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DVD NewsRadio - The Complete First & Second Seasons
With its shaky five-season tenure (1995-99) including a dozen different time slots and only one major Emmy nomination, the outstanding NewsRadio is the atypical sitcom of its age. While most of the '90s sitcoms were based around a single big name talent (Jerry Seinfeld, Candice Bergen, Drew Carrey), NewsRadio came from the same stock from earlier shows Taxi and Cheers: a relatively unknown cast that rarely ventured away from the place of business. These first 29 episodes (7 as a mid-season replacement the first year), deliver a consistently hilarious show about the day-to-day life with the eccentric staff of New York radio station WNYX. Creator Paul Simms (The Larry Sanders Show) built a talented cast relying on expert delivery and character traits instead of goofy situations. The most famous cast member, Saturday Night Live's Phil Hartman, went against the grain of most SNL veterans and gleefully took a supporting role, the pompous, silver-tongued anchor Bill McNeal. The lead--the glue--of the series is Kids in the Hall member Dave Foley as the earnest new station manager, Dave Nelson. Soft but eager, Nelson plays lion-tamer delicately maneuvering around staff to keep the station humming along. This is complicated from the get-go when he falls into a secret, but very cute affair with Lisa (Maura Tierney), the ace reporter.
The station, like Mary Tyler Moore's TV crew two decades earlier, has a good balance between funny folks and just plain whackos. The former includes Stephen Root as the rich yet time-crunched owner, Joe Rogan as the fix-it man, and Khandi Alexander as Bill's tart co-anchor. The latter is embodied in Andy Dick as the helpless Matthew, a sublime airhead whose comic highjinks are often the show's hardest laughs, and Vicki Lewis, continuing the famous TV tradition of the lovable ditzy secretary that knows all. But the legacy of the show belongs to Hartman who tragically died after the fourth season. His comic bravura is balanced with the ability to play the fool. In one perfect scene, Lisa walks by with only a bra on (don't ask) and Bill doesn't move, reading his newspaper. Lisa returns to slap him anyway, shocking him. "I didn't say anything." Lisa retorts, "You were thinking it" and walks away. Hartman eases into a juicy, soft smile and returns to reading, "Well, that's fair."
If you're not a fan of commentary tracks, you won't find the love and care that went into this DVD set. There are commentaries on 20 of the 27 episodes with the cast and crew rotating duties. The nice thing about a cast full of comics is that the commentaries are very funny and rewarding for fans. We hear about the casting of the show, Foley's uncanny ability to memorize a script, the art of the archaic reference, and how the fix-it man was--for the half the pilot--Ray Romano. But if you don't have time for the commentaries, watch and laugh hard at the 10-minute (!) gag reel. --Doug Thomas
Review(s): DVD NewsRadio - The Complete First & Second Seasons
Great with a capital "G"
I love this show. It is well-written, superbly cast and always fun to watch. I highly recommend!
Enjoyable show
This is just an enjoyable show that is so filled with humor and subtle characterizations that you can watch it over and over again and pick up something new each time. The commentaries are fun and insightful and let you know that this cast and crew cared about each other and their show.
Big Boss Jimmy
The most interesting and fun boss ever, the big boss Jimmy is my favorite character of the gang. Essentric, yeah. Surprising, yeah. And he's in plenty of episodes as one of the main stories, yay!
Related DVD's NewsRadio - The Complete First & Second Seasons
The affable crew of WNYX is at it again in this painfully underseen sitcom. The 1996-97 season is more outlandish and escapes the clichés of the secret romance between reporter Lisa (Maura Tierney) and news director Dave (Dave Foley), the most continuous storyline of the first two seasons. Many of the season's episodes deal with the normalcy of the office environment: performance reviews, the complaint box, budget cuts, the annual Halloween party, and office feuds, most involving the wonderfully smug anchor Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman in what should have been his signature role) and daffy reporter Matthew (Andy Dick, certainly his signature role). However, NewsRadio creator Paul Simms and the writers push the envelope, including placing Bill in a mental ward (meeting patient Jon... More Info about this DVD Director(s): James Burrows (II) - Alan Myerson - Tom Cherones - Judi Elterman - Patrick Maloney DVD Release Date: Released the 28 February 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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With the departure of Khandi Alexander in the seventh episode, the radio-station sitcom became looser and wackier as the season went on. No new costar was immediately brought in, allowing other actors to do more, especially Phil Hartman as WNYX's blowhard anchor, Bill McNeil. Hartman rises to the challenge in his last season; he tragically died before the start of season 5. Bill gets to be boss for a day, works on his lounge act, interviews a jumper (fellow SNL alum Jon Lovitz, his second go-around on the show), tries to prove he can tell jokes, seeks adoption, and invents interviews with celebrities. The penultimate 22-epoisode fourth season starts off with a goody-two-shoes efficiency expert played by future Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham raising havoc: Matthew (Andy Dick) is... More Info about this DVD Director(s): James Burrows (II) - Alan Myerson - Tom Cherones - Judi Elterman - Patrick Maloney DVD Release Date: Released the 20 June 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The sitcom may be flatlining, but as long as there are fresh and original series like Scrubs, the prognosis isn't entirely negative. Created by Bill Lawrence, Scrubs is an interns'-eye view of hospital life and the torturous, tragic, and triumphant route to becoming a doctor. The eminently likeable Zach Braff heads the cast as "newbie" J.D., whose years of medical school haven't quite prepared him for chaotic Sacred Heart Hospital. Family Guy has nothing on the live-action Scrubs when it comes to surreal asides and fantasy sequences (for example, J.D. literally becomes the proverbial deer in the headlights when he cannot answer a medical query), pop culture references, and TV Land casting (John Ritter guest stars as J.D.'s negligent father in "My Old Man," and... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Quinn DVD Release Date: Released the 17 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The interns of Sacred Heart hospital move up to residents in the second season of Scrubs, the dorky little brother to ER with more than a passing resemblance to Ally McBeal. But in this season the sitcom actually matures-- in a good way--in its ability to balance just the right amount of heart and humor. While JD (Zach Braff) wrestles with his feelings for Elliot (Sarah Chalke), Elliot bends over backwards to be included with her colleagues and friends alike (after a character rags on JD and Turk, she squeals, "Do me!"), Turk (Donald Faison) proposes to Carla (Judy Reyes), and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) reunites with his ex-wife Jordan (Christa Miller), who's carrying his child. The cast melds together nicely, but it's Braff, executing most of the fantasy sequences,... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Quinn DVD Release Date: Released the 15 November 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's hard to believe, but for the first three seasons nobody really knew that Seinfeld was about, well, you know. It wasn't until season 4--unleashed here in a four-disc set that's equal in scope, quality, and quantity of bonus material to its predecessors--that the show really became something. In a series which can claim every installment as classic, the two-parter on disc 1 titled "The Pitch/The Ticket" truly stands out as a defining episode and, in retrospect, marked Seinfeld 4 as the breakthrough season. It's the one where (fake) NBC executives express their interest in working with Jerry Seinfeld on a TV show, then moves to the who's-on-first shtick of George successfully pitching Jerry on creating "a show about nothing." Scattered throughout the discs in commentaries... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Tom Cherones DVD Release Date: Released the 17 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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