By India McCarty
Phil Rosenthal might be the creator of hit sitcom EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, but did you know the writer originally had different Hollywood plans?
“At Hofstra University, I majored in theater,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “My parents weren’t thrilled but they were supportive. Their only request was that I have something to fall back on, ‘so you know what kind of work you’re out of.’ I never had a Plan B.”
After graduation, Rosenthal didn’t have much luck with New York’s theater scene. Feeling frustrated, he ended up writing an off-Broadway show for him and his friends to star in.
“An agent saw me and urged me to move to Hollywood. ‘You’ll never stop working as an actor,’ he said,” he recalled. “So I packed a bag and relocated there but never started working as an actor.”
Related: Would EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND Get Cancelled Today?
Instead, Rosenthal wrote a “sitcom spec script” with a friend that led to his first TV-writing job and then EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND.
“In 1995, I saw a tape of Ray Romano doing stand-up and loved him. Then I heard he needed a writer to help develop a sitcom,” Rosenthal shared. “I wrote a pilot script, but Ray didn’t like the title I suggested based on his brother’s sarcastic remark. CBS did like it. They told him if the show was a hit, he could change it. When that happened, Ray asked again for a change. CBS said, ‘Are you crazy? You can’t change the name now. It’s a hit!’”
The show remains a beloved classic today and just marked its 30th anniversary with a 90-minute reunion special on CBS.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rosenthal called his experience on the sitcom “like going to high school, college, and some of grad school over nine years.”
“They’re lifelong friends,” he continued. “People ask me, do I miss doing the show, and I do miss doing it because of all the friends there. We feel like the show ran its course — we did 210 episodes — so I don’t miss it [in that way], but I do miss my friends.”
So, will Rosenthal and Romano ever team up again for a reboot of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND?
“We never wanted to do a reboot,” Rosenthal told Variety. “First of all, we can’t because, sadly, we’re missing some people. So it would never be the same. Secondly, I think Ray and I agree that they’re not really ever as good.”
While Rosenthal might not have gotten the Hollywood career he originally dreamed of, it looks like his turn to writing has more than paid off!
Read Next: 30 Years Later: EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND Cast Reunites for Can’t-Miss Special
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