Let's Do Lunch
On this week’s Naked Lunch podcast, hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild write “What are the greatest TV situation comedies of all time? Phil (who created the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond") and David (who watched it religiously) discuss their own favorite shows, and take your calls about yours.
If you grew up in the era where sitcoms of the ‘’80s and ‘90s were what you watched, you’ll particularly enjoy the conversation. If shows of more recent vintage or before then live high in your appreciation, you might find it a bit frustrating. For example, and most egregiously, neither The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show even get mentioned! And that’s not a case of them being before when callers (or Phil and David) were born – since, after all, they have been on the air continually for 60 years, including multiple times every single day today. And to not even mention them.?? As for recent series, Phil (who I admire deeply, and had the opportunity to meet and interview) notes that he really doesn’t watch sitcoms anymore. So, he was only barely aware of Ghosts, when it gets brought up.
By the way, after this episode initially aired a while ago (sorry, it takes me a while to catch up, I have a nice backlog...), I noted on Twitter the huge lapse of not even just referencing Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith – and got a reply from co-host David Wild. He wrote back: “We apologize -- we were not being comprehensive, but reacting to calls. But I know Phil ranks the first at the top of his list, and we both love ‘Andy Griffith’ -- which is the favorite of Brad Paisley who wrote our theme.”
It was an extremely thoughtful reply, and of course the podcast wasn’t being comprehensive. But given that one of those shows was at the top of Phil’s list, and the other was loved by both and “the favorite” of Paisley makes such a glaring omission all the more surprising. I wrote back a thanks, and added that perhaps the oversight could be “updated” on a later podcast. While I doubt that would happen, I did think his reply was thoroughly gracious. Though almost more gracious was his follow-up reply – “You call it a ‘HUGE lapse,’ I call it a follow-up episode idea.”
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