Not Everybody Loves Patricia Heaton

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Not Everybody Loves Patricia
By JESSE GREEN
Published: December 31, 2006


(Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)
Patricia Heaton, a star of “The Scene” at Second Stage, isn’t reluctant to speak her mind.

AT Frank E. Campbell’s funeral chapel on Madison Avenue two weeks ago, friends and colleagues gathered to remember the actor Peter Boyle, who died on Dec. 12 at 71. They told stories about his impishness, his artfulness, his liberal fervor. Judy Collins sang “Amazing Grace.”

In the pews Patricia Heaton couldn’t stop sobbing. For the nine seasons she had played Debra Barone on the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” Mr. Boyle had played her Neanderthal father-in-law. They passed much of their downtime jousting about politics....

***

(She's) the woman who in 1998 became honorary co-chairwoman of Feminists for Life, a group whose goals include economic and social support for women who “refuse to choose” abortion. Ms. Heaton’s campus speeches and Washington lobbying resulted in the occasional snub from strangers (and the argumentative attention of friends like Mr. Boyle), but she managed to avoid the organized wrath of the left. More recently, however, she has found that the protective varnish of sitcom stardom degrades very quickly and that the ideal of affection, or even civility, among people who disagree is not widely upheld.

Her latest skirmish began several months ago when an industry friend expressed his concerns about embryonic stem-cell research. In Missouri, he explained, voters were considering a constitutional amendment that would permit the harvesting of stem cells from donated eggs and aborted fetuses. Because of the close race for control of Congress, the proposal drew national attention; the Democratic candidate for the Senate supported the amendment, while the Republican opposed it....(S)he agreed to tape a 12-second message for a fund-raising video, in which she said: “Amendment 2 actually makes it a constitutional right for fertility clinics to pay women for eggs. Low-income women will be seduced by big checks, and extracting donor eggs is an extremely complicated, dangerous and painful procedure.”

But the video, which also included St. Louis sports figures, turned into a Mel Gibson-size nightmare when it got onto the Internet and, without her knowledge, was then shown as an advertisement on television during Game 4 of the World Series. It didn’t help that it looked so cheesy or that it began, inexplicably, with the actor Jim Caviezel (who had played Jesus in Mr. Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”) staring weirdly at the camera and speaking in Aramaic....Also unbeknownst to Ms. Heaton, (Michael J.) Fox, his Parkinsonian tremors clearly visible, had just appeared in an ad supporting the amendment. Because of the timing, her comments looked like a response to his and became associated with Rush Limbaugh’s suggestion that Mr. Fox was faking his symptoms for sympathy....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/theater/31gree.html?pagewanted=all

[acmavm]

1. Yeah, read that earlier. And I'm one of the ones that doesn't love

the woman.

She can walk out on an awards show because she doesn't like the language but when her career is going down the proverbial poop chute, she can take a role that involves boatloads of profanity.

That says all that needs to be said in one illustration of how opportunistic she is. Plus I HATED her on ELR.

[Bjornsdotter]

3. Same here

Can't stand her...she was the only reason I never watched ELR.

Cheers

[maddezmom]

2. whatever Patricia

You're on the wrong side of most positions I find important and your agent should have warned you timing is everything. :eyes:

[leftchick]

4. what a puff piece

It sounds like her PR person paid for this. It wouldn't shock me coming from the NYT.

[NYCGirl]

5. I want to see the play she's in right now, though. I LOVE Tony Shaloub! NT

[ikojo]

22. I love Tony Shaloub as well...

I wonder if he's liberal or a pug? I love MONK! Watching it right now.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. An interesting read.And i can totally relate to the origami boobs.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

7. Here's a real "winner" from the article"

<snip>

What finally helped was meaningful work, marrying Mr. Hunt and the huge responsibility of caring for children. (“And thank God I found somebody good to do it for me,” she said. “I mean, I wouldn’t hire just any Swedish nanny.”)

<snip>

[noamnety]

8. I like this part, too

"She supports gay rights and the use of most birth control." Most?

