[Bison256]

In Back in the Saddle two parter we discover Ray had destroyed his academic career due to an accident and was selling used cars. So in universe why didn't he return to working with Egon before the Back in the Saddle? It's not as if he had much else going on.

I suppose the real world reason is Frank Welker higher salary. That's why they replaced him as Slimer.

[Kingpin]

Because the showrunners weren't interested in having any of the other original Ghostbusters appear beyond the two-part cameo.

In-universe? I guess it might've been a combination of Ray (like Peter and Winston) not being fully aware that things in New York were heating up again after the business shut down, and he may have also been in a financial/work position that limited his ability to go back to New York until Janine got the ball rolling to get him and the others back in the city for Egon's birthday.

[mrmichaelt]

True, there was the implication Ray was living paycheck to paycheck and had to measure out his expenses i.e. why he was glum when the flights were cancelled because he was banking on the money he was getting from appearing at the workshop at the Paranormal Expo in Miami for his monthly car payment.

And yeah, news of the Extreme Ghostbusters might not have reached California, Idaho, and wherever Winston was living. Might have been kept to local news used as puff pieces since they weren't really taken seriously by authority figures like Mayor McShane. Plus, who knows, the Feds might have suppressed wider coverage of them but that's more tinfoil hat speculation.

I think they wanted to keep the OGBs in their 'four corners' for the duration of the series because it was about the new team and besides it felt definitive enough that they moved on for good when they shuttered the business for the final time post-RGB. Peter, sure, was trying to bank on it from time to time in his career as a Hollywood agent and get another movie made and Ray seems to occasionally have been booked for conventions but he only agreed to them for the extra income. But seems the $ was the bigger factor. While Winston and Janine seemed the most disconnected from the paranormal, working as a pilot and seeing the world and got some other 9 to 5 until she was downsized. Janine seemed to have kept in touch with the OGBs except Egon up until the events of Darkness at Noon, based her being able to get them to come for his birthday in Back in the Saddle.

[Bison256]

I suppose it was the late 90s the internet wasn't as wide spread, so news of the return of paranormal events might not have reached much outside of NYC. But Ray seems the type to visit paranormal BBSs and news groups, but maybe he couldn't afford internet access? :Shurg:

[weaponfeel]

I suppose it could have something to do with Ray's possible terrible financial and/or employment circumstances combined with his ignorance of the fact that things in New York are heating up again following the business slowdowndrive mad. his ability to go back to New York until Janine arranges for him and the others to return to the city in time for Egon's birthday.