The fourth season of Everybody Loves Raymond aired from September 20, 1999 to May 22, 2000
Production
The fourth season of Everybody Loves Raymond was produced by HBO Independent Productions, creator Philip Rosenthal's company Where's Lunch, and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants. The episode "Marie and Frank's New Friends" was the final appearance of character actor David Byrd, who passed away at the age of 68 on February 2, 2001 due to cancer. Starting in the season, episodes of Raymond were produced in high definition.
During the 1999–2000 TV season, some critics claimed Everybody Loves Raymond to be one of the greatest sitcoms in an otherwise terrible season for the genre. Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly, ranking Raymond the second-best series of 1999, claimed the cast "returned to full strength" in the season, and "no show has ever deserved its better-late-than-never ratings success more." Mitchell J. Near of Lawrence Journal-World called Marie and Frank "the best TV parents " of the 1999–2000 TV season, while Contra Costa Times ranked Raymond the second best show of the season. It was also on TV Guide's list of the best shows of 1999. Upon each episode's initial airing, Mike Hughes, a TV critic for Gannett News Service, included "Boob Job," "Sex Talk," "The Will," "Cousin Gerard," "Debra's Workout," "No Fat," "Left Back," "What's with Robert?," "Debra Makes Something Good," and "Confronting the Attacker" in his weekly feature of "Tonight's Must-See" programs. He called "Left Back" "a terrific episode, even by this show's high standards." Hal Boedeker gave a positive review of the season finale, labeling it "far more impressive than most ballyhooed sweeps programs." As he elaborated about the episode, " Plakson gives a memorably chilly performance, and the episode even manages a surprising cliffhanger."
Awards
Emmys
On May 24, 2000, a truck of 9,600 videotapes, each containing four segments from season four of Raymond, was stolen from a North Hollywood parking lot; they were meant for voters of the Emmy Awards, and the robbery occurred a week before content submission to the Emmys was due. The tapes had been dubbed only hours before by a Technicolor company in Camarillo, California. Although this resulted in a delay, as HBO and Worldwide Pants had to re-produce the tapes, Rosenthal responded that he had no worries about Raymond not gaining Emmy nominations as a result. On June 21, the truck was spotted by a driver in a location five minutes away from the parking lot; 9,100 of the tapes were found in the truck, and CBS donated them to hospitals and nursing homes. Everybody Loves Raymond's fourth season received nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including one Outstanding Comedy Series accolade for the season itself. Rosenthal and Romano were also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for writing "Bad Moon Rising," Will MacKenzie was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for his work on "The Christmas Picture," and Mike Berlin was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series for "Robert's Rodeo." Five acting award nominations were for the lead performers. Romano was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; Heaton was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series; Roberts was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series; and Garrett and Boyle were both nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In the end, Heaton won the Lead Actress award, giving Everybody Loves Raymond its first-ever Emmy win. Analyzed Rosenthal, the public airing of Heaton's September 10, 2000 winning increased the popularity of Raymond's cast, which was a prominent factor of "Italy," an episode that aired a month later, garnering 22 million viewers, a record for the show.
