After reuniting for the 30th anniversary of Everybody loves Raymondthe cast made it clear that they will never do a revival.
CBS aired the special on Monday, November 24, starring Ray Romano and series creator Phil Rosenthal presented as they spoke before an audience in the reimagined Barone Living Room. Before they were joined by cast members. Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Monica Horan, Madylin Sweeten and sullivan sweetenRomano, 67, and Rosenthal, 65, clarified that there were no other plans to return to the show.
“This is a reunion,” Romano, who played Ray, told the studio audience. “We’re never going to do a reboot because we’re missing three cast members, and family members, so we would never try to do it without them.”
Rosenthal agreed that they could not revive the series. “It’s not the same, and we have too much respect for the show and the beautiful audience to keep it the way it is,” he said.
From comedies and game shows to dramas and cartoons, the list of television reboots and revivals is long. Waiting to Exhale and Conan the Barbarian are movies being turned into TV shows, while Gilmore Girls was spun into four seasons for its Netflix revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, which […]
The CBS comedy, which aired from 1996 to 2005, followed a successful sports journalist (Romano) who was busy raising his family while his overbearing parents lived a few blocks away. After the series came to an end, Peter Boyle who played Romano’s father, died at the age of 71 in December 2006 after battling multiple myeloma and heart disease.
Doris Robertswho played Romano’s mother, died in April 2016 of natural causes at age 90. One of Romano’s on-screen sons, Sawyer Sweeten, committed suicide in April 2015 at age 19.
Romano said Today in October 2020 that a revival with the original cast “will not happen.” “We’re missing Peter, we’re missing Doris,” he said. “We’re missing the point of the show.”
More recently, Romano told Yahoo! Entertainment that didn’t like the idea of reviving Everybody loves Raymond because he was “a little protective” of the series.
“Just because it was so personal to me,” he explained in December 2024. “I mean, it was based on my life and I was a very big part of the creative side and all that.”
It’s officially time for reboots and revivals on television. While many original cast members return for new series that revisit old stories, many shows have left out major stars upon returning. From reality shows like Jersey Shore: Samantha “Sammi Sweetheart” Giancola did not return for the spin-off, Jersey Shore Family Vacation, when it debuted. […]
Heaton, 67, echoed Romano’s statement earlier this year when asked about his hit comedies. Everybody loves Raymond and the middle returning.
“Why have I never participated in a program that could be restarted?” told Yahoo! Entertainment in February. “Because it seems like everyone [else is].”
Heaton made it clear that he had no desire to reboot either show, adding, “It was just kind of perfection, and you don’t want to mess with perfection. You know, we’ve lost so many cast members that you couldn’t reboot it because it won’t be the same show.”
She continued: “It was really fun because almost everyone [on the cast] I was having children. Ray had kids while we were on the show. And I Did It, Brad Garrett Did It, Monica Horan Did It, Philip Rosenthal [as well]. So it was a tremendously busy place.”
Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion now streaming on Paramount+.