Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Phil Rosenthal, creator of the hit television series “Everybody Loves Raymond,” about his experience helping to remake Raymond for Russian television. He’s made a documentary about it called “Exporting Raymond”.
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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman, this is The World. Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the top TV sitcoms in America for several years. It ran on CBS from 1996 until 2005 and still lives on in reruns. The show chronicled the lives of fictional character, Raymond Barone, and his family, and was set in suburban Long Island, NY. It drew heavily on the real life experience of the show’s star, Ray Ramono, and it’s creator, Phil Rosenthal. Rosenthal thought he was finished with Raymond after its nine year run, but he ended up helping with the Russian adaptation of the show in which the main character Raymond is named Kostya. Rosenthal made a documentary about the experience. It’s called Exporting Raymond. He says it all started with a conversation about a different project.
Phil Rosenthal: The head of the studio of Sony Pictures called me in his office and he said that Sony created the sitcom in Russia. The sitcom as a form didn’t exist until they brought The Nanny over a few years ago. And the took The Nanny scripts, translated them into Russian, and it became a giant Russian hit and then spread to other countries. He said though that working with the Russians, who had no experience in sitcoms, was so unusual, how would I like to go over there and observe how they work with them. And then come back here and right a fictional feature film, a movie, about a show runner like me, who would go over there and try to have the show translated. And I said well, if the situation really exists and these people that you’re telling me about really exist, why not bring a camera crew over and film what really happens? And he said I love that idea, how about you go over and do Raymond over there, and film the whole thing, so that’s what I did.
Werman: Wow, so you get over to Russia. Tell us about who was making this Russian version of Everybody Loves Raymond, and what your role turned out to be?
Rosenthal: Yes, well, I thought my role was going to be as advisor, and helper, coming over to supervise this new sitcom for them; because you know, The Nanny and Married With Children, that they had done already over there were very much in their style of comedy that was on television, meaning very broad, very cartoony almost. And it was keeping with their sketch style of comedy that was already on. Raymond was going to be the first show that really took place on planet Earth where we found the humor in real life situations. And when I got over there the attitude was real life is terrible, why would we put that on television?
Werman: So how did you reconcile that clash?
Rosenthal: That’s what the movie is — you know, whether I did or not you have to see — but it certainly was a challenge, let’s say. You know, at the very first production meeting a beautifully dressed woman raises her hand and says, ‘I think the show should be used to teach the Russian population about fashion.’ And she of course, is the costumer designer, and I thought well, this is unusual, this is very democratic, maybe more democratic than here where the costume lady gets to say what her idea of the show should be.
Werman: Right, she would like the wife to be wearing a white cashmere sweater, heels and jewelry.
Rosenthal: Yes.
Werman: You asked her what does she wear at home.
Rosenthal: Well, of course, and I said you understand that in this scene we’re looking at now, the housewife if cleaning the kitchen. And she said yes, but she’s on television. And I say yes, but she doesn’t know she’s on television; she thinks she’s cleaning. So, it was like that.
Werman: There’s one part of your documentary where you discover that the show’s head writer and you are not on the same page when it comes to a really important point. Let’s listen to a few seconds from Exporting Raymond:
Rosenthal: And then the head writer, Sasha, all the sudden has a big problem with Raymond’s character.
Sasha: [speaking Russian]
Rosenthal: Sasha feels that the audience may not like Raymond’s character here in Russia, this man who’s always pushed around by women. And then it hits me, ‘Uh, are you married?’ I didn’t think so.
Werman: It sounds like…
Rosenthal: It’s not a problem, it’s not a problem between Russians and Americans, it’s a problem between married and not married.
Werman: It sounds like the head writer, Sasha, thought that Raymond was too much of a wimp. I mean what do you do in that situation because that’s why the show is successful here in the states. How did you continue?
Rosenthal: All I had been asking for was to get into the home of real Russian people so that I could see for myself; because when people start telling you that this is how it is in their country, that women are put in their place and men rule the world, and we’re macho, and this guy whose wife who tells him what to do is not a typical Russian man… I’m thinking this is bologna. I don’t care if you’re Vladimir Putin. When Vladimir Putin comes home after killing a bear with his bare hands, right, he comes into his house and his wife says don’t get that bear blood on the carpet, don’t walk in here with that, take those shoes off, Vladimir. I really believe that and so of course, I get into a real Russian home and you see how it is — the only difference between the Russian family that I could see was that the grandparents could actually use the computer.
Werman: You conclude in this film that family is a universal thing, but your despairing at one point that this project might not even work. I’m wondering if you felt that you know, Everybody Loves Raymond becoming Everybody Loves Kostya, did it kind of export all these American values at any point you were a little uncomfortable with?
Rosenthal: No, in fact I didn’t want it to export any American values. I actually said in those production meetings, I don’t want it to be an American show that’s relatable to you; I do want it to be a Russian show. I want it to be a Russian family that is a typical Russian family that’s relatable to Russians. But because it was on TV they thought it should be heightened. They thought it should be bigger and better than life. My only point is there’s enough humor in real life, which is how we based nine years of our show. You know, if you worked for me I would say go home, get in a fight with your wife, come back in tomorrow and tell me about it. Then we’d have another story, right? So that’s how we were able to run for nine years. We had to stop because if we kept having those fights with our wives, our wives would leave us. So that’s one good reason to stop doing the show. But all I wanted was for them to bring in their actual lives. And of course, once we could get a dialogue going of what your real lives were like and the problems you have at home, we’re all the same.
Werman: Phil Rosenthal, the creator of the U.S. television series Everybody Loves Raymond. He’s also the creator by genetics of Everybody Loves Kostya. And his new documentary, Exporting Raymond, is in theaters now. Phil, thanks very much.
Rosenthal: I’m a big fan of The World, both your show and The World.
[Everybody Loves Raymond theme plays]
Werman: You can check out the trailer for Exporting Raymond at theworld.org.
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