Tonight I found myself again in a TV drought, there being nothing I cared to have on, really, as I worked at my computer. So, eventually I turned on reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond". It was a terrible episode, as so many of them are, regarding the behavior of the husband and wife toward each other. The husband, Ray, is made out to be a total fool (and tonight, he was!) and his wife, Debra, was a shrew, as usual. Their common roles are husband as child and wife as mother to their children and Ray. Ugh! I hate that!
The story line tonight was about a suitcase left on the stairs landing, each of them holding out for the other to carry it upstairs. Weeks went by, each one glaring at the other behind their backs about ignoring their single piece of luggage on the stairs. At one point Debra walks through wearing a top which was in the luggage which really irked Raymond, prompting him to blurt out about the stand off to his father. His dad encourages him to stand his ground, typically.
Ray had to go on a business trip and, instead of taking the suitcase with him, he put his belongings in a plastic bag, like a hobo. Talk about stubborn! Marie came over to the house and wondered what stunk. Debra and she sniffed around the rooms and determined it was coming from the suitcase. Before he left, Raymond had put a chunk of stinky cheese in it, that rascal. I guess he didn't consider that his stuff in that bag was going to smell like rotten cheese, too. Did he not need his shaving kit from the bag for his business trip?
Anyway, they both behaved so badly that I could hardly watch, but I wanted to see how it resolved. Eventually when Ray came home Debra was determined to be the better person and "win" by carrying it upstairs. Then Ray wanted to be the bigger person, have the upper hand, as it were, over Debra by taking it up. They proceeded to have a tug of war over it, Ray holding Debra's legs as she tried to hold the suitcase. And then brother Robert walked in and asked, dead pan, "how's the suitcase situation coming?"
It doesn't show how it finally resolved but my guess is that every time they traveled in the future, there were thoughts of a stand off repeat, 'cause that's the way they are. And not once did the three children show up in any of the scenes. How does that happen?
Did/do people think this was amusing when it was new, or were they upset by it like I am? I should have taken Justin's advice and save some of my daytime listening for at night on Mondays to avoid this type of thing! Ugh!
