Opinion
He may be best known for creating ’90s sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, but Phil Rosenthal’s greatest television legacy may well be Somebody Feed Phil.
Phil Rosenthal is the latest to unlock the ultimate Hollywood perk: reaching a level of success where you can spend your days travelling and eating, transforming a personal passion into a paid profession.
But in the overstuffed buffet of celebrity foodie travelogues, Rosenthal remains the most charming presence. Despite his stature in TV history, he began these adventures as a relatively anonymous figure – the kind of person few would recognise if they bumped into him at a roadside tripe stand.
For Rosenthal is the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond (I know, it wasn’t created by Raymond – we’ve been lied to for decades), and so when he embarked on his late-career pivot, he was a high-flyer who nobody had seen enough of to get sick of yet.
Thus we have Somebody Feed Phil, a Netflix series now in its eighth season, wherein the sitcom mastermind hits the road, sees and eats incredible things, and reacts to the vast diversity of human culture around the globe with delight and excitement and a kind of wide-eyed, drop-jawed wonder that mingles with a streak of wise-ass humour and an expression equal parts “isn’t this GREAT” and “can you BELIEVE I’m getting PAID for this?”
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Each episode opens with a jaunty theme reminiscent of ’80s and ’90s sitcoms –the kind that makes you expect Phil’s family to turn and smile at the camera. In a nod to that era, various Rosenthals do actually drop by as guests.
We then get straight down to business: Phil and a friend walking the streets of somewhere beautiful and fascinating, stopping every few minutes to sample another delicacy shot to make the viewer’s mouth water to the max.
The star banters with locals, gets informed by experts, and riffs on his discoveries. He also provides classic doco voiceover, as well as appearing in cutaways a la MasterChef, where he comments on his experiences directly to camera while sitting in a mysterious confessional room.
Somebody Feed Phil is a show that likes to cover all its bases when it comes to the various ways in which a celebrity can remark upon their food journey.
A huge part of SFP’s appeal is Rosenthal’s commitment to variety. An hour-long episode can naturally be no more than a whistle-stop tour of a city’s food culture, but the show makes the effort to cast the net as wide as it can.
Phil wants to be fed at fine-dining establishments where renowned chefs break new ground with fusions of traditional and modern – but he dedicates just as much time to street food and popular snacks. For a taste of what awaits the hungry traveller in Bangkok, Venice, Amsterdam or Marrakesh, few shows deliver a more rounded view.
There is no class prejudice here: Rosenthal’s palate is thrilled by food of every kind, in any locale and at any price point.
Besides the food, the locations are also a star. Like a less stressful Amazing Race, SFP showcases the dazzling diversity of the world: bustling metropolises and spectacular landmarks and corners of culturally rich tranquillity – from the chaotic streets of Singapore to the intoxicating boulevards of Paris to a Buddhist temple in Bangkok.
But the big star is, obviously, Phil Rosenthal himself, who displays a great flair with both what goes into his mouth and what comes out of it. Assuming an air of goofy naivete with a delivery that brings to mind actor Richard Kind – as well as more than a hint of Ray Barone himself – he is clearly playing to the gallery, but the exercise is always fuelled by a sincere sense of appreciation for everything he’s experiencing.
His persona is very different to towering predecessors in the field like Anthony Bourdain or Michael Palin, but he shares with those gentlemen the greatest attribute for any documentarian: genuine, passionate curiosity.
You might wonder whether he’s quite as full of one-liners in his day-to-day life, but never do you doubt Phil’s interest in his subject, his enjoyment of the journey, or his insatiable need to be fed.
Even with 210 episodes and 15 Emmys for Everybody Loves Raymond, Phil Rosenthal’s greatest television legacy may well be Somebody Feed Phil.
Somebody Feed Phil
Watch it if: You love sampling the diverse sights of the great world around us and finding out what tasty treats await you should you hit the trail yourself.
Don’t watch it if: You are completely over rich Western showbiz veterans exclaiming with amazement at foreign climes.
Sizzle rating: Four burners out of five – SEARED
Stream it: Netflix
