The Toaster (Everybody Loves Raymond)

According to Nielsen Media Research, "The Toaster" tied with the CBS television film Christmas in My Hometown for the 12th most-viewed program of the week of December 16, 1998, garnering 10.8% of 97 million American homes.^[1] Reviewing season three of Raymond, Jeffrey Robinson of DVD Talk called the episode "quite funny" and filled with "some classic moments."^[2] It has been named the eighth best episode of Raymond by The Oregonian^[3] and is a series favorite for Rosenthal.^[4]

"The Toaster" has been placed on several retrospective list of best Christmas episodes.^[5] Screen Rant ranked it the second best Christmas episode from a 1990s sitcom,^[6] and The New York Observer placed it at number ten on its list of all-time Christmas episodes.^[7] The Herald-Dispatch ranked it number two on its list,^[8] and Channel 24 number nine.^[9] Both lists highlighted the episode's lines "You’re a trophy wife? What contest in hell did I win?"^[8] which also topped Screen Rant's list of best Frank Barone quotes.^[10] Channel 28 also named it one of the top ten best Raymond one-liners.^[11] People put Marie and Frank's argument about the toaster as one of Roberts' best moments in the show, elaborating that it showcased "some of the finest acting Peter Boyle and Roberts would ever do together."^[12]

On May 3, 2005, all of the third season of Everybody Loves Raymond was released to DVD; the set not only features "The Toaster," but also an audio commentary track of the episode by Romano and Rosenthal.^[2] It was also released to Amazon Prime on November 8, 2013 alongside the other season three episodes.^[13] It, along with the whole series, was also available on Netflix until September 1, 2016.^[14]