Ah, the themed collection of YouTube links -- the last refuge of the idea-free (or time-crunched) blogger.While I haven't been able to justify using "NewsRadio" for one of my summer TV club entries -- I love it, but it ain't deep enough to merit extensive analysis -- it is wickedly funny (even at the comedy-rich time, but especially in comparison to the comedy scraps we get today) and profoundly silly, and so I offer up the following sampler:
- Bill and Dave struggle to give up their respective addictions to cigarettes and coffee
- Jimmy reads from his twice-translated memoir
- Bill tries plugging a new sponsor, then makes the mistake of getting slang advice from Catherine
- Matthew makes a big on-air gaffe
- Trouble with a baseball promo
- Beth designed a new hat
- Bill exercises his inner Mark Russell
- Matthew tries out some facial hair
- Dave reads Bill's message from beyond the grave (surprisingly funny given that the cast was still grieving Phil Hartman, then painful when Dave gets to the end, then funny again)
- "Arcade" (pictured above), which exemplifies everything that made "NewsRadio" great (things like gross sandwiches and childish behavior)
- "The Bitch Session," the finest example of behind-the-scenes drama at the show turning into hilarious comedy
- "Review," in which Bill finds several thousand ways to conjugate "adequate"
- "The Real Deal," in which Jerry Seinfeld tries and fails to boost the show's ratings
God, I miss that show.
Super karate monkey death car!
ReplyDeleteI think you can justify it, but then I have all the episodes on DVD and wouldn't have to rent them.
FWIW, The Onion's AV Club is recapping NewsRadio here: http://www.avclub.com/content/tvclub/show/NewsRadio
ReplyDeleteAnd there are a bunch of full episodes from Seasons 1-3 available on Hulu.
I miss it too.
The gelato episode was perfection.
ReplyDelete"Did you fax your ass to Elizabeth?"
"No, we didn't have the technology then..."
And who can forget:
"I'd like to go up to the roof of my building, with a blanket and a very good bottle of wine, and make love, with a space prostitute."
Oh man, that baseball promo bit was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteI just rewatched "Complaint Box" last weekend, which is probably my favorite episode. Or "Arcade". Or one of a dozen others. Just an amazingly good show.
ReplyDeleteI was always partial to "The Cane". The final scene between Bill and Dave cracks me up every time!
ReplyDeleteThe arc to kick off season 4 with Lauren Graham playing an efficiency expert was as close to comic perfection as you can get, IMO.
ReplyDeleteWell, that and Dave's reaction to one of Joe's conspiracy theories: "Wait a minute, Joe. If what you're saying is true, then ... I still don't care."
It's all in the delivery.
Thef final scene of "The Cane"
ReplyDeleteFWIW, The Onion's AV Club is recapping NewsRadio here:
ReplyDeleteWell, good. That means someone else has picked up the charge while also further justifying my decision to not do it right now.
My favorite episode was when Matthew and Beth discover "Dilbert," even though it had been around for years. I believe TBS still shows reruns at varous times during the day.
ReplyDeleteMy two favorite moments from the show:
ReplyDelete* In "The Public Domain" where Bill punches out Planbee's assistant.
* In "Security Door": Dave's How-To Presentation on operating the door (including pre-prepared drawings of Unicorns for when Matthew asks an off-the-wall question.)
I started watching the first DVD set recently. It is amazing how this show was awesome right out of the gate, when a lot of good shows take usually up to a season or 2 (Seinfeld) to really find their comedy voice.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite episode is the big day where Dave has to decide who gets the big bonus and who gets the shaft. The scene where Joe/Bill do the Theme from Shaft is awesome.
Is it just me, or is there a lot of Bill McNeal in Jack Donaghy?
ReplyDelete"Your last name is Garelli?"
ReplyDeleteThis show is one of the underappreciated gems. Glad to see someone mentioned the "Cane" episode. Matthew getting fired then falling back to dentistry is one of my personal favs.
Bill! Coffee machine broken!! No coffee!!
ReplyDeleteThere hasn't been a single week since that show has been off the air where I haven't referenced it, sometimes without any real relevance to what's going on at the time.
I say no justification is needed for going on at great length about this one.
My favorite sitcom of the 90s, and Arcade is the best episode.
ReplyDelete"So, how'd you do?" "One point eight million." "No, I mean on the SATs." "Considerably lower."
http://youtube.com/watch?v=37cf-WmEqPI
ReplyDeleteThe security door clip.
