I loved this article that came out in MSN News today. I, too, am one of those that NEVER got this show.

Everybody Loves Raymond true fact: Not everybody. We actually stopped strangers on the street to ask if they watched this CBS show in a desperate attempt to find out who were its fans. The huge ratings, the Gucci bagsful of Emmys—we never understood any of it. Ray Romano has an appealing, affable persona, but the show always struck us as very mean-spirited—especially the evil old bat played by Doris Roberts, who apparently had some sort of damning videotape evidence on every voting member of the Television Academy.