Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Third Season

The 26 episodes of the third season find this enormously popular sitcom in full flower, with the characters fully developed, and some genuinely poignant moments creeping into even the most raucously funny shows. For example, when Debra (Patricia Heaton) refuses to allow the kids to ride with grandpa Frank (Peter Boyle) after his latest car accident, the titular Ray (Ray Romano) sees his dad's increasingly poor driving as a symptom of his parents' mortality. In “The Visit,” Debra's a little miffed that her visiting mother (Katherine Helmond) isn't more like her nurturing mother-in-law Marie (Doris Roberts). And the season finale, “How They Met,” takes Ray and Debra on a little trip down memory lane, as they recall their first meeting 15 years before. In between are a slew of rib-ticklers, among them “Getting Even,” in which Ray embarrasses Debra at an auction and spends the next week looking over his shoulder after she promises to get even. “Robert's Date,” which fans voted their fifth favorite episode of the entire series, is a showcase for Brad Garrett, whose character goes a little wacky when he starts dating his much younger, much wilder patrol partner. Season three is an unusually strong year for Everybody Loves Raymond, with cast, writers, and directors all at the top of their respective games. With DVD extras including two optional audio commentaries with Romano and series creator Phil Rosenthal, bloopers and deleted scenes, and a Museum of Television & Radio panel discussion with the cast and Rosenthal, everybody's gotta love this. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)