An Everybody Loves Raymond Star Almost Had A Leading Role On Seinfeld

Elaine Benes was the last conceived of the four main "Seinfeld" characters. Note how she's nowhere to be seen in the pilot, "The Seinfeld Chronicles," and she only shows up at the end of the second produced (but fourth aired) episode, "Male Unbonding."

Obviously, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the one who got the part of Elaine, and there's a convincing argument to be made that she was the best actor on the show. (Let's see any of her costars make something as good as "Veep.") While JLD had an impressive resume before "Seinfeld," having been a "Saturday Night Live" cast member in the 1980s, the part of Elaine wasn't written for her and several other actresses auditioned for it.

One of those actresses was Patricia Heaton. As she told the story in 2020 on Access Daily: "The first audition [on 'Seinfeld'] went really well, then the callback, I just realized Jerry [Seinfeld] was just trying to get me to do something or be a certain way... it wasn't clicking, and I knew, I knew it wasn't working, but it all worked out well because Julie Dreyfus is sensational."

As Heaton noted, it worked out for her too, because she then got a starring role in another '90s sitcom: "Everybody Loves Raymond." Heaton's role there, as Raymond's (Ray Romano) easily-frustrated wife Debra, is the part that most people recognize her from (with good reason). If Heaton had been cast as Elaine, then she probably wouldn't have been looking for a part when "Raymond" premiered in 1996.

Unlike "Seinfeld," a show about singles living in New York City, "Everybody Loves Raymond" was a domestic sitcom taking place in suburban Long Island. Though despite the "domestic" premise, Ray and Debra's kids were consciously just background setting, rather than main characters in their own right. The real conflict of the series was between Ray & Debra and Ray's overbearing parents, Marie (Doris Roberts) and Frank (Peter Boyle), who lived across the street.

Heaton as Debra had spitfire and no BS energy, but she was a different kind of abrasive than Elaine was. Debra actually was a grounding force among the wackiness and straight woman to the series' comedy, whereas Elaine could be as callous and self-centered as the guys. Debra was the underdog of the show, because it was hard not to sympathize with how she can never get one over on Marie.

Like "Seinfeld," "Everybody Loves Raymond" ran for nine seasons. (Though, due to different season lengths, it had 210 episodes to the 180 of "Seinfeld.") A 30th anniversary reunion special for "Raymond" is airing this November, but unfortunately, don't expect a full-on revival; both Boyle and Roberts have passed away since "Everybody Loves Raymond" concluded. They're both irreplaceable as Frank and Marie, and without those characters, half the show is gone.

However, as a testament to how good she was as Debra, Heaton later starred in the similar sitcom "The Middle," playing a similar character. She may not be able to boast that she played Elaine, but playing Debra was a good consolation prize.