Everybody Loves Raymond Fans Crown An Unexpected Winner For Their Favorite Couple

"Everybody Loves Raymond" was a deceptively simple sitcom. The premise was straightforward: everyman sports writer Ray Barone (Ray Romano) and his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) lived across the street from Ray's overbearing parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), plus his pessimistic brother Robert (Brad Garrett).

But "Everybody Loves Raymond" was about a lot more than just Frank and Marie coming over to Ray's house every week and bugging everyone. It was really a show about marriage–the daily moments, the conflicts, and above all the reconciliation. In his 2006 book "You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom," creator Phil Rosenthal talks about how the sitcom was designed to show relationships at different stages. Ray and Marie represent couples who are in the middle of their relationship and still figuring out their conflict styles, while Frank and Marie represent couples who have been together for decades and fully understand each other. In later seasons, Robert and his paramour Amy (Monica Horan) came to represent new couples who are learning how to live together.

Recently, when a Redditor u/studli3n14 polled their fellow Reddit users on which "Everybody Loves Raymond" relationship is their favorite. They had a surprising answer.

That's right, Frank and Marie took the top spot in the poll, with 83 votes out of almost 200 total. Coming in second was Robert and Amy with 45, and then Ray and Debra with 32. (Hank and Pat, Warren and Lois, and Bernie and Linda also received votes).

The answer might seem like a surprise, given how often Frank and Marie squabble with each other, but it actually makes sense if you know the characters. As Redditor u/ericfoster2003 puts it, "No matter how cranky and callous [Frank] seems, Marie is his girl and he loves her."

u/JerseyJedi agreed, writing that, "Despite initial appearances, [Frank and Marie] actually have the healthiest marriage on the show, because they're open and honest with each other. They make fun of each other, but it's shown that they both genuinely ENJOY the witty banter between them, and in quieter moments they are shown to care deeply for each other, while acknowledging each other's flaws and loving each other anyway. It's a really honest relationship."

By contrast, u/JerseyJedi argues that Ray and Debra appear to co-exist more peacefully, but that both of them actually feel resentment towards each other and bottle it up. Robert and Amy, meanwhile, are that type of new couple who tries to deny they have any conflicts whatsoever–although u/JerseyJedi still considers theirs to be the second-healthiest marriage on the show.

It's a testament to the show's writing that all six characters can bicker with each other all day long, but at the end of the day still win fans over.