Some things stay the same, others change as Everybody Loves Raymond enters its eighth season on CBS. Sportswriter Ray Barone (Ray Romano) is still the husband of PR exec Debra Romano (Patricia Heaton), the couple still has three kids, and they still live next door to Ray's overbearing parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts). However, Ray's neurotic policeman brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), has finally married his longtime girlfriend Amy (Monica Horan) -- and at long last has moved out of his parent's house and into a place of his own. In fact, we don't see much of Robert during the early stages of season eight, due to contractual problems between actor Brad Garrett and the series' producers. Of the season's episodes, several stand out: "Misery Loves Company" finds Debra bemoaning the fact that she and Ray aren't nearly as lovey-dovey as newlyweds Robert and Amy; in "Peter on the Couch," Amy's eccentric brother Peter (Chris Elliott) misinterprets an invitation to drop in and stay a while to mean "stay forever and ever"; "The Bird" is the series' traditional Thanksgiving episode, this time pairing Frank and Doris off against Amy's folks (Fred Willard, Georgia Engel), in a "Pilgrims vs. Indians" charade; "Slave" finds Ray and Debra's daughter, Ally (Madylin Sweeten), regretting the fact that she has proven herself the "perfect" babysitter for her younger siblings; and in "The Mentor," Ray and Robert are astonished when a young man (Jason Kravits) insists that their dad, Frank, has been the most positive influence on his life! While Everybody Loves Raymond continued to post excellent ratings during its eighth season, for the first time in five years the series brought home no Emmy awards, even though it received nine nominations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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