"The Pilot" is the first episode of the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television

Television in the United States

Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...

 situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...

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The episode was directed by Michael Lembeck

Michael Lembeck

Michael Lembeck is an actor, television and film director.Lembeck was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Caroline and Harvey Lembeck, an actor and comedian. He began acting in the late-1960s and directing in the 1970s. His most notable acting role was as Julie Cooper's husband, Max Horvath, on...

 and written by Philip Rosenthal

Philip Rosenthal

Philip Rosenthal is an American television writer and producer who is best known as the creator, writer and executive producer for the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond . The show was co-produced by Ray Romano, and based in part on Romano's comedy material...

.

Plot

Debra is at home feeding the kids when Ray returns from a road trip. They start to discuss Debra's birthday plans before being interrupted by Marie. Debra then leaves Ray in charge of the kids as she goes to the movies with Linda.

Ray leaves with Leo to get pizza and places Marie in charge. When Debra returns home, she finds the house spotless but learns that Ray's parents were there. She starts to get angry at Ray because he didn't listen to her. This results in Debra asking Ray not to invite his parents to her birthday. Ray is reluctant, but eventually tells them that there is no party and makes up a story that Debra and he are going to Bear Mountain. On Debra's birthday Ray's parents go to Ray's house to leave gifts for Debra, but find Debra and Ray there. Ray then explains why they can't come over every day. They accept it and ask Ray why is he so sensitive and Marie replies "because he's a writer", then they leave.

Ratings

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

 rated the episode as an A calling it "No small feat, considering the fate of this season's other most promising pilots". TV.com rated the episode 8.6 out of 10 with 92 ratings.

Trivia

• The pilot was actually filmed on another sitcom's sets. Ray's house is different and Marie's home is different from the homes used in the rest of the series. Also, parts of the set were from an earlier CBS sitcom, All in the Family
  All in the Family
  All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
  
  .
• This episode has the first mention of "The Fruit of the Month Club".
• Robert begins his short-term used catch phrase, "Everybody Loves Raymond", just as the sitcom's name.
• The twins are Gregory and Matthew (Ray Ramano's actual sons' names) meanwhile in the rest of the series it is Michael and Geofrey and the children are played by the Sweeten siblings in all succeeding episodes (replacing the Ferreira brothers & sister).
• Leo is not mentioned again in the series.