Everybody Loves Raymond: Frank, the Writer

Everybody Loves Raymond: Frank, the Writer
CBS
October 18, 1996
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Tucker Cawley's first of thirty-seven stories is the first where I feel like we get a sense of real people underneath the cartoons, as Ray's father gets published in Reader's Digest and starts to think of himself as a capital-W Writer.  Both Frank and Ray show their vulnerabilities, and caring for each other.  If the rest of the episode had been on that level, or on the other hand if it were funnier, I would've gone with a B.

Kareem appears as himself in the opening scene, which has nothing to do with the rest of the episode.  It does at least establish that Debra is a sports fan and thus a good match in that sense for sports columnist Ray.