re the first complaint I’ve heard, but that is the TV trend of late. I guess I don’t notice becuase I generally have a crowd present when Football is on. Commercials facilitate conversation without so much shushing. The NFL product, on the field, is still first rate I’d argue but if you only watched the Thurs and Monday night games last weekend Brett. I pity you!

Now, why hasn’t Bill Cowher been fired… or why hasn’t Cowher fired Kordell?

I’d give damn near anything to be able to appreciate the NFL like I used to. Part of it is just getting older, but part of it is also greater appreciation for my spare time (which probably has something to do with getting older also). And I can’t justify wasting the better part of a Sunday on watching football. I’ll always love the Sunday night highlight packages, though.

Part of it is just getting older, but part of it is also greater appreciation for my spare time

If for no other reason, this is why I’m glad I don’t know the first thing about sports. It takes a lot of time, energy, and mental capacity to keep up with all that stuff about people running around, chasing balls, kicking them, hitting them with sticks and rackets and whatnot.

Thankfully, I’ve used my time, energy, and mental capacity in the pursuit of computer games.

 -Tom

For starters, there’s something like 9 minutes of action in every 200 minute broadcast of an NFL game. No other sport is close to that. What Bub said about those exciting finishes is true; the opening weekend was apparently full of them. But so what? When you have to sit around and wait three hours plus for those exciting finishes to roll out, who cares anymore?[/quote]

Jesus, every fucking sport has exciting finishes at the end of three hour games. The same amount of excitement carries through, no matter what you’re watching.

The NFL is a game of set-piece plays done one at a time, and has never been nor ever will be like the NHL or soccer, which is fluid, or the NBA, which is half-fluid. Aside from instant replay, replay rules, and probably more commercial breaks, it’s pretty much the exact same as it was more then ten years ago. Oh yeah, with higher salaries.

How do you define action anyway? When something is in play? In baseball, let’s say you had a 240-pitch game, with a second to deliver a pitch that wasn’t put in play, and 30 ball-in-plays, which take up 10 seconds. That’s 540 seconds which is nine minutes as well. No living person that I know would say that baseball is more exciting than football, however.

That is, of course, unless your team sucks.

— Alan

You must really hate baseball.

NFL, shmenfl. The year I go without season tickets the Chiefs offense is ranked in the top 5 and they’ve staged 4 or 5 last minute nail biters. Bastards!

I used to hate that our CBS coverage was alwas the regional Chief’s games, being as they typically have boring games with them getting trounced. But this year, god bless regional programming. Been able to watch almost every minute of those pass happy scorefests down in Arrowhead.

Makes me wish I lived a bit closer to KC.

Oh, and who hid the St. Louis offense? The year I finally get Kurt Warner and Issac Bruce in my fantasy football league and they decide to take the year off. Warner broke his finger, but he wasn’t exactly putting up the points before that either.

“The breakable Kurt Warner”

I think the answer to “what happened to the Chiefs this year?” and “what happened to the Rams this year?” is best answered by simply saying: “Dick Vermeil”