Rosenthal, Phil 1960-

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Rosenthal, Phil 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born 1960; married Monica Horan (an actress). Education: Hofstra University, graduated, 1981.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—David Vigliano, Vigliano Associates, 584 Broadway, Ste. 809, New York, NY 10012.

CAREER:

Television producer and author. During early career, worked various jobs, including as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; also worked as a film editor and actor; part owner in two Los Angeles-based restaurants. Television work includes supervising producer, Coach (series), American Broadcast Company (ABC), 1989-96; creator and producer, Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) 1996-2004; producer, with Bill Clinton, President Clinton: Final Days (recording of banquet in Washington, DC), 2000; producer, Julie Lydecker (film), 2002; producer, Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast (special), 2005; producer, Earth to America (film), 2005; executive producer, Everybody Loves Raymond: The Last Laugh (special), CBS, 2005; producer, Play Nice (film), 2006; and executive producer, The Jeff Garlin Program, 2006.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Episodic Comedy Award for Television Series Writing, Writers Guild of America, 2002.

WRITINGS:

(With Ray Romano) Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album, photographs by Tom Caltabiano, foreword by Norman Lear, interviews by Heather Havrilesky, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2004.

You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom (memoir), Viking (New York, NY), 2006.

FOR TELEVISION

A Family for Joe (series), 1990.

Baby Talk (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 1991.

The Man in the Family (series), 1991.

Down the Shore (series), Twentieth Century-Fox Television, 1992.

"Johnsonwreckers," Coach (series), American Broadcast Company, 1995.

"Ten Percent of Nothing," Coach (series), American Broadcast Company, 1995.

"Is It Hot in Here, or Is It Me? Parts 1 and 2," Coach (series), American Broadcast Company, 1995.

"Nice Guys Get Cut," Coach (series), American Broadcast Company, 1996.

America: A Tribute to Heroes, (teleplay), 2001.

"Thank You Notes," Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 2003.

"Not So Fast," Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 2004.

"Angry Sex," Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 2004.

"P.T.&A.," Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 2004.

"Boys' Therapy," Everybody Loves Raymond (series), Columbia Broadcasting System, 2004.

Earth to America (teleplay), 2005.

Served as writer for eight additional episodes of Coach and more than one hundred episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

SIDELIGHTS:

Phil Rosenthal is a television writer and producer. While trying to break into the business as an actor, he earned an income through various other jobs. One of these was working as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where his chief challenge was remaining awake during his shifts. Once he began to concentrate on writing for television, however, he became associated with several unsuccessful shows before eventually creating the hit comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond. At the time, Seinfeld was at the top of the ratings, and many of the new sitcoms being pitched emulated that show's style. Rosenthal, however, was not interested in mimicking another program's success. Instead, he focused on family and the love/hate relationships that exist within that dynamic, believing that most viewers would be able to relate to the show. Everybody Loves Raymond illustrates the highs and lows that all people feel with their families, ranging from moments of love to the heights of frustration.

The show debuted in 1996, and remained high in the ratings through its final season in 2004. In 2002, Rosenthal was awarded the Episodic Comedy Award for Television Series Writing at the 54th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards. The show itself was nominated five times for an Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series, winning in 2003. Rosenthal also wrote Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album, along with actor Ray Romano, as a keepsake and tribute to the program. In an interview for the Hofstra University Web site, Rosenthal demonstrated his wit when he explained his formula for a good show and a happy set: "‘Raymond’ was the first show I ever created. The only rule I had for myself was that we should all be nice, because I had worked on shows where it wasn't very nice. A nice set, with nice people … how do you get that? The first thing I found was good food."

In addition to his hit television series and a number of shorter television ventures through the years, Rosenthal has written You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom, his memoir of his rise in Hollywood, focusing in particular on the years spent working on Everybody Loves Raymond. The book also addresses some of the difficulties Rosenthal and Romano shared in the early days of the series, when both were relatively inexperienced in the industry. Beyond that, Rosenthal gives his view of Hollywood as a company town, often in a humorous manner. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Written with what-a-schmuck-I-am wit, this is passable entertainment, a kind of communique from the Writers' Room." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that "parts of this book are like listening to a very long and funny standup routine," concluding that it is "a valuable textbook of insights from an insider."