Driving Frank

"Driving Frank" is the second episode of the third season of the American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–05). The series follows the life of Newsday sportswriter Ray Barone (Ray Romano) and his oddball family, which includes wife Debra (Patricia Heaton), parents Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), brother Robert (Brad Garrett), daughter Ally (Madylin Sweeten), and twin sons Michael (Sullivan Sweeten) and Geoffrey (Sawyer Sweeten).

"Driving Frank"
Everybody Loves Raymond episode
Frank giving a "signal" to another driver during a driving test
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 2
Directed byWill Mackenzie
Written byCindy Chupack
Cinematography byMike Berlin
Editing byPatricia Barnett
Production code9802
Original air dateSeptember 28, 1998
Running time22 minutes

Plot

Members of the Barone family, including Ray, Debra, Robert, and Marie, are turned off by grandfather Frank's poor ethics as a driver, which is executed via him driving in police officer Robert's patrol car and cutting off a funeral procession while driving to an arcade named The Happy Zone. Ray and Debra are considering not have Frank drive their kids. Frank then, proudly, reveals he didn't renew his license because he didn't "want to wait in those long lines." Ray, with this realization, takes Frank's car keys out of his hand, which he then gives to Marie where she puts them in her bra.

Frank then goes to the DMV to take his testing driver, and (as part of a rule where a licensed driver has to ride with a student) his son Raymond goes along with him. Despite encompassing the same driving habits that have turned off his other relatives, he passes the test and gets another license. Although Debra reacts negatively, Ray feels a "little proud" for Frank because it shows that he's "really not that old." This gives both Ray and Debra the realization that they have to be the real "parents" of Frank.

Reception

Upon its airing, "Driving Frank" was the 21st most-viewed episode of the week with a Nielsen rating of 9.9, contributing to a ratings victory CBS had that week.[1] Screen Rant claimed "Driving Frank" to be a great example of Raymond's handling of family dynamics, also noting that it has some "pretty funny situations which include his own son (a police officer) giving him a ticket, in addition to Ray sitting through a particularly rough DMV test with Frank."[2] An extremely favorable December 1998 review from Matt Zoller Seitz of The Cincinnati Post highlighted a scene from "Driving Frank," where Debra says, "[Frank]'s not going to be able to drive forever." Seitz wrote, "Immediately you knew what [Raymond] was really thinking and why he looked so sad. Beneath the word 'drive' lurked the word 'live.' That the show had too much class to spell this out is extraordinary for TV."[3] As of December 2019, it is the seventh highest-rated Raymond episode about Frank on IMDb with a rating of 7.8/10.[2] For acting in "Driving Frank" and "Ping Pong," Peter Boyle was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.[4]

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References
  1. "Two weeks, two victories for CBS". The San Francisco Chronicle. October 7, 1998. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  2. Lagioia, Stephen (December 19, 2019). "Funniest Frank Episodes Of Everybody Loves Raymond (According To IMDb)". Screen Rant. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  3. Zoller Seitz, Matt (December 22, 1998). "Real, relevant 'Raymond' offers comic poetry of everyday". The Cincinnati Post (Final ed.). p. 5C.
  4. "Emmy Episode Submissions 1998–99". Gold Derby. March 7, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
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