''Ramzor'' ( he, רַמְזוֹר; ''
lit.'' Traffic Light) is an Israeli
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
. The program was created by
Adir Miller, who also co-authored the screenplay (along with Ran Sarig) and also appears in the program in the leading role.
The series ran for four seasons on Israeli
Channel 2 (on
Keshet) between 2008–2014. The fourth season was announced as the final one.
In early 2010,
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
purchased the rights for an American adaptation of the series, ''
Traffic Light
Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...
'', which premiered on 8 February 2011.
In 2010 the series won an Israeli TV Academy Award (פרס האקדמיה לטלוויזיה) in the Best comedy series category and also became the first Israeli TV series that won the
International Emmy Award
The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...
in the Best comedy series category.
Around 2016, Lithuanian production company,
Videometra, purchased the rights for a Lithuanian adaptation for the series,
Šviesoforas, which premiered on 13 March 2017 on
TV3.
Background
The show revolves around three friends in their mid-thirties living in
Givatayim
Givatayim ( he, גִּבְעָתַיִים, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population ...
. Each of them with a distinct personal status, symbolized by the three colors of a traffic light.
Itzko is the "red light"; married with a 7-year-old daughter.
Amir is the "yellow light"; He lives with his girlfriend, Tali.
Hefer is the "green light"; He has no permanent partner.
Characters
*Amir Rosner (
Adir Miller) is a 32-year-old event director. He lives with his girlfriend Tali, a flight attendant, and her dog Yardena. Amir has a healthy relationship with Tali although he hates her dog.
*Eyal (Itzko) Itzkovich (
Lior Halfon) is married to Lilach and is the father of Danielle. He owns a magic store and is characterized as cheap. His relationship with his wife Lilach is rather poor.
*Hefer Guri (
Nir Levy) is a single "party animal" who often changes girlfriends. As a single man, with a lot of relationship-experience, he gives advice to his two friends, usually about relationship "problems".
*Lilach Itzkovich-Yafa (
Yael Sharoni) is Itzko's wife. She is a journalist with a very strict and serious personality.
*Tali Rosner (née Dvir) (
Liat Harlev) Amir's Girlfriend. Tali met Amir during his work as a director. Tali works as a flight attendant
*Danielle Itzkovich (
Yuval Vin) Itzko and Lilach's daughter. Danielle is 7 years old yet very mature, cynical and sophisticated for her age. She loves watching the news and bossing around her parents.
International response
After the success in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, the TV series was adapted into various versions in the United States and Russia. The Russian version -
Svetofor (
Светофор) became very successful and had finished the 9th season in
STS Channel.
The
American version was cancelled after one season of 13 episodes.
A Greek version of the show was broadcast for one season of 63 episodes, under the title Gia Panta Paidia (
Για πάντα παιδιά). The show was one of the first shows that broadcast on the renamed
Open TV
Open TV, formerly Epsilontv, is a Greek free-to-air television station, based in Paiania, East Attica.
History
It belonged to Radio-television S.A. which was sold from Communist Party of Greece to the Cypriot offshore company A-Orizon Media ...
in the 2018-2019 season.
References
External links
Official website
*
{{InternationalEmmyAward ComedySeries
Israeli television sitcoms
Channel 2 (Israeli TV channel) original programming
2008 Israeli television series debuts
2014 Israeli television series endings
International Emmy Award for best comedy series winners
Givatayim