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25 Episodes 1997 - 1998
Episode 1
Mon, Sep 22, 199723 mins
Ray is devastated when he discovers his family lied to him about his performance during his TV debut on a sports chat show. When he gets a second chance to appear on the show, his family decides it's time they gave him some pointers on how to correct his awkwardness with certain words.

Episode 2
Mon, Sep 29, 199723 mins
When Ally starts acting up, Ray and Debra have a difficult time disciplining her because she doesn't want to listen to her parents. Fed up with her, Ray says she can't watch TV. Then Ally has a fit. The next day, Debra finds a brochure advertising a parenting class. It's called "Parent Effectiveness Training. Coping with your child's behavioral challenges." Ray is reluctant to go, but Debra drags him along anyway. While at the class, they learn about "Active Listening". They learn to encourage Ally to express herself verbally without influencing her with their own preconceived notions or opinions. To demonstrate to the class, Ray is recruited to role-play with the instructor, Celia. Back at home, Debra tries these new tactics on Ally...as well as Ray. But they don't seem to work for her. But, while at his parents house, Ray uses the stuff he learned from the class to resolve an argument between his parents. And, amazingly, it worked. So he races back over to his own house to find Debra disciplining Ally because she destroyed one of the twins' stuffed animals. Ray immediately jumps in to use his new-found talent. Eventually, Ally says she wants to fix the toy for Michael.

Episode 3
Mon, Oct 6, 199723 mins
The episode begins with Ray and Debra playing video games in the living room. They're playing a game on the Nintendo 64. While playing, they start to get a little frisky, but Marie interrupts them by barging into the house. Marie explains that it's the second anniversary of Robert's divorce and he's doing nothing but mope around all day. So she insists that Ray go over to the house and cheer him up...spend some time with him. So Ray heads over there and after an awkward conversation, the two of them end up going to the movies. When they arrive back at home, they laugh and have a good time talking about the action movie they just saw. Then they reminisce about their childhood. They laugh about the time they got into their mother's Sucrets and she freaked out. They also talked about school. They mentioned a fellow student Mike Kimmelman making fun of the Assistant Principal Mrs. McAffree's wooden leg. As Robert left to go home, he thanked Ray for taking him out. And Ray made the mistake of saying it was his parents' idea. Robert then feels angry. So Ray follows him back over to his parents' house and they talk. While talking, Frank and Marie walk in, then the two of them begin making fun of their parents. The Sucrets incident came up again and there were jokes about Frank's baldness. The next day, Robert just wants to talk with Ray because he had so much fun the previous day. Ray feels uncomfortable when talking about feelings. So when Robert asks an embarrassing question, Ray gives in and responds with something awkward and even more embarrassing. After a brief silence, they turn the TV on.

Episode 4
Mon, Oct 13, 199723 mins
Ally doesn't want to take piano lessons. She runs into the scene yelling "no" to Marie. Marie was giving Ally the piano lessons, but Ally says that it's boring and she doesn't want to do it any more. Ray recalls the time when he was a boy and sat at the piano with his mother. He enjoyed it because, while playing piano together, his mother was "nice". But as he got older, he gave it up and hadn't played for a long time. So, to set a good example for Ally, Ray heads over to his parents' house so that Marie can teach him again how to play the piano. During the lesson, Marie realizes how much Raymond had forgotten over the years. So she gets upset because she has to go back to the basics of music. Even though Ray is annoyed that she's upset with his stupidity, he gives in and bears through the lesson. The end of the episode has Ray playing a song while the family sits around the piano and listens.

Episode 5
Mon, Oct 20, 199722 mins
While Ray and his buddy Kevin are sitting in his living room watching Tiger Woods play golf on TV, they get the idea of going out and playing golf themselves. Fearing that Debra won't let Ray go, he and Kevin play with some fake dialogue and end up tricking Debra into letting them go. Now, Debra thinks that they will be playing for free. Thinking that they can save at least $100, Debra let's Ray play. At the golf course, Ray begins to feel flush. After freaking out a little, he heads to see Dr. Sundram. Dr. Sundram examines him and tells Ray he had a minor anxiety attack and that he needs to do things that make him relax, such as playing golf. So, Ray had an anxiety attack because he felt guilty about lying to Debra. And now, he has to go face her and tell her that the doctor prescribed more golf. But, the thing is, Ray didn't mention that he tricked her. Lying to Debra once again, he feels even more guilty, and has to confront her with the truth.

