Everybody Loves Raymond: 10 Things You Never Noticed About The First Episode

Summary Frank and Marie's home in the first episode looks different from the rest of the series due to design changes after the pilot.

Leo, a friend in the pilot episode, is never seen again in future episodes despite causing trouble.

The "Fruit of the Month" joke, a recurring gag, began in the pilot episode when Marie complains about pears being delivered monthly.

Everybody Loves Raymond first aired its pilot episode in September 1996, kicking off what would become one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1990s and 2000s. Comedian Ray Romano was given the chance to develop his own series which he partially based on his own life. He starred as a sports writer with a wife and three kids as they make the best of living across the street from his overbearing mother, grumpy father, and moody older brother. It proved to be a winning premise with the show running for nine seasons of big ratings and massive acclaim.

By the time that show came to an end in May 2005, Everybody Loves Raymond had come a long way from its pilot episode. That first episode is still an impressive one in terms of a sitcom pilot as it does a great job of setting up the premise, the characters, and a sense of humor. However, there are aspects of the pilot that are fun to look back on and see how much the series changed. From different sets to characters who are never seen again to the start of some of the show's recurring jokes, the pilot episode of Everybody Loves Raymond is filled with details fans might have forgotten.

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 Frank And Marie’s Home Is Different Than In Other Episodes

The Show Made Big Design Changes After The Pilot

One of the ongoing jokes in Everybody Loves Raymond is that Frank and Marie treat Ray and Debra's home as if it is their own, walking in whenever they want with no notice or warning. However, given the hilarious fact that they live directly across the street from Ray and Debra, Frank and Marie's own house becomes a classic sitcom location as well.

However, fans of the series will notice that Frank and Marie's home in this first episode is completely different from how it appears in the rest of the show. Not only is the decor different, but the layout is completely different as well with Raymond entering through the kitchen door where the front entrance to the house should have been. It is likely that the reasoning for this difference is that the rest of the house set had not yet been made and they ultimately decided to go in a different direction.

9 Ray’s Friend Leo Shows Up In This Episode But Not In Future Episodes

Leo's First Friend Is Never Mentioned Again

While most of the show is focused on Ray and his family, he does have a handful of friends who pop up throughout the series at times. Some of his most prominent friend characters to appear in the show are Andy (Andy Kindler), a fellow sports writer who has bad luck with women, and Gianni (Jon Manfrellotti), Ray's immature childhood friend. Doug Heffernan (Kevin James) also appears in several episodes before getting his own sitcom with The King of Queens.

However, the pilot episode of Everybody Loves Raymond sets up another friend, named Leo. Played by Stephen Lee, Leo is clearly a good friend of Ray's as he is warmly greeted by Marie and even causes a lot of trouble in the episode when he convinces Ray to leave the kids with Marie to go out and get some pizza. However, after this single appearance, Leo was gone from the show.

8 This Is The First Episode That Mentions The “Fruit Of The Month” Joke

The Origins Of The Recurring Joke Are Revealed

As with many of the great sitcoms, Everybody Loves Raymond is filled with some great running gags that reward viewers whenever they binge the series. One of the best running gags in the series is the infamous “Fruit of the Month Club,” a gift that is mentioned throughout the series which Ray and Debra attempted to give to Marie and Frank only for them to constantly talk about how much they hated it.

As it turns out, the joke first began in the pilot episode with Marie complaining about how many pears were delivered to their house. She is at a loss for what to do with all of them and is horrified to learn that this will keep happening every month for an entire year. It is a sign of the clever writing that was already on point in the very first episode of the series, finding a lot of humor in such a relatable subject as an innocent gift being taken all wrong.

7 Ray And Debra’s Home Is Also Different

The Sets Improved To Look More Realistic

The majority of the first episode takes place at the home of Ray and Debra cementing it as the most central location in the series. Almost every episode features at least a scene in the house. Scenes in the house usually take place in one of three rooms; the living room which they enter through the front door, the kitchen which is entered through the living room or the back door, and Ray and Debra's bedroom.

All three rooms are shown in the first episode but they all look a little different from how fans of the show will typically remember them. While Frank and Marie's home is a more drastic change following the pilot, the feel of Ray and Debra's house is very different from subsequent episodes even if the layout is the same. The original design feels like the set of a television show while the house featured in the rest of the show feels more lived-in.

