The Strange Art of Picking a TV Title
3/6/2012
Titles Considered:
"That Raymond Guy"
"Raymond's Way"
"What's With Raymond?"
Phil Rosenthal (Show Creator):
I put "
Everybody Loves Raymond" on the original script. What I loved about it was that it was like "
I Love Lucy", and I was trying to do an old-fashioned show -- a traditional sitcom to break out from everything hip and edgy at the time.
Plus, it had that specificity: Once you knew the show, you got that the title spoke to sibling rivalries, problems with parents, problems with your wife.
Before I turned it in, I showed it to Ray. He said, "
You can't call it that because then we're asking for it. I'm named Raymond. I don't want that pressure of everybody having to love me. The next thing is, 'Oh yeah? I don't.'"
I said, "
Let's turn it in and see if the network even likes it."
CBS liked the script enough to go to pilot, and the whole time Ray is calling Les Moonves, saying, "
You've got to change the title." And Les was like, "
Ray, you're not even on the schedule yet. Don't worry about the title."
Then we get picked up to series, and Ray goes nuts. He calls Les: "
Thank you for picking up the show, but you've got to change the title." Les responds, "
Ray, if you become a top 15 show, you can call the show anything you want."
Ray says, "
OK."
By that time, Ray has come up with a list of his own titles. There was "That Raymond Guy", "Raymond's Way", "What's With Raymond?" They were all terrible, which he admits now. He wrote them on a piece of paper, which we then framed and put up in our office.
We do become a top 15 show, and the moment we crossed the threshold, Ray calls Les and says, "
Can we change the title now?" And, of course, Les says, "
You can't change the title now. You're a top 15 show!"
Every introduction for the rest of Ray's life will be, "
Here's the guy that everybody loves". I'm happy for the success we had together, but I do feel guilty that he has to live with that until he dies, and probably after.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...xamples-297288