I can't blame them.

Wow. Without the laugh track, that was almost stage quality drama. The things I was supposed to laugh at just made me kind of bummed out.

No one in this show is likeable...and I don't think it is on purpose like Seinfeld or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

I never liked any bit of this and didn't understand how people could watch it, but then the world is a weird place and I'll never understand a lot of things.

L'enfer, c'est chez Raymond.

My mother loves this show.

Keep in mind, this is how the characters would actually experience these events. In their lives, every conversation ends with a long, awkward pause, during which they contemplate their many, many mistakes.

This even managed to stir up some uncomfortable memories

Now the song "Once in a Lifetime" is stuck in my head.

TV is terrible harrumph harrumph.

No, the darker aspect of the characters on "RAYMOND", particularly the parents, is quite intentional. This is a good show. I've wound up seeing quite a bit of it recently, just because it shows up after "Law and Order: Criminal Intent on one of my local channels". It's perfectly valid to not like shows with laugh tracks, or jokey dialogue, but anybody who thinks that this has nothing to say about real life how isn't looking looking very closely. I haven't seen it lately, but when Charlie Sheen was in it, "Two and Half Men" is a really dark show about two brothers who grew up in a family with an emotionally distant mother and who can't form decent relationships with women. There are times when it's just too painful to watch, in spite of the most explicit sexual humor on TV. These people are fucked up, and they fuck each over, and then they forgive each other. Just like life.

I'm reminded how much funnier Chaplin movies are when I've been able to see them with an audience, even the notorious "A King in New York". The experience of seeing "Modern Times" in a theater was amazing, and nobody is going to tell me that it wasn't funny. I don't know how to explain it. It may be something profound that makes it funnier with a laugh track, a sense of community, of shared humanity? Or not. it soesn't matter. Funny is what makes you laugh.

Of course, in this case, the editing is more manipulative than the laugh track, since we're missing the setup. There's no reason why we would think this is funny, even if we heard the laugh track. Using this to clip to indict sitcoms as a form is way overreaching, but it's a great joke. It made me LOL, and thats why I'm giving it five stars.

I just noticed, this is what it's like like watching "Louie". Except on "Louie", the awkwardness comes from situations you can recognize a little in your own life, or at least you can imagine them happening in SOMEONE'S life.

Al and Peg Bundy were a more loving couple than the Barones. Hell, the Lockhorns are a more loving couple than the Barones.

Every time I tried to watch an episode this is what I saw:

"No Ray, I don't want to have sex with you you lumpy-nosed cretin."
:Ray lets out some passive aggressive whining:

Still more entertaining than Big Bang Theory with no laugh track.

How many of the sitcoms on TV would people actually watch if it weren't for the canned laughter?

There was a time when Mrs. Rogers enjoyed this show. I hated it and still do. But an interesting thing started to happen. Mrs would sit down and watch Raymond, I would read the paper or a book. Later that evening there would be an almighty fight.

Soon it was clear that it was happening every time. We sat down and talked about feelings of insecurity, disrespect and her sense that she was being taken for granted.

We weren't in a horrible place but it wasn't great either. Something about Raymond trapped into a real fear that we would end up held together more by bile than love.

There must be marriage counselor out there using this show as a teaching tool about dysfunctional relationships.

A significant portion of the success this show had must have come from people seeing their own loveless lives reflected back at them.