Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton are looking back on their early days in Lynbrook, Long Island, as the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond reunited to celebrate the sitcom’s 30th anniversary.
According to the New York Post, during the CBS special, Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion, Romano, Heaton, creator Phil Rosenthal, Monica Horan, Brad Garrett, Madylin Sweeten, and Sullivan Sweeten gathered to share memories from the show’s nine-season run, which stretched from 1996 to 2005.
Rosenthal recalled seeing 200 actresses for the role of Debra Barone before landing on Heaton. What sealed it, he said, was the chemistry she had with Romano.
“I always said that Patty Heaton’s the best wife on television,” Rosenthal said.
But Romano revealed there was more to the story.
“We’re forgetting one little key element that really sold me on you during that first audition,” he said.
Heaton jumped in with a laugh: “That’s how desperate I was to get the job.”
“Well, they don’t know what you’re talking about,” Romano teased.
“I kissed him!” Heaton admitted.
Romano explained that the script called for Debra to kiss her husband. “Every other actress just kind of mimed it. For some reason, she did it,” he said. “And when she walked out, I go, ‘That’s the one!’”
The role earned Heaton two Emmy Awards and, she said, reflected the everyday challenges she was already living.
“I didn’t really have to do research, and I didn’t really have to do acting,” she joked. “I had a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. I was cutting out coupons for 50 cents off Ball Park Franks, so I needed the gig.”
She also recalled arriving for her audition stressed about babysitting, only to ask a man in the corner to fetch her water. “It was [Ray],” she said.
Romano addressed long-standing questions about a reboot and firmly shut the door. “We’re never gonna do one,” he said, noting the deaths of Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts, and Sawyer Sweeten. “We would never try to do the show without them.”
Rosenthal agreed. “It wouldn’t be the same, and we have too much respect for the show itself,” he said.
The reunion also took a somber turn as the cast remembered Sawyer Sweeten, who died by suicide in 2015 at age 19. Madylin Sweeten and her brother Sullivan opened up about honoring him.
“We’re very passionate in our family about suicide prevention,” Madylin said. “It is the second leading cause of death between ages 18 to 25. But 90% of people who seek treatment are cured.”
Romano called Sawyer “a wonderful and sweet kid” whose energy still lives in their memories of the show.
Though a reboot isn’t coming, the cast noted that Everybody Loves Raymond continues to air worldwide. As Rosenthal put it, “If you want to visit your friends, we’re here.”
