Next Year May Be Last for 'Raymond'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday July 25, 2002 01:00 PM EDT

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Next season, the seventh for "Everybody Loves Raymond," may be the last for the hit CBS show, its creator, Phil Rosenthal, told Variety. The announcement follows this week's news that the show's star, Ray Romano, 44, is about to try out a feature film career (next year he'll take on the starring role in a comedy called "Action Abramowitz") and last week's announcement that "Everybody Loves Raymond" had received 11 Emmy nominations. As Rosenthal told the trade paper, the network's deal for the series expires next May, as does Romano's contract. The producer insists his announcement is not a ploy to get more money out of CBS. "I love Les (Moonves, president of CBS), and they've been incredibly supportive," Rosenthal told Variety. "But when it's over, it's over. You don't want to get repetitive, and I've never seen a show get better after seven seasons . . . The decision won't be made over money." The producer added that the final verdict on the fate of "Raymond" might ultimately rest with Romano.