Episode 6
Mon, Oct 27, 199723 mins
It's Frank and Marie's 40th wedding anniversary, and Ray, Robert and Debra decide to throw them a surprise party. Ray and Debra take them to brunch that morning and then get home to see the surprise for them at home. But before they walk into the house, Frank mentions that one year, he and Marie were separated. During the party, away from the guests, Frank and Marie tell Ray and Debra about the separation. As it turns out, Frank had asked for salt, and Marie got angry and said her food didn't need salt. They had a fight and Frank left. But when little Raymond fell off his bike and broke his arm, Frank started coming by to check on him. And everything worked out from there. Later, Ray is worried that he and Debra will turn out to be just like his parents. But after seeing Frank and Marie happy the way they are, Ray isn't quite so worried.

Episode 7
Mon, Nov 3, 199723 mins
The episode opens with Debra getting a phone call from Ray saying he'll be late for dinner because he's still at work. Marie explains that it's more fun for Ray to hang out with his buddies than to be home with a messy house and taking care of the kids. So, Debra puts some food in a cooler and takes Ray's dinner to his office. She finds him playing paper football and joking with the guys. Then Andy mentions something about working from home. Debra is happy with that idea. Soon after, Ray has a satellite dish installed so he can get all the games, and also gets a new printer and fax machine. While Debra is out running errands, Ray is watching TV and playing with the kids when he is supposed to be working. He, Robert and Frank are all seen watching hockey as well as cop shows on a Korean station. Debra gets home to find the house a big mess. She can't take it any longer and wants Ray to start going to work again.

Episode 8
Mon, Nov 10, 199723 mins
Debra finishes reading a bedtime story to the kids, then complains to Ray that she's tired of reading the same old stories. So she gets the idea to write one of her own. She plans on using her own experiences, and she knows what kids like. She also asks Ray to help her with it since he's a writer. Ray is reluctant at first, but soon caves in. When the rest of the family finds out that they are writing a book, each family member has their own opinions. Marie wants them to right about the times Robert wet his pants on the field in Little League baseball. Robert wants the story to be about a tall crime fighter. And Frank mentions that he had done some art of his own...some painting. He painted a bullfighter and a nude portrait of Marie. Finally sitting at the computer in Ray's office together, Ray and Debra soon find out that they have some creative differences. The story was going to be about a child that wants to run away, but soon realizes that home is much better than any other place. This happened to Ally one time, Debra recalls. Ray wants the character to be a dinosaur, while Debra wants the character to be a bunny. They fight over it and nothing gets done. Time passes and Ray comes home from work to find Debra scribbling out the story on a pad of paper. She gets frustrated and starts tearing it to shreds. Ray feels sorry for her so he takes the notes she made and rewrites the story and irons out some things. After she finds out what he's done, she rewrites his story. Ray's story about a bunny named Winky, and Debra's story, which rhymes, about a bunny named Clive are pitted against each other when they read both stories to Ally. Then they wait for Ally to decide which story is better.

Episode 9
Mon, Nov 17, 199723 mins
It's Frank's 65th birthday. For the last number of years, the family didn't give presents on their birthday, but because it was his 65th, Robert and Marie got him something and Ray didn't. Robert laughs when he finds out Ray didn't buy his father anything. Marie got him a sweater and Robert got him the Remote Boat. Ray, on the other hand, lies and says he special ordered something but it hasn't arrived yet. While in bed that night, Ray remembers that his father always liked the large fish tank at Wo-Hop's Chinese Takeout. So, he decides to get a large fish tank with some tropical "specially ordered" fish. With the tank finally set up in Frank and Marie's living room, Frank just stares at the tank all day instead of the TV. Ray is then worried because he knows he has to top himself next year and get an even better gift. Then when one of the fish dies, Frank becomes upset. Debra suggests that, since Frank is getting older, the dead fish could be somewhat symbolic of his own mortality. So Ray confronts his father about it. As it turns out, Frank was only upset because he found out how much money Ray had spent on it: a $40 fish in a $600 aquarium. So finally, they get rid of the tank and donate it to Wo-Hop's restaurant.

