Fans watching Somebody Feed Phil Season 3, which dropped on Netflix on Friday, were left heartbroken when they realized that Phil Rosenthal’s mother passed away last year.
Somebody Feed Phil follows Phil, creator of the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, traveling around the world, trying out cuisines from different cities.
Phil’s parents would often steal the show when he video-called them at the end of each episode to tell them about his latest exploits.
Somebody Feed Phil premiered on Netflix in January 2018. The show went on a long hiatus after Season 2 was released in July 2018.
Fans were happy when Season 3 eventually dropped on Netflix on Friday, May 29, 2020.
Season 3 sees Phil trying out cuisine in cities across the globe, including Marrakesh, Chicago, London, Seoul, and Montreal, after touring Dublin, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Cape Town, and New York City last season.
Phil’s mom passed away last October
Fans watching the new episodes of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix noticed that Phil’s mom, Helen, was not there when he called his family. Only his father was there.
Viewers were devastated to learn that Helen passed away last October.
Phil had taken to Instagram in October to pay tribute to his late mom. He posted a picture of his mom and dad together with the caption:
“Helen Rosenthal 1933-2019. We love you Mom.”
Many fans missed the Instagram tribute at the time Phil posted it in October. They realized that Helen had passed away only after he video-called his family at the end of Season 3 episodes.
“Started watching season 3 and missed your Mom so I came in IG looking forward YOUR page to see what happened,” one fan posted on Instagram. “I’m sorry to hear she has passed. She brought so much joy to so many including me.”
“So sorry to just find out your mom passed,” another Instagram user wrote. “Watching season 3 of your show, loving EVERY episode. Thank you.”
Fans learned about Helen’s passing after former Bachelorette contestant Tyler Cameron’s mom passed away earlier this year.
Teen mom star Mackenzie McKee also lost her mother to cancer in December 2019.
Fans offered their condolences on Twitter
After learning that Phil’s mom had passed away, fans took to Twitter to offer their condolences.
Finally found time to watch Season 3 of Somebody Feed Phil and my heart broke as soon as I realized Phil’s mother wasn’t there. She was such a sweet woman and I was always charmed by how genuine @PhilRosenthal and his parents are and how they very clearly loved each other.
— D. Cohen (@mrmcdoesntexist) June 2, 2020
Just finished Season 3’s 1st episode of Somebody Feed Phil and was devastated to learn of Helen’s passing Oct ‘19. @PhilRosenthal please accept our condolences. My husband, my mother & I are huge fans of your show and my mom especially loved your video calls to your parents.
— Kerry LoCo (@KerryLoCo) May 29, 2020
I am watching Somebody Feed Phil as I’m tweeting. When you called your parents I noticed your wife was there instead of mom. I went looking to find out what happened. I’m so sorry for your loss. I am so saddened by the news. Bless her heart, she always made me laugh.
— brenda schmidlen (@brendasch011) May 31, 2020
Binge watching @PhilRosenthal Somebody Feed Phil, was looking forward to the end video calling his parents only to find out his mom is not there anymore
— Malu (@MaluisMalu) May 29, 2020
Who was Helen Rosenthal?
Phil’s parents, Max and Helen Rosenthal, were born in Germany to Jewish parents. They were raised in Berlin but emigrated from the country after the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom against Jews in 1938 under Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Phil’s paternal grandfather, a Berlin tailor, was able to escape the Holocaust, but many members of Phil’s family on his mother’s side were sent to concentration camps.
Helen and her mother were sent to camps in France but her father was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The family survived the war. Helen and his mother moved to Cuba after the war and later settled in Washington Heights, Manhattan where Helen met her future husband Max.
Helen — and her husband Max — loved comedy.
“My father liked a certain type of old-school Jewish comedy. In fact, he dabbled in it a little bit in the Catskills and stuff. So maybe that’s where I got a sense of humor. My mother was also very funny. But there were things that they just didn’t understand about American culture.”
According to the Belleville News-Democrat, Phil used ideas from Helen and Max for his sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
“Helen — along with husband Max — provided a never-ending source of hilarious plot ideas. That is, they were funny once Phil survived the frequent real-life frustration of being the son of sometimes stereotypical Jewish parents.”
Helen was the inspiration behind the character of Raymond’s mother, Marie Barone (Doris Roberts), on Everybody Loves Raymond.
Somebody Feed Phil is streaming on Netflix