NewsRadio: Seasons 1 & 2
At WNYX, New York's second highest rated news radio station, a cast of strong and idiosyncratic personalities repeatedly clash--yet somehow manage to keep the station afloat. From clueless station owner Jimmy (Stephen Root), to high strung news director Dave (Dave Foley), to high-maintenence anchor team Bill and Catherine (Phil Hartman and Khandi Alexander), to by-the-book producer Lisa (Maura Tierney), and beyond, this office of eccentrics provided a seemingly endless supply of comic situations during the series' five year run on NBC-TV from 1995-1999. This 3-DVD set contains all 29 episodes from the first two seasons.
Member Reviews
Still Broadcasting Laughs More Than A Decade Later - Tinseltown_Tess
It's amazing the gems you find when you're bored. I was a titch too young for this sitcom, and really all I knew of it was that it was what Phil Hartman was doing when he died. A friend had this set on dvd, and lent it to me when I was convalescing. I absolutely loved it. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere near the high caliber of such workplace sitcoms as Murphy Brown or Scrubs (if you can call that a workplace comedy), but it has charms of it's own. Stephen Root, as the eccentric billionnare boss, is an absolute howl. His mannerisms and one liners just stole the show for me. It's all just plain goofy fun, and the cast of improvisational comedy greats is used well with tight, funny scripts. The special features aren't much, way too many commentaries, and a dull featurette and gag reel are about it. Still the episodes stand on their own. Only downers: A rather eerie episode with Hartman and John Ritter. (As funny as it was, it was pretty sad to watch two comedy greats gone way before their time), and an episode about being trapped in a burning building that, post 911 just seems uncomfortable and tasteless. (How could they know?... it's amazing how the comedy landscape changed after that). Other than that, it's sitcom heaven.A Classic in the Making... - Bryson_McCarthy
The thing about News Radio is that is was a comedy based on the old standard of an ensemble cast who worked well together, instead of the star vehicles that were normal for the time. News Radio came out of the blocks slowly, creating characters within the walls of the news station instead of trying to come up with new situations to get the characters into in different locations. Much like Taxi, this is the best way to create characters people will get to know and love.
The show stuck around for a few years, never completely catching on as a bonifide hit, but it's fans stuck by it, even with the time and day changes that seemed to plaque the show from the beginning. Most of the time, you could never find the show when it was on, so this DVD set is great for fans who wanted to see everything they missed.
No one from the show really went on to huge fame, but everyone is still working and known for other things today, with the exception of the late Phil Hartman. One of the great things about this show was to watch Phil in action. On SNL he was someone different each and every week, but here he actually had the chance to grow as one character and really get into a role and use all his talents. The character of Bill McNeil was pure genius, and although never became the center of the show, really held the emsemble together.
This set has both the first and second seasons together due to the fact that season one was a mid-season re[lacement, so it was actually only seven episodes long. Even now over a decade old, the show is still as funny as it was in the first place and like Cheers, Night Court, Taxi and others, will never get old. A definate must see...Excellent show, great DVD set. - cyrus
The first season contained only 7 episodes (all found on disk 1), and the remaining 22 are from season 2. Each disk contains about 9 to 10 episodes so there's a lot of content. DISK 1 also contains bloopers & outtakes as well as a 5-min featurette that was put together during the first season of the show. Two-thirds of the show also contain a commentary track,
I had almost forgotten how much i love this show! The performances of Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis and especially PHIL HARTMAN are great!
The only complaint that I have is with the commentaries (though it was a treat to hear Stephen Roots' real voice and accent).
For some reason, certain actors are never together on the same commentary (e.g. Dave & Maura or Stephen & Vicki). This is annoying because these actors have a lot of chemistry together and you want to hear their comments on their scenes.
Second, when the writers/producers/directors are commenting, it seems as if they've never seen the show before. Sometimes, they don't seemt to know what episode they're watching. This would especially be annoying to the fans of the show. If you're used to hearing excellent commentaries (like the ones found on Futurama DVDs) you'll probably be disappointed.
Overall though, this is a must-see for anyone who enjoyed the show. You can play these disks over-and-over and they just don't get old!
Member Reviews
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Still Broadcasting Laughs More Than A Decade Later - Tinseltown_Tess
It's amazing the gems you find when you're bored. I was a titch too young for this sitcom, and really all I knew of it was that it was what Phil Hartman was doing when he died. A friend had this set on dvd, and lent it to me when I was convalescing. I absolutely ...A Classic in the Making... - Bryson_McCarthy
The thing about News Radio is that is was a comedy based on the old standard of an ensemble cast who worked well together, instead of the star vehicles that were normal for the time. News Radio came out of the blocks slowly, creating characters within the ...Excellent show, great DVD set. - cyrus
The first season contained only 7 episodes (all found on disk 1), and the remaining 22 are from season 2. Each disk contains about 9 to 10 episodes so there's a lot of content. DISK 1 also contains bloopers & outtakes as well as a 5-min featurette that was ...