Parenthood ended last night after six heartfelt seasons. The series aired its season finale around a joyous event- the marriage of Hank and Sarah.
In real life, Ray Romano joined the cast in Season 4 as a photographer who hires Sarah, played by Lauren Graham. Their characters’ relationship developed from friendship to romance and finally an engagement.
Here what you need to know about the costars on and off screen.
1. Lauren Thinks Ray is ‘Very Sexy & Funny’
In an interview with Conan O’Brien, she gushed that Romano is both sexy and funny.
She also said that she and Romano are “the two people in the universe with the lowest self esteem.” Watch the clip above, where Graham explains the awkward encounter they had when Romano invited her to his house for a party.
On the show, Sarah falls for Hank’s awkward charms and finally says yes to his impromptu proposal.
In the season finale, Hank goes to Sarah’s father, Zeek, and says, “I just wanted to come by, man to man, and ask for your blessings.” He also explains his autism and Zeek replies, “I mean, it’s a surprise. It kind of explains a few things, but if Sarah’s OK with it, then I am too.”
With his health failing, the loving father also tells Hank:
You know, she’s the one that in life has taught me more about unconditional love. She never went after the material things in life — the clothes the cars, you know, all of that stuff, the money. She was all about love. She was all about really giving her heart to the people that she cared about the most. I just would ask that you take care of my daughter. You be there for her.
Hank responds, “Yeah, that’s gonna be my honor to do that.”
2. Ray Can Relate to Hank’s Awkwardness Around Women
(NBC)
The first time their characters kissed on the show, Romano told Graham that he would not be kissing her in rehearsals. The reason for this was so that it could appear on screen as awkward as possible.
He told the Examiner about his approach to the scene:
I like doing it because first of all … that’s in my wheelhouse. It’s very easy for me to be awkward especially around women. But with this guy that’s why I like this because it had to be awkward but filtered through Hank, which was totally different than anything I’ve done with Ray Barone or even Men of a Certain Age or anything. There was like a little bit of refusing to accept that it was awkward kind of. So it was a weird line I had to walk and I kind of felt that that scene was really unique and felt good when we did it.
3. Ray’s Wife Is Not a Fan of the Kissing
Romano has been married to his wife, Anna, since 1987.
In an interview with Yahoo, the actor dished, “My wife looked at the kiss on TV and then looked at me and said, ‘You know, we don’t need any more money. You know that, right?” And I said, “All right. Relax.'”
The clip above is the scene where Sarah finally agrees to marrying Hank.
4. Ray Thought the Bravermans Were a Real Family Before He Joined the Cast
Before he even got on set, Romano was connected to the Braverman family.
“I was watching for three seasons and I was drawn to the style of the show. I don’t think there’s a show like this, kind of, with that tone on TV,” he said in the clip above.
He was also a friend of the show’s creator, Jason Katims, and he originally joked that he would be willing to act on Parenthood for a low salary. His show, Men of a Certain Age, had just been canceled, and Katims took him up on the offer.
In the clip above, when Graham asks Romano if the allure of the TV family was ruined for him by coming onto the show, he said, “It is funny because I’m in the business but I still thought of them as a real family.”
5. Ray Thought He Would Get Hate Mail If He Beat Out Jason Ritter’s Character
(NBC)
As we know, Sarah had an ex-fiance, Mark, played by Jason Ritter.
In an interview with Magazine Mania, Romano said, “To compete with Jason Ritter. I don’t know if I could withstand the hate mail on the internet.”
Watch the video clip below, to see Romano’s reasoning unfold.