“Everybody Loves Raymond” Spin-Off Starring Brad Garrett Was Axed for This One Reason
“Everybody Loves Raymond” Spin-Off Starring Brad Garrett Was Axed for This One Reason
Victoria EdelWed, March 25, 2026 at 9:46 PM UTC
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Brad Garrett in 'Everybody Loves Raymond'Credit: CBS via Getty -
Everybody Loves Raymond proved to be a runaway hit with audiences
Hoping to duplicate that success, the show's creator shopped a spinoff that would have followed Brad Garrett's Robert and Monica Horan's Amy
Ultimately, the spinoff was not green lit, citing changes in taste that occurred during the show's nine year run
Everybody Loves Raymond almost has a spin-off, but it got canceled for a very odd reason.
Phil Rosenthal, who created Everybody Loves Raymond, based off the comedy of Ray Romano, opened up about the spin-off during an episode of Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Rosenthal noted during the episode that it took him 10 years to get a second program on TV: the PBS series I'll Have What Phil's Having, which turned into Netflix’s Somebody Feed Phil.
“I tried to make another sitcom after Raymond,” Rosenthal, 66, said. “They didn't want it. I thought that was my purpose in life. Raymond was on 9 years. I thought, ‘I guess I was put here to make sitcoms.’ ”
Monica Horan (left) and Brad Garrett in 'Everybody Loves Raymond'Credit: CBS/Everett Collection
But he was out of luck. “Nobody wanted, not even the spin-off of Raymond, they didn't want.” Ferguson, 50, asked what the spin-off would have been. “Robert and my wife Monica,” he explained. Robert was played by Brad Garrett, while Rosenthal’s wife Monica Horan starred on the series as Brad’s eventual wife, Amy MacDougall.
“They were established on the show,” he said. “And not only that, but her family was established on the show. Fred Willard, Georgia Engel, Chris Elliot, they were in 30 episodes of the show. They were proven.” Willard and Engel played Hank and Pat McDougall, who are devout Presbyterians from Pennsylvania who object to the marriage. They eventually accept Robert as part of the family. Elliott played Peter MacDougal, Amy’s older brother, who tries to break Robert and Amy up.
“You know why they said they wouldn't give us more than a pilot?” Rosenthal asked. “Everyone was over 40. They said the business changed during the nine years of Raymond.” The spin-off was dead.
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Everybody Loves Raymond also starred Romano as Ray Barone, Patricia Heaton as Debra, Doris Roberts as Marie and Peter Boyle as Frank. Ray and Debra’s children were played by Madylin Sweeten as Ally and Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten as Geoffrey and Michael. The series ran from 1996 to 2005.
Last November, the cast reunited for a 30th anniversary special for the show. Rosenthal told PEOPLE at the time, "I tried for a 20 year reunion and I tried for a 25 year reunion, but I can only say that the newest leadership at CBS was into it, and so that's why we're here today."
The cast of 'Everybody Loves Raymond.' From left: Brad Garrett, Monica Horan, Madlyn Sweeten, Sawyer Sweeten, Sullivan Sweeten, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Doris Roberts and Peter BoyleCredit: Monty Brinton/CBS Photo Archive/Getty
"Yeah, we had trouble getting it made, but we always wanted to do it," Romano said, adding, "And this one just came to be."
Rosenthal and Romano, 68, were clear that they didn’t want the show to be a reboot because of the deaths of three cast members. Boyle died in 2006 at 71, while Roberts died in 2016 at 90. Sawyer also died in 2015.
During the podcast, Rosenthal also reflected on how Raymond wasn’t a top show at first, noting that the series came in at #84 on the TV Top 100. At first, the show aired on Fridays at 9:30. “The advantage of that was no one expected us to do well in that time slot,” he said. Over time, the show shifted to Mondays, and from season three on, it was always a top 15 show.
But Rosenthal said at a certain point, they stopped caring about the numbers. “I only cared that we were good to be good,” he said. “All you can do is the best you can, right? So that's all we were focused on, and we cared very much about it.”
The show ended after nine seasons because Rosenthal felt they’d run out of ideas, but he revealed that executives talked to Romano about doing a tenth season without him. “Thank God he felt the same way,” he said.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
