The second part of CBS’ Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion will air on December 22, 2025, at 8/7c. But for fans who wondered how the show’s actors felt about the first part of the reunion, which aired on November 24, star Patricia Heaton recently revealed that stepping on the reconstructed Everybody Loves Raymond sets had “sort of a Twilight Zone vibe because it felt so deeply familiar.”

Heaton, 67, who starred on all nine seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond as Debra Barone, said on a December 14, 2025 episode of podcast The Rubin Report that for the reunion special, “they reconstructed this set. And it was sort of a Twilight Zone vibe because it felt so deeply familiar. Spent nine and a half years on that set, over 200 episodes. And so it was like a weird kind of ‘we’re here but we’re not really here’ [feeling].” The original sets for the show were disassembled after the series ended in 2005. 

Set aside, Heaton had a great time filming special and reuniting with the people who made the original series, noting that “all the crew came back. And so that just shows you kind of what a family this was — I remember every crew member’s name, I don’t remember my kids’ birthdays. And I remember every crew member’s name.”

She also praised the show’s actors and writers, saying, “you just realize what a rare thing it is to have that kind of chemistry among the actors with that level of writing. And because it’s on a network, you’re limited to the things you can say — you can’t curse. There’s certain things you can’t show. And so I feel like either it’s gonna get really dumbed down because of that, or it gets really elevated because the writers have to work extra hard. And that’s what happened on, Everybody Loves Raymond, under the leadership of Phil Rosenthal.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Heaton reflected on her recent move from Los Angeles to Nashvile, and being part of the final era of major network multi-camera sitcoms: “I always was grateful, but I looked back on it and I thought we really didn’t realize that we were in this golden era of television.” Recalling the perks that TV actors often enjoyed in the ’90s, she said, “the money was flowing then. You know, it ain’t anymore.”

Heaton is still acting in both film and television, and was most recently seen in the 2025 Al Pacino horror film The Ritual.