Episode 10
Mon, Nov 24, 199723 mins
It's Ray's 20th high school reunion. He's reluctant to go at first, but Debra soon convinces him. While at the reunion, Ray sees a couple of his old friends, Scott and Warren. Debra then finds out exactly how dorky and boring Ray and his friends were as kids when they start telling stupid stories from their past. Debra quickly befriends the other classmates, the ones who were popular back in school. And Ray is again left out of all the fun because he's still the dorky one. The next day, back at home, the rest of his family gives him a hard time about not being popular in school.

Episode 11
Mon, Dec 8, 199723 mins
When Marie crashes and ruins her Tupperware party, Debra decides that she's had just about enough of her mother-in-law's constant interference. She takes pen to paper and writes a letter to Marie, telling her to stop intruding into her life. Horrified by the problems that this letter might trigger, Ray does everything in his power to intercept the offending document.

Episode 12
Mon, Dec 15, 199723 mins
All Ray wants for Christmas is a little loving from his wife, and he's willing to try anything and everything to have his holiday wish come true. After having planned a time and day to make love in advance, Debra cancels it. Ray wonders why Debra is never "in the mood". While working at Giants Stadium, Ray complains to his buddy Andy. But Andy, being single, doesn't have any advice. So they both ask a co-worker Erin for advice...since she's a woman. Ray then tries to use Erin's advice on Debra. But by the time Debra is finally in the mood, it just so happens to be Christmas morning. So instead of having sex, they have to put up with the family for the holiday.

Episode 13
Mon, Jan 5, 199823 mins
Ray and Debra get an invitation in the mail to their friend's baby shower, and Ray tries everything to get out of it. He later finds out that Frank and Robert are involved in a Civil War reenactment the same day as the shower, so he decides to join them in order to get out of going to the baby shower. Frank, Robert and Frank's friend Harry are all "fighting" for the Union. But because of Ray's late addition to the reenactment, he ends up "fighting" for the Confederates.

Episode 14
Mon, Jan 12, 199823 mins
For school, Ally has to do a report on her oldest living relative. Frank mentions that there's still some of his family left in Italy. So, using his resources, Ray tracks down Sarina in Sicily and they send her a letter. Three weeks later, Sarina arrives at their door. Together, the whole family has a great time with Sarina visiting. Everyone's happy, until they find out that Sarina isn't actually related to them.

Episode 15
Mon, Jan 19, 199830 mins
For dinner, Debra cooks Ray her lemon chicken. But then Marie comes over with her famous spaghetti and meatballs. Ray chooses his mother's spaghetti and meatballs. Debra becomes frustrated because Ray picked the meatballs over her lemon chicken. Ray then gets the idea to have Marie teach Debra how she makes it. Hesitant about it, Debra let's Marie teach her. But when Ray tastes the finished product, the meatballs just taste weird. After some help from Robert, Debra finds out that Marie sabotaged her meatballs by placing a label for basil on a bottle of tarragon.

Episode 16
Mon, Feb 2, 199823 mins
When Debra realizes that Ray doesn't appreciate her taking care of all the finances, she hands the job over to him. Weeks later, while at Nemo's Pizza, Andy tells Ray everything he's done wrong in the checkbook. And because the check bounced, the electric company is shutting off power to the Barones house. So Ray asks Robert for some money. Since Debra is on her way to the bank, Ray rushes to the ATM to put the money in the account before Debra notices the problems.

