Prior to his success with the hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” (CBS, 1996-2005), writer and executive producer Phil Rosenthal was originally imbued with the desire to become an actor—his quick wit and effusive charm seemed to make him a natural. Rosenthal was quickly disgruntled, however, with the humiliating audition process and soon turned to writing. At first his luck was no better—he found work on short-lived projects or series in their Swan Song years. But Rosenthal learned from other showrunners what worked and what didn’t. So once he got the opportunity to run his own series, he