6 The Sets In The Pilot Were Recycled From All In The Family

The Classic Sitcom Helped Bring The Barone Home To Life

Though both sets used in the pilot of Everybody Loves Raymond were changed as the show continued, there is a chance that viewers will find something familiar in the sets from this episode. Given that this was a pilot episode with no guarantee that the show would be picked up for a full season, they attempted to keep the production small by reusing some old sets.

It turns out that parts of the Everybody Loves Raymond set were actually reused from the classic sitcom All in the Family (via CBS). The show was another sitcom about a dysfunctional family, led by the legendary curmudgeon Archie Bunker. All in the Family spawned several spinoffs and is regarded as one of the most influential sitcoms of all time. Indeed, it influenced Everybody Loves Raymond in a very direct way with the new show changing around the iconic set that was once Archie's home.

5 The First “Where’s Lunch” Meal At The End Is Lobster

The Production Company Tag Becomes An Ongoing Feature

There are some shows that reward their most loyal viewers with certain details that are always present in each episode but also change slightly each time. Perhaps the most iconic example of this is The Simpsons' couch gag with the opening title sequence for the series ending with the family gathering at the family couch with something new happening each time.

Everybody Loves Raymond has a similar detail that actually comes at the opposite time in each episode. Fans of the series will know that the end of the credits is marked by the production company logo for Where's Lunch Productions Inc. The logo appears on a placemat with a new plate of food being placed down in each episode. In the first episode, it’s a lobster meal that is being served to kick off the fun tradition.

4 Robert Says “Everybody Loves Raymond” For The First Time

The Phrase Is Mentioned Several Times In The Series

While the title of Everybody Loves Raymond puts Ray as the titular character of the series, it is actually another character who coins it in this episode. Brad Garrett's performance as Robert Barone, Ray's older sadsack brother, is one of the best aspects of the series and the pilot episode is already establishing their hilarious relationship. Robert is mainly there to provide a foil for Raymond. He spends most of his life trying to prove that he is just as good as Raymond, and he also resents that Ray gets more attention than him.

This leads to Robert saying the line “everybody loves Raymond” in the pilot as a way of sarcastically pointing out that everything seems to go right for Ray while Robert is left wanting. Luckily, this doesn't become a catchphrase on the show with Robert repeating it over and over throughout the series. However, it works that this line is dropped in the first episode as it sets up the idea of Ray living a pretty good life despite his complaints.

3 The Twins Are Named Gregory And Mathew

Ray Romano Made The Change Himself

While the show is about family, Ray and Debra's children are not a huge part of the first episode. While they play into the episode's storyline, they aren't featured as much as the adult characters, making it clear this sitcom is about those relationships foremost and then is about the kids on a secondary basis. However, the kids are featured enough to pick up on the fact that Ray and Debra's twin boys have different names in the pilot.

The first episode reveals that the twins are named Gregory and Matthew whereas their names in the rest of the show are Michael and Geoffrey. While it is jarring to watch the first episode and then hear the parents referring to their sons by different names, there is a reason for the change. Behind the scenes of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano initially named the boys after his own twins in real life. However, he eventually became uncomfortable with having the names be the same and made the change.

2 The Twins Are Played By Different Actors

The Triplet Actors Were Recast With Twins

Pilot episodes are a chance for the show to figure out what works and what doesn't in the series. Unfortunately, sometimes this can result in roles being recast. This does not necessarily mean the actor didn't do a good job but just that the show decided on a new direction for a character. Shows like The Big Bang Theory, New Girl, and even Game of Thrones were forced to replace actors following their pilot episodes.

Everybody Loves Raymond also falls into that category, but it was not an issue of acting or a character change. Instead, the two young children playing the twin boys, which was actually a set of triplets, Amber, Drew, and Justin Ferreira, were replaced after the pilot as it seemed as though they aged too rapidly. Interestingly, Madylin Sweeten had already been cast as Ally Barone and she had young twin brothers, Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten, who took over the role.

1 The Intro Is Different Than In Other Episodes

The Rest Of Season 1 Used A New Intro

While Everybody Loves Raymond is not the most iconic TV intro of all time, part of the reason for that is that it would keep switching things up. The show went through several different intros over the course of its nine seasons, trying out new concepts and feeling totally different from one another. However, even with the series' penchant for switching things up, the original intro didn't last long.

The intro for the pilot episode sees Ray in his yard talking to the camera as he attempts to assemble a child's playhouse. As he explains his family dynamic to the audience he gradually finds that he has trapped himself inside the playhouse. While the version of the intro that was used for the rest of the first season featured similar dialogue from Ray, it showed him raking his leaves while his family went by in the background on a conveyor belt.