What a pleasure it is to eavesdrop on two masters of their craft talking shop. We're lucky that, in the '90s, television was still such a relatively new medium that its forebearers were still with us. In that way, you could include the totality of TV in one conversation. There was no way, after all, to have Renaissance painters in conversation with the Cubists. Rembrandt and Van Gogh couldn't pick up the phone for a chat about their favorite hues

Especially as more time passes, one particular Los Angeles Times piece from 1999 grows in importance. Writer Paul Brownfield gifted us with a fly-on-the-wall piece wherein Carl Reiner and Ray Romano both waxed poetic about the sitcom format, what worked for their shows, and how TV changed over the decades. 

What's perhaps most striking in their discussion is the difference in workloads enjoyed (or... not) by the two men. There is a lot to be said about the gulf in hours put in, and who better to say it all than Reiner himself? 

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"First of all, we did (about) 33 shows a year. So there were 158 shows by the end of five years. So in five years we were worn out."

Everybody Loves Raymond, by comparison, had only 22 episodes in its first season, exactly 2/3rds the amount Reiner had to do. That difference is only exacerbated by how much of the work fell solely on Reiner's shoulders.

Romano highlighted that difference with a pointed question:

"When it was over, how much of it was like, 'It's so rewarding but it's also torturous to do a show week in and week out?'"

While there was definitely some suffering on the set, Reiner said his pain might not even compare to what a more modern showrunner or cast member would go through

"I think you guys are more tortured now," said Reiner. "I don't know what's happened. When we did the Van Dyke show we used to come in at 8 o'clock, 7:30, and start the show. And by 9:30, 10, we'd finish, send the audience home and do pickups. Little pickups. ... And by the time 10:30 came around, we were out."

When Romano asked about the writing, the differences between the two series were further highlighted.

"Well, the first two years I wrote 40 out of 60 episodes," said Reiner. "And there was no supervisor. I was my own script supervisor. It took me four days to write a show and eight days to rewrite somebody else's show."

Romano, for his part, couldn't "fathom that."