Everybody Loves Raymond: 10 Behind The Scenes Facts Every Fan Should Know

Summary Original children's names changed to separate real life from fiction, turning Ally, Gregory, and Matthew into Ally, Michael, and Geoffrey.

Barone twins recast after being deemed too aged, resulting in a new set of twins, Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten, being cast.

Frank Barone made reference to Peter Boyle's iconic roles in Taxi Driver and Young Frankenstein within the show.

Behind-the-scenes details about Everybody Loves Raymond takes a look at the little-known aspects of the popular sitcom. Comedian Ray Romano developed this sitcom on CBS partially based on his own life. The series follows sports writer Ray Barone who lives with his wife Debra and three children. He also lives across the street from his nosy parents as well as his jealous and moody brother. It makes for a hilarious ensemble that created one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s, winning 15 Emmys in its nine-season run.

Despite the immense popularity of the series, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes aspects to the shows that people might not have been aware of. From unexpected casting changes to some of the more dramatic developments that happened off-camera, there are a lot of interesting elements that are not public knowledge. These small details might not affect how funny and charming the show is, but it is a fun look at how Everybody Loves Raymond was shaped in a number of ways.

Related 10 Things That Make No Sense About Everybody Loves Raymond From the rampant sexism to the weird living situations, these aspects of Everybody Loves Raymond are just confusing.

10 They Changed The Names Of The Children

Ray Romano Felt Uncomfortable With The Original Names Of His On-Screen Children

While some sitcoms like The King of Queens broke conventions by focusing on a married couple that never had children throughout the course of the series, having kids as part of the cast was always a notable feature of many sitcoms that dealt with domestic life.

As with various aspects of the show, Ray Romano was inspired by his real life when crafting the children characters for the show. However, he ended up wanting to separate real life and fiction life more. When the show began airing, Ray had three children - a daughter named Alexandra and twins named Gregory and Matthew.

In the pilot episode, the children were named Ally, Gregory, and Matthew mimicking the real-life names of Ray's children. However, Romano then got nervous about having the names of the children be so close to his, so Gregory and Matthew's names were changed to Michael and Geoffrey while Ally's name stayed the same.

9 Ray's On-Screen Children Were Recast

The Barone Twins Were Recast

While they were big parts of Ray's home life in the series, the Barone children were not featured quite as much as compared to other series about family life. In fact, their roles were so small in the early episodes of the series that viewers likely didn't even realize that two of the actors were replaced after the show started.

During the pilot episode of the series, Ray and Debra's two twin sons, Matthew and Geoffrey were played by real-life twins Justin Ferreira and Drew Ferreira. However, it was later decided that the two boys had visibly aged by the time the show was ready to continue which led to the decision to hire a new set of twins for the role.

Interestingly, Madilyn Sweeten who had already been cast as Ally Barone, had two young twin brothers, Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten, who got the role. The fact that none of those kids look like Ray started some interesting Everybody Loves Raymond fan theories.

8 Amy's Brother Was Recast

Paul Reuben Initially Played Amy's Brother

Recasting two child actors after a pilot episode can be pretty easy to get away with without too many people noticing, but Everybody Loves Raymond also had another instance of recasting that was much harder to hide. When Amy (Monica Horan) became Robert's (Bard Garrett) love interest on the show, her brother was introduced as well.

Many fans will likely remember Amy's brother as Peter, played by Chris Elliott. However, Amy's brother was initially a character named Russel who was played by actor Paul Reubens who is best known for playing PeeWee Herman. In 2002, Reuben was charged with child pornography possession. While those charges were ultimately dropped, it was reported that Ray Romano insisted he not be allowed back on the show and Amy's brother was rewritten as Chris Elliott's character of Peter.

7 Brad Garrett's Battle With Alcoholism

Garrett Admitted Overcoming His Addiction During Season 1

Brad Garrett, the actor who plays Ray's brother Robert, was one of the standout aspects of the series. He was perfect at playing the moody and sadsack brother of Ray who could not help but hide his jealousy and contempt for Ray's success. Over the course of his time on the show, Garrett won three Emmy Awards for his performance. However, things were not as ideal behind the scenes for Garrett during this time.

Years after the show ended, Garrett revealed that he was what he considered to be a high-functioning alcoholic, admitting that he was often intoxicated on set during the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond. He decided to make a change for the better fearing for his life and by the time the first season of Everybody Loves Raymond wrapped, he had quit. Garrett spoke about the decision (via ET), saying "It was just a realization that I probably wasn't going to make it."

