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Everybody Loves Raymond fans have praised the 30th Anniversary Reunion special for delivering a “beautiful” tribute to late stars Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts and Sawyer Sweeten.
Boyle died in 2006 at 71, while Sweeten died in 2015 at the age of 19 and Roberts died in 2016 at the age of 90.
Boyle and Roberts played the parents of comedian Ray Romano’s character in the series, while Sweeten played one of Ray’s twin sons, Geoffrey Barone.
The reunion special aired on CBS Monday and reunited Romano with showrunner Phil Rosenthal and fellow cast members Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, Monica Horan, Sullivan Sweeten and Madylin Sweeten.
The 90-minute special featured an extended tribute to Boyle and Roberts, made up of clips of the pair from the show and memories shared by the cast. Rosenthal pointed out that many people don’t realize that Boyle trained to be a monk, or that the best man at his wedding was Beatles musician John Lennon.
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Brad Garrett and Ray Romano reunite at the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion’ (Sonja Flemming/CBS)
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The ‘Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion’ brought together cast members (clockwise from left): Brad Garrett, Ray Romano, Sullivan Sweeten, Patricia Heaton, Monica Horan, and Madylin Sweeten (Sonja Flemming/CBS)
On social media, fans expressed their appreciation of the tribute with one writing: “It is so sad that Doris Roberts, Peter Boyle, and Sawyer Sweeten can’t be here to celebrate the 30th anniversary special of Everybody loves Raymond. May their memories live on forever.”
On X, another fan wrote: “Doris Roberts was everyone’s tv mom, she just had a charm to her. So said that she’s gone. Such a great actress. I still watch Everybody Loves Raymond, til this day. It still holds up in the year 2025.”
One added: “Aww them talking about Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle” with a teary emoji, while another said: “This Everybody Loves Raymond anniversary special had me choked up when they started talking about Doris, Peter, and Sawyer.”
One said simply: “I didn’t need to cry, that tribute was beautiful.”
Romano confirmed at the start of the reunion that the show will never be rebooted because Boyle, Roberts and Sweeten are no longer around.
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The original cast of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ (CBS)
Garrett said the same thing in an interview earlier this year, telling People: “There is no show without the parents. They were the catalyst, and to do anything that would resemble that wouldn’t be right to the audiences or to the loyal fan base. And it was about those two families, and you can’t get around that.”
Everybody Loves Raymond, which starred Ray Romano as the titular character, ran between 1996 and 2005.
The popular series followed Raymond’s life as a sports journalist and a busy family man, and was celebrated for its comic depiction of family life in Long Island, New York.
Although Garrett said he’d never reprise his role of Romano’s brother, he said he feels “very grateful” looking back at his experience, adding: “I know the reboot won’t happen, but 30 years later, I got very lucky to get on that bus.”