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Everybody Loves Raymond Finale 5/24

post #1 of 8
5/18/05 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know if the documentary that proceded the finale is included on the DVD release? If not is this DVD just going to contain the pilot and the finale?

Thanks
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post #2 of 8
5/18/05 at 2:49pm
I should hope so. It'd be a pretty weak DVD if it only included the 1/2 hour finale. Minus commercials, that's about 22 minutes or so. In all honesty, I was somewhat disappointed with the finale episode. Albeit funny, I found there was no sense of closure what-so-ever. If someone watched that episode in syndication without knowing that it was the show's FINAL episode, that person would've chalked it up as just a regular ep. I guess I just expected more. In order for this DVD to even be remotely worthwhile, they'd be stupid not to include the hour-long show which aired prior to the finale.

As for me, I'm going to pass on this, just as I passed on the "Friends" finale DVD. I plan on holding out for the inevitable 9th season release.
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post #3 of 8
5/18/05 at 5:59pm
According to the release information, it's only the finale and the pilot.
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post #4 of 8
5/19/05 at 7:18am
Thread Starter 
I liked Raymond's finale very much. It stayed true to the show. I don't know why situation comedies need to end the show premise at the end of the run. Its as though because the audience is not going to see these characters anymore the characters should not see each other.
Mary Tyler Moore show did this first ( and did it very well) , I believe , and many others followed such as The Bob Newhart Show , Friends. Fraser doing it less well.
In the fifties and sixties most comedy shows did not have a final show. Leave It To Beaver did and it was basically a flashback show where the characters reminisce. Dick Van Dyke show was also a flashback where Rob finishes his autobiography and sells it to Alan Brady for a sitcom.

I do not think it was necessary to have Ray and Debra move or divorce or have any other major change that ends the situation of the situation comedy. I think the producers should be thanked for not padding the last show to an hour.
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post #5 of 8
5/19/05 at 8:48am
Dick Van Dyke show was also a flashback where Rob finishes his autobiography and sells it to Alan Brady for a sitcom.
I always thought the final show was the one where Rob was a 'gunslinger'
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post #6 of 8
5/19/05 at 9:00am
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" I always thought the final show was the one where Rob was a 'gunslinger' "

This was the last show filmed but not the last show broadcast. In reruns it is sometimes broadcast after the clip show but originally it was broadcast before.
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post #7 of 8
5/19/05 at 9:22am
This was the last show filmed but not the last show broadcast. In reruns it is sometimes broadcast after the clip show but originally it was broadcast before.
Ahhh, that explains it - thanks Gary. Do you know why they originally switched the air dates, or was that order planned all along? Did they feel that the 'flashback' episode provided better 'closure' for the series?
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post #8 of 8
5/19/05 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 
The flashback show was always planned to be the last show of the series. By having it be about Rob, who was based on Carl Reiner when Carl was on Your Show of Shows , sell his autobiography for a sitcom, it is basically completing a circle. The Dick Van Dyke Show was the sitcom that Rob sold to Alan Brady . In my opinion this is a much better ending then the Alan Brady show being cancelled and having the characters move on to new lives which is probably how it would be done today.

Since the finale had very little new footage, it was shot after a regular show rather then in a separate week. I don't recall after which show it was shot but there are books about the Dick Van Dyke Show which have that information.
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