6 Peter Boyle References Other Films

Boyle's Roles In Taxi Driver And Young Frankenstein Came Up

While the entire cast of Everybody Loves Raymond would become stars thanks to the acclaim of the series, Peter Boyle was likely the most famous name associated with the show when it first aired. Boyle is a veteran character actor who has a wide-ranging career showing his incredible versatility. While he became best known as Frank Barone in this series, there were some iconic roles too famous for the show not to reference.

Boyle has a memorable supporting role in Taxi Driver as Wizard, a seasoned cab driver who attempts to give Travis Bickle some advice on coping with the job better. In one of Taxi Driver's most memorable quotes, Wizard lays out his philosophy to Travis not to worry so much.

In Everybody Loves Raymond's season 2 episode "Six Feet Under," Frank gives the same speech to Ray. Another fun reference comes in the Halloween episode "Halloween Candy" where Frank dresses as Frankenstein's monster in reference to his role in Young Frankenstein.

5 Ray Romano Didn't Like The Title

CBS Pushed For The Iconic Title

In the original opening credits of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray introduces his family on a conveyor belt outside of his home. The intro ends with Robert coming by saying "Everybody loves Raymond." While this is a funny bit from the show, the title was actually created by Ray Romano's real-life brother. His brother had made the comment in passing and CBS chose to use it as a working title.

However, as much as it caught on, Romano never expected this title to be the final title of the show. He disliked it because he felt that it invited criticism. However, those fears ended up not being an issue as critics embraced the series, making the title feel rather fitting as the show won countless awards. It is also a title that became iconic enough that it was parodied on Everybody Hates Chris.

Related Everybody Loves Raymond: 10 Things You Never Noticed About The First Episode Everybody Loves Raymond is a great example of a classic 90s sitcom. Here are details from its first episode that fans may have missed.

4 Patricia Heaton Admitted To Clashing Politics

Heaton Maintains Her Differing Views From Peter Boyle Never Harmed Their Relationship

Even on the sets of the most beloved and successful sitcoms, tension can rise among the cast members. Interestingly, just like in a real family, politics ended up being a topic that led to some pointed discussions among some cast members. Patricia Heaton, who played Debra, has been outspoken with some of her conservative views in the past and she acknowledged that it put her at odds with costar Peter Boyle who was very liberal in his politics (via The New York Times).

However, Heaton admitted that all the discussions and disagreements between them were good-natured and filled with respect, which you don't often hear about. They would even openly tease each other's opposing views with a fun spirit. Heaton expressed how much she cared for Boyle, attending his funeral in 2006, and even credits Boyle with helping her to get sober (via THR).

3 The Writers Drew On Real-Life Inspiration

Real Domestic Situations Fueled The Show's Storylines

Most people know that the show is heavily influenced by Ray Romano's life. What people may not know is that things went even further as most of the fights and situations featured on the shows were taken from the lives of Romano or one of the writers.

Philip Rosenthal, the creator, executive producer, and writer of the show would often take the exact wording from fights he had with his wife to use as material. Rosenthal specifically points to one fight over a can opener that inspired a storyline on the show (via People).

The writers ultimately decided to end the show because they ran out of ideas and wanted to have a strong ending instead of dragging it out and having the quality of the show decrease. Rosenthal joked that if the series were to continue, the writers wouldn't have wives left to go home to as they'd have to get into too many fights to create new material.

2 Brad Garrett Ignited A Pay Dispute

Garrett Protested To A Pay Raise For Only Romano

Something that can always be tricky with shows that become successful is that the salary negotiations can get intense. Such was the case with Everybody Loves Raymond which gradually became one of the most-watched shows on television and set the stage for raises for some, but not all.

In 2003, Ray Romano saw a huge salary increase that positioned him to be the highest-paid actor on television. He signed a contract of 1.8 million dollars per episode plus residuals. Romano making more than the rest of the cast made sense as he was co-creator of the series and the titular star.

However, the fact that Brad Garrett was only making $160,000 per episode in comparison led to some tension. Garrett staged a walk-out in response and other actors followed. After two weeks, the rest of the cast were given new salaries and agreed to come back to work (via The New York Times).

1 Peter Boyle's Bad Mood Earned Him The Role

Boyle Credits A Bad Day For Getting Him The Part

Frank is known for his grumpy demeanor and bad attitude which made for some of the funniest moments on the show. By many accounts, it was also a character who was very far from what Peter Boyle was like in real life. However, it happened by chance that the day he was meant to meet with Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal for the project, Boyle was in a bad mood that might have helped him to land the role in the end.

In an interview with Archive of American Television, Boyle explains that he thought it would be a good idea to take his whole family over to Universal Studios for the meeting only to encounter one issue after another, from dealing with the guards at the gate to finding a parking spot to entering the wrong building. Once he found the meeting, Boyle credits his crankiness to getting the role that earned him seven consecutive Emmy nominations.