Seven years and a mantle full of Emmys later, Raymond is still smartly scripted, now with new characters added to a maturing, expanding family. Ray (Ray Romano) and Debra’s (Patricia Heaton) daughter isn’t a precocious five anymore, which has shifted the demands on them as parents toward adolescent issues. Twin boys have joined the fold—not that the kids figure into more than a few episodes per season. Ray’s brother, Robert (Brad Garrett), has married a girl from a conservative religious background. Aside from that, not much has changed. The show continues to benefit from spot-on ensemble acting and laugh-out-loud punch lines. (The sitcom is expected to reel in $1 billion in its first syndication cycle.)

Sadly, its biggest problem is still nasty digs. The Barones have become experts at verbal dodgeball. Ray and Debra mix things up from time to time, enjoying tender moments of affection to offset the tension. But Ray’s parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), never let up. After Ray and Debra get a home security system installed, Frank cackles, “I don’t need an alarm to scare away crooks at my place. I keep an old bat for that.” Later, when his hypercritical wife blackmails him into taking her side during a family squabble, he blurts, “Marie is my wife, and if I [don’t] support her in this, then she’ll be like an ice pick in my ear until I die.”