The Raymond Rule – Why Your Characters Need Conflict – Sitcom Secrets for Radio Success
Some nights while eating dinner, I have no appetite on TV for the political shout-fests or sports round table know-it-alls. So, I keep clicking until I hit gold: a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond. A show that hasn’t been on the air in 20 years but always delivers the laughs.
I wanna break down why and then offer your first challenge once the show returns from the holiday break in January.
The foundation of any successful show is its plot and characters. Without either, you have no direction and can’t have a content strategy. What is the unique plot of your show? What is your show about?
Everybody Loves Raymond’s Plot: Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter and family man, deals with a resentful brother, an always disappointed wife, and meddling parents who happen to live across the street.
It may shock you to know that they made 210 episodes over nine seasons. And that’s the plot of every one of them (on purpose). Ditto any successful show (Seinfeld, Survivor, Friends, Big Bang Theory, etc.). What’s your plot? The unique one-sentence frame of what your show is about?
Then come the characters. They must be relatable and each different to lend a contrast to the others. Here’s how you connect with the audience. Well-defined characters allow listeners to identify with one. It’s the tension with the others that makes the plot come to life.
If you’ve watched even a few Everybody Loves Raymonds, you will recognize and identify with these characters:
Ray: the show’s protagonist who lives across the street from his parents and struggles with the demands of work and his family, often getting a lot wrong.
Debra: Ray’s wife who is strong-willed, exasperated by Ray’s immaturity and his family’s constant intrusions into their lives. She can never live up to the expectations of Ray’s mother.
Robert: Ray’s older and taller brother who’s an insecure cop and is always overshadowed by Ray.
Marie: Ray and Robert’s mother who is an overbearing, meddling woman who constantly puts Ray on a pedestal, while criticizing Debra.
Frank: Marie’s husband who is loud, sarcastic, and eccentric, and has a habit of yelling and making bizarre comments.
Who are the characters on your show? They must, must, must be grounded in the truth. The difference between your characters and those on Everybody Loves Raymond is that yours are real (the TV characters are assigned to great comedic actors). You cannot give a persona to someone on your show – they’ll be inauthentic and the audience will sense it. Apply this exercise above to your cast then ask where the tension is and how they are different.
I was recently asked by a program director to evaluate their show. They said there doesn’t seem to be any electricity in the on-air conversation. It was apparent why when I listened. He has two of the same people. The only difference was their gender. They are both spouses, parents, the same age, and basically held the same world view. Not much contrast there.
CBS just had an Everybody Loves Raymond 30th Anniversary Special. The show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal, said the program is really about his home life. Because real life is relatable, very funny (if you have the right scripts and characters), universal, and timeless.
When you come back in January, run this exercise as a re-set for the year. There is never a downside to affirming your plot and characters.
Once you do, your content becomes easier to find and execute. Your connection with the audience heightens because of it. And you’ll own that turf. If you’re strategic about all of this, there’s no way you don’t see greater success a year from now.