Episode 17
Mon, Feb 23, 199830 mins
While watching the show Cops, Robert gets annoyed that Ray is rooting for the criminal to get away. Realizing that Ray doesn't have any idea what Robert goes through as a police officer every day, he suggests Ray ride along in his squad car one night. Ray's ride-along starts out pretty boring and uneventful, until they take a break at Nemo's Pizza, when Robert arrests an armed criminal robbing the restaurant. Ray, having been amazed at what he witnessed, has New York Newsday write an article about the incident.

Episode 18
Mon, Mar 2, 199830 mins
Ally has been sleeping in Ray and Debra's bed a lot recently, and Ray is tired of it because he can't get a good night's sleep. The whole family has their own opinions on the issue. Ally complains that there are monsters in her room. Debra was sleeping in the room with her, but Ray didn't want her to do that. So, Ray gets his mother to spend the night in Ally's room with her...without Debra knowing about it.

Episode 19
Mon, Mar 9, 199830 mins
Ray wonders why Marie is suddenly good friends with Robert's girlfriend Amy. Then Frank lets the cat out of the bag and tells him that Marie likes Amy more than Debra. Ray and Debra later find out that the only reason Marie likes Amy so much is because she hasn't had sex yet and is saving herself for the right person. During the discussion, it comes up that Debra wasn't exactly a "good girl" before she got married. When Debra argues for her side, Frank blurts out that Marie wasn't exactly a "good girl" either. That's when the viewer finds out that Robert was conceived illegitimately. Apparently Frank and Marie had been lying to Robert all these years about his real birth date. As it turns out, that current day was his real birthday.

Episode 20
Mon, Apr 6, 199823 mins
It's Ray and Debra's turn to bring snacks for Ally's T-Ball team this week, a team that is sponsored by Nemo's Pizza. But when they put out the pretzels and the Hawaiian Punch, the team's coach, Bryan Trenberth isn't happy because they didn't follow the teams "approved snack list". Later, at home, Ray and Debra get into an argument about the team snacks. Ray wants to follow the coach's list, but Debra doesn't ...and is angry that Ray doesn't back her up on the issue. So when the next game rolls around, Ray secretly brings an "approved snack" behind Debra's back.

Episode 21
Mon, Apr 20, 199823 mins
Robert has decided to teach traffic school for the NYPD for a little extra money. But when he gets his first evaluations, the feedback is not pleasant. So he decides to practice on his family. During the practice session, Ray, Debra, Frank, and even Marie all make jokes and laugh at Robert. After being told to loosen up, Robert comes back to the practice session with a ventriloquist dummy named "Traffic Cop Timmy". Hoping it'll liven up the session, it only makes things worse.

Episode 22
Mon, Apr 27, 199823 mins
While Debra is measuring the kids', and Ray's, height, Ray finds out he's no longer six feet tall. He has shrunk a quarter of an inch. Quickly falling into a mid-life crisis, Ray writes up a list of goals; things he wants to do before he dies. Conversations with his family abruptly turn to death...and Ray is suddenly afraid of dying, with morbid talks of cemeteries and cremation.

Episode 23
Mon, May 4, 199823 mins
Frank decides to have a garage sale. Among the things that Debra puts out for the sale is the kids old baby stuff. Ray is hesitant to sell the baby items because he's not sure if he wants more children. But Debra says they're done with having kids. So the discussion continues in the yard during the sale.

Episode 24
Mon, May 11, 199823 mins
The episode is a flashback to when Ray asked Debra to marry him. Ray was just promoted to sports columnist for Newsday, so he decides to propose to her in his very first official column. But his plan to have her read it goes awry. His parents end up reading it to her. So Ray now thinks that Debra only said "yes" because she was in front of Ray's whole family. And the episode ends when Debra and her parents are planning the wedding the next day without even involving him. And the words "To Be Continued" appear on the screen.

Episode 25
Mon, May 18, 199823 mins
The episode is a flashback to Ray and Debra's wedding day. Ray still has doubts that Debra actually wants to marry him. Even after talking to Father Hubley, his parents, and Robert, he still has doubts. So, to calm him down and loosen him up, Frank offers Ray some alcohol to get him through the day.
