Ray's on TV

Ray's on TV
Ray appearing on the TV show Sportscall in "Ray's on TV"
Season	2
Episode	1
Air Date	September 22, 1997 (USA) September 21, 2004 (Canada)
Cast	Ray Romano Patricia Heaton Brad Garrett Doris Roberts Peter Boyle Madylin Sweeten Sawyer Sweeten Sullivan Sweeten Kevin James Andy Kindler Roy Firestone James Worthy
Director(s)	Michael Lessac
Writer(s)	Tucker Cawley
Preceded by	Why Are We Here?
Followed by	Father Knows Least

Ray's on TV is the 1^st episode of Season 2, and is episode 23 of the full 210 episodes for the entire series. In this episode, Ray makes an appearance on TV during a sports show, but it doesn't go quite as planned.

Episode Information

• Episode Title: Ray's on TV
• Episode Number: Season 2, Episode 1 (#23 of 210)
• Air Date: September 22, 1997
• Episode description (from DVD): "Ray's first appearance on the TV show, "Sportscall.""
• Cast:
  • Ray Romano as Ray
  • Patricia Heaton as Debra
  • Brad Garrett as Robert
  • Doris Roberts as Marie
  • Peter Boyle as Frank
  • Madylin Sweeten as Ally
  • Sawyer Sweeten as Geoffrey
  • Sullivan Sweeten as Michael
  • Kevin James as Kevin
  • Andy Kindler as Andy
  • Roy Firestone as Himself
  • James Worthy as Himself
• Crew:
  • Michael Lessac - Director
  • Tucker Cawley - Writer
• Preceded by: "Why Are We Here?"
• Followed by: "Father Knows Least"

Synopsis

The episode begins with Debra talking to Ray about a picture that Ally drew of the family. It appeared to show Frank and Marie as giants attacking their house. But Ally clarified and explained that they were monsters, not Grandma and Grandpa. More drawings were discussed throughout the episode.

Later, while Ray's working in the Press Box at Shea Stadium, he's having fun joking with his friends and co-workers Kevin Daniels (who does play-by-play for the New York Mets) and Andy the "stat guy". Kevin gets a call from Roy Firestone and asks him to fill in for Harvey Johnson on his TV show Sportscall. Roy also says he wants Ray on the show with him.

While they were filming the show, Ray doesn't know how to act because he's never been on TV before. He stumbles over his words and pronounces words incorrectly, such as "axed" instead of "asked". On top of that, he ends up scratching the microphone attached to his tie while he's talking.

Even though his family praised him for doing well on the show, they actually felt differently... When they found out Ray was going to be on the next show as well, they criticize everything he does: how he talks and acts. They didn't want him to make a fool out of himself on national television again.

The second show on which Ray appeared didn't go so well. But when he got home, his family still tried to make him feel good.

Running Gags

• The whole episode is based on how Ray speaks improperly. That issue is revisited throughout the whole series.

• When Ray asks about the day he was born, Marie tells him that this was actually the happiest day of her life, and that she was in fact not lying about that. She then says "don't eat that now Robby." This is one of the many times where Marie pays more attention to Ray and ignores her other son, which is one of the main themes of the series.

Trivia

• This is one of the first episodes where Ray tells Robert he has to move out of his parents' house.

• Also, this is one of the earliest times Frank's lodge is mentioned. Ray calls it "the Elks".

Production Notes

• Ellen Sandler and Cindy Chupack take over for Bruce Kirschbaum as Co-Executive Producers. This season, they are credited together.
• Steve Tompkins takes over for Jeremy Stevens as Creative Consultant, who becomes a Supervising Producer.
• Lew Schneider moves up from Co-Producer to Producer, joining Ray Romano.
• Steve Skrovan moves up from Story Editor to Executive Story Editor, and is joined by Tucker Cawley.
• Last season, after The Game, Veronica Gonzalez-Rubio temporarily left as First Assistant Director for another project and Tena Yatroussis subbed for her, who was also the First Assistant Director for the second to seventh episodes. But now Rubio is back.
• John Rago subs for Kenneth R. Shapiro as Technical Coordinator.
• Coby Turner takes over for Karen Wald as Script Supervisor.
• Brentley Walton takes over for Michael Clark as Sound Mixer.
• Re-Recording Mixer Anthony Constantini is now permanently credited correctly. He was previously credited as Anthony Costantini in the first season, except in the episode I Love You. However, in original airings, Constantini gets incorrectly credited again starting with the episode Anniversary.
• Tom Paris has retired, so as of this episode, there's no Executive Consultant.
• There's no longer a separate Post-Production Facility or Color company, the latter of which is because the show now uses color by the camera company used for taping.
• Amy Crow, Jason C. Gelles, and George B. White III take over for Timothy Griffin, Kristin Newman, and Nicole Ranadive as part of the Production Staff. In the next episode, the new staff is credited for the first time.
• After one season at Hollywood Center Studios (except the Pilot at Universal City Studios), the show moves to Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where they tape all the way to the series finale.
• Panavision is now credited on the copyright slide, taking Fotokem's place.
• HBO Independent Productions has been one of the logos the entire run, but this is the first episode where they are copyrighted.
• The 1997 logo for Where's Lunch debuts, but two episodes, Traffic School and The Visit, feature held-back lunches from the 1996 logo (second version).

Quotes

• Ray: So you really think I was alright last night?
• Frank: Yeah.
• Ray: Oh good, good. Because I'm going to do it again tonight.
• Marie: They want you back?
• Ray: so you did notice the words!
• Frank: Listen, you've got bigger problems than your little words there!

• Ray: How about in high school Ma? "Oh don't worry Ray, the girls, they don't know what they're missing." They do, they do, and they didn't miss it!

• Ray: They've been lying to us our whole lives. Every time they ever tried to make us feel good about ourselves.
• Robert: When did that happen to me?
• Marie: Honey, I'm sure we lied to you plenty of times.
• Ray: You got to get your own place, man.
• Marie: Don't be silly. We love having you here.
• Robert: Oh, my God!
• Marie: Ray, we told you you were a good writer so that you would think you were a good writer, see? Then somebody gave you a job. That's what parents do. They all lie to their kids for their own good.
• Ray: Other parents aren't lying, Ma. They believe in their children.
• Marie: No, they don't.

• Debra: Look at this, Ally drew another picture of our family, and she still says these monsters aren't your parents.
• Ray: Well, maybe they're not.
• Debra: Ray, this one is bald, and this one's carrying a covered dish.
• Ray: You know what, save that, someday a therapist may want to see it.

• Frank: I could've eaten a box of Alpha-Bits and crapped a better interview.

External links

• "Ray's on TV" at IMDb.com