Must be nice to feel empowered to limit other women's birth control options and force them to have unwanted pregnancies, when you can afford to hire someone to raise the kids you had, eh?

[roguevalley]

15. I don't care what she supports myself. She's not my mom. as for

the idea that no abortion is justified, that's nazi-istic to me.

[noamnety]

24. I start to care

when people like that start trying to influence public policy.

If she had her own personal opinions about which forms of birth control she wanted, or didn't want to use, and she kept those opinions as personal - applicable to herself - I wouldn't have a problem with it whatsoever.

Me, I don't like the pill, for a number of reasons ranging from personal health effects that I experienced, to concerns about altering our own hormone levels in ourselves, to hormones in our sewer system. But I'd sign a petition to help make it more accessible to other women, without reservation, and I strongly oppose pharamacists and insurance companies that stand in the way of women having equal access to health care. Every medication and procedure has risks and benefits, and every patient needs to sort that out for themselves.

[Eric J in MN]

21. Maybe a reference to the morning-after pill,

...which Senator Rich Santorum (R-PA) has criticized as supposedly sometimes acting to cause an abortion.

[ikojo]

23. Some on the far right of the abortion issue really think

abortion is used as a form of birth control.

[XOKCowboy]

11. The responsibility of caring for children??

Her idea of caring for her children is hiring a good nanny? :puke: I really didn't think she could disgust me MORE before I read that.

[pitohui]

9. oh boo hoo

you know if she had just stfu and didn't make commercials about matters she knows nothing about, maybe she wouldn't look like such a jerk next to michael j. fox, one of our most beloved entertainers

no pity here

why shouldn't low income women be well-paid for their eggs anyway, oh that's right, because low income women should never be allowed to escape from their trap

jeez louise what's wrong w. these people?

[seabeyond]

10. i watched her with dr phil one day, boo hooing about her skills as a parent

i had two little ones and was amazed at how much she didnt get as a mom. how she didnt accept responsibility as a parent, and as a parent one has to go beyond hard work. she simply didnt get it. i really sat surprised.

then later i hear she is lecturing others in being parent, and person. i wasnt impressed with her own inabilities, certainly wasnt going to take being lectured by her.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. I stopped watching "Raymond" because of her. Could not stomach looking at her.

[sendero]

13. She was bad enough...

.... but that henpecked, whipped, beaten-down puppy-dog of a man played by her screen hubby didn't work too well either :)

[Canuckistanian]

14. I hated the dynamic of that show.

The ultimate goal of the husband was to have sex with his wife. The wife only gave out her sexual favors as rewards or "special treats".

And Patricia Heaton portrayed the frigid controller pefectly.

[Ilsa]

18. The first season was okay. Then it turned into too much antagonism

between the wife and mother-in-law, the husband and wife, and there was more than a hint of attraction between the wife and her brother-in-law. It became a family bash fest where everyone makes up in the end (including Ray nailing his wife), which is soooo unlike reality for most families.

Barf. I stopped watching it as well when they ruined it.

[Jade Fox]

19. I agree....

the dynamics between those two characters (Ray and Deborah) were downright creepy. One of the few episodes of that show I watched all the way through contained a scene where the two of them hit each other--hard, and in anger. I sat there with my mouth hanging open wondering when domestic violence had became "funny" again. The scene was shocking and irresponsible. Oh, and not funny.

[rebel with a cause]

26. found it hard to watch at times but

enjoyed watching Marie take her down. Oh, and the show where Raymond was trying to be her hero and about killed her in doing so was especially enjoyable. Okay, I'll admit it - I'm usually a caring person but I can be a little mean when it comes to people like her, especially when it all just pretend. :7

[Sugar Smack]

16. Patricia who?

[Redbear]

17. Crazy Idea: Treat Her With Respect

If Peter Boyle could do it, why can't we?

[King Coal]

20. Yeah. What's wrong with cheap labor?

:sarcasm:

[ThsMchneKilsFascists]

25. Cause Peter Boyle got paid to do it? n/t

[xchrom]

27. i don't love her.

and -- with no disrespect to mr boyle -- i hated every body loves raymond.