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Everything's relative ran from April 6th until the 27th 1999 on NBC.
Everything was "relatives" in this sitcom about a mild-manner comedy writer beset by his overbearing family. Leo ( Kevin Rahm), seemed to be the only calm, well-adjusted member of the Gorelick family, which of course meant that the others were forever imposing on him. There was Jake (Jeffrey Tambor), his tall bossy Dad, who was long divorced from Leo's mother and fancied himself quite a ladies man ( as well as the world's most loving father); Mickey ( Jill Clayburgh), his mom was constantly showing up in his kitchen saying, " I'm going to go" but never doing so. A clinical therapist who "wrote the book on obsession" she was nevertheless obsessed both with her beloved sons and with showing up Jake. Marty ( Eric Schaeffer), was Leo's excitable, neurotic, self-centered brother, and Trina ( Maureen Cassidy), his bemused writing partner.
A Review From The New York Times
TELEVISION REVIEW; All in the (Wacky) Family, Where Normal Truly Is Not
By ANITA GATES
Published: April 6, 1999
The wacky dad is Jeffrey Tambor, bald, not young, not slim, convinced that every good-looking woman in Los Angeles is flirting with him. The wacky mom is Jill Clayburgh, attractive, slim, not young, completely obsessive.
''Everything's Relative'' is an odd little comedy, based on the tiredest sitcom premise of them all: one nice, normal guy surrounded by lovable lunatics. But to its credit, this new series gives the idea some new twists.
Mr. Tambor brings to his new role the fascinating, oblivious sleaziness of his ''Larry Sanders Show'' character: Hank, the resentful fourth-rate talk show sidekick. Ms. Clayburgh is brightly funny and seems much more at home than she did as the self-sacrificing Irish-American housewife in ''Trinity,'' one of NBC's early cancellations last fall. Kevin Rahm, a stand-up comic, is likable as their normal son, Leo, the comedy writer. And Eric Schaeffer is brilliant as the self-absorbed son, Marty the doctor. Mr. Schaeffer, who began his career as co-writer and co-director of ''My Life's in Turnaround,'' is the kind of guy who would cast and direct himself in his first nude scene, and he did, in ''Fall'' (1997), a film about the love between a taxi driver and a supermodel. He was born to play Marty.
''Everything's Relative'' is set in a contemporary, somewhat amoral Southern California. Mom and Dad are long divorced. Dad's idea of a father-son outing is having Leo shoplift for him. Marty is getting married for the third time, and Mom accidentally drugs his fiancee. The first two episodes, which revolve around engagement parties, house hunting and Leo's vow to ''divorce'' his family, look promising, with some inventive titles (''Later that same lie'') and what must be one of television's first five-way split-screen telephone conversations.
The question is whether viewers will really want to spend time with these highly flawed characters every week. But a lot of people said the same thing about Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine.
EVERYTHING'S RELATIVE
NBC, tonight at 9:30
(Channel 4 in New York)
Paul Junger Witt, Tony Thomas, Nina Wass and Mitchell Hurwitz, executive producers; Sue Palladino, producer; John Fortenberry, director; Denise Porter, associate producer. Produced by Witt-Thomas Productions in association with NBC Studios and Warner Brothers Television.
WITH: Jeffrey Tambor (Jake Gorelick), Jill Clayburgh (Mickey Gorelick), Kevin Rahm (Leo Gorelick), Eric Schaeffer (Marty Gorelick) and Maureen Cassidy (Trina).
A Review From CNN
TV's 'Everything's Relative' finds humor in family
April 8, 1999
Web posted at: 12:58 p.m. EDT (1658 GMT)
HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- NBC has packed its new Tuesday night comedy "Everything's Relative" with proven talent. Emmy nominee Jeffrey Tambor headlines the show, playing the eccentric patriarch of a mildly dysfunctional family.
Tambor comes to NBC after six years on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show," on which he played Hank, an arrogant but insecure late-night show sidekick.
In "Everything's Relative," Tambor takes the role of Jake, a long-divorced father who considers himself something of a ladies' man. Two-time Oscar nominee Jill Clayburgh play's Jake's ex- wife. Eric Schaeffer and Kevin Rahm play their grown sons.
The show focuses on Rahm's character, young comedy writer Leo Gorelick, and his problems with this all-too-close family. Rahm describes the role as a break in his career. It's his first series and follows a string of film roles and TV guest spots.
"I feel like I was a rookie drafted to the Yankees last year. I got to win the World Series on the first try," he says.
Jill Clayburgh plays Mickey, the mom who's always caught in the middle of things. Apparently, Clayburgh is always giggling on the set.
"You know how when you were, like in high school, and you get the giggles?" she says. "That's what this show does to me."
As far as Tambor's concerned, the more giggles the show gets, the better. "You can't cure cancer in 23 minutes," he says, "but if you can give some sort of breadth and vision that helps you laugh at yourself, why then you've done what you should have done."
"Everything's Relative" airs Tuesday nights at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Correspondent Lauren Hunter contributed to this report.
A Review: Everything's Relative
Written By Rick Ellis, April 12th, 1999
Most viewers don't realize it, but the majority of people writing for television sitcoms are young. Very young, in fact. In the sitcom game, twenty-somethings rule and if you're thirty--and not running a show--you might as well be collecting Social Security.
Which may explain a show like NBC's new sitcom Everything's Relative.
The show is the latest in a series of sitcoms that feature general nice guys being tormented by their self-obsessed and/or possessive parents. The lead actors always try to do the right thing, but their lives are always being disrupted by the "family."
But like the earlier NBC series Conrad Bloom, this doesn't end up being enough of a concept to build a show around. While twenty-something's (particularly successful tv writers) may feel hemmed in by family obligations, a genial whiner isn't the kind of character that motivates rabid viewership.
Most viewers will probably sample the show to check out Jeffrey Tambor, who has managed to now experience both ends of the creative spectrum by moving from the magnificently funny The Larry Sanders Show to this disappointment. Tambor's Jake is supposed to be slightly sexually over-eager divorced Dad, but unfortunately the writing only provides him with the ability to be stupidly arrogant and oblivious to everyone around him. While Tambor's Larry Sanders character was flawed but ultimately likeable, in this show he's just flawed to the point of being annoying.
The series revolves around newcomer Kevin Rahm, who plays Leo, an L.A. comedy writer who can't get a decent date or distance himself from his family. While I'm sure that Rahm has the potential to be interesting, he manages to blow through every scene in this series like a gentle summer breeze. Despite being a writer, he doesn't seem to be particularly funny, or even captivating. And as a guy who's spent a lot of time around comedy writers, I find it hard to believe that he can't figure out some way to get some privacy from his relatives.
His family is rounded out by Jill Clayburgh, who plays his mother Mickey, and his self-absorbed brother (played by Eric Schaffer). Clayburgh should fire her agent after being saddled with a character that makes absolutely no logical sense. She's supposedly a psychologist, but seems entirely divorced from her feelings, and the world around her. She deserves better, but I don't think she'll get it in this show.
The pilot's flimsy plot follows Leo as he attempts to find a way to tell his family to give him some space. His latest girlfriend has left him, and he blames the relatives. So he dawdles, walks around some department store with his father (several times), spends some time convincing his Mom not to move closer to him and finally decides to unburden himself in front of his family at his brother's pre-wedding party. In the end, he makes nice, for no logical reason other than the episode is over and it's time to go.
In the end, we have a show with no center, little substance and damn few funny lines. In fact, the pilot only had one laugher, when Leo made the observation to his mother that, "Believe me, the fact that you wrote the book on obsession hasn't escaped me."
And the lack of character development won't escape the audience.
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