I love this show so much.
a couple of my favourites:
ReplyDelete- matthew's accident..."roger!"
- early in the episode with Bill's cane, when Bill gives directions
- Bill discovering rap music, and the Heavy D cameo
- Bill eating the old sandwiches
- the pilot, when Bill first meets Dave
what a classic show :)
What behind-the-scenes drama?
ReplyDeleteForgive me if y'all have discussed this one: I don't know the titles. The episode with the talent show? Matthew's "ventriloquist" act is one of the funniest things I've ever seen:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j0wh8e0Rig
Great episode, but that bit has me in stitches every time.
I've always thought the episode where Matthew goes punk ("Anarchy!") is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this is allowed around here, but Best Buy has the entire series on sale for $14.99 a set. I just scooped them up as they've been on my wishlist for a while and reruns are on at such random times.
Is this one of those blogs where it ends up that the guy is Richard Nixon?
ReplyDeleteFor the rest of my life, I'll think about this exchange when someone mentions a motivational speaker.
ReplyDeleteJimmy: Dave, I didn't think motivation was important, either, 'till I got involved with some motivational seminars and it really changed my life.
Dave: Really? That surprises me. I didn't think you were the sort of person that would attend one of those.
Jimmy: No, I don't. I put them together. Pack a few hundred suckers into a motel ballroom, hire an out-of-work actor to paraphrase the opening scene from "Patton", charge 'em five-hundred bucks a pop and boom, bob's your uncle.
NOT TO MENTION KERMIT THE DAMN FROG!
ReplyDeleteWhat behind-the-scenes drama?
ReplyDeleteThe showrunner, Paul Simms, went bitchcakes on NBC in an interview with Rolling Stone.
The showrunner, Paul Simms, went bitchcakes on NBC in an interview with Rolling Stone.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Rolling Stone interview -- in which Simms famously referred to NBC's Thursday night schedule (with Friends, Seinfeld and ER bracketing two heinous sitcoms) as "a triple-decker s--t sandwich" -- was both fabulous and inspired an episode ("Mistake"), "Bitch Session" was drawn from a different incident, in which Simms overheard the other writers holding a secret meeting to insult him, much the same way Dave found out what the WNYX staff really thought of him.
Ah, "Arcade" and "The Reveiew" are two of my favorites, along with "Space," Bill turning into Mark Russell (in the aforementioned Lauren Graham episodes), and about 100 ohters.
ReplyDeleteDave: Everything going adequately?
Bill: Very adequately sir, I'm virtually bursting with adequatulence.
"When Johnny comes marching home again, he's gay, he's gay."
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a huge fan of the Efficiency Expert arc - mostly due to the fact that I can't stand Lauren Graham - but Bill with a piano is as much comedy gold as Bill with a cigarette. Or a cane. "Bill? I stole your cane."
Yeah, I can kind of see your point about reviewing it, Alan. The discussion could just turn into a series of quotes. It'd still be fun, though.
One of my favourites that I don't think I've seen mentioned here is "Station Sale." There's the broken telephone hilarity surrounding what conglomerate might be buying the station, and then there's the lovely climax where Beth convinces Jimmy not to sell. Which is immediately undermined the next day by Jimmy proving to Dave that the whole thing was a sound business decision. One of the many great things about the show: there was always some astringent to cut the sap.
Though season four was not the strongest, "Chock," With Bob Odenkirk and David Cross may be my favorite episode of a the series.
ReplyDeleteBob: Screw this, all right? You're all out of the group, and I'm outta here!
David: Well, now *you're* being sagacious!
Bob: Hey, shut up, all right? That's my word! All right, the next time you guys see me, I'm gonna be up on a stage with three guys who give a HOOT!
Good times... Good times...
I miss Phil.
ReplyDeleteA blog entry about Newsradio in 2008? Adequatulent!
ReplyDeleteI try to be good hard worker man but refidgamator so messy, so, so messy
ReplyDeleteWhen in doubt: "tubelcane".
ReplyDeleteAnon...I still miss Phil, too. His death broke my heart a little.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, "Halloween," featuring the hotness that was young Dave Foley in a dress, is one of the random episodes that isn't up there.
ReplyDeleteHotness indeed. Dave Foley: confusing your sexuality since 1988.
Tubal Cain.
ReplyDeleteSee Genesis 4:22
Also see the secret Masonic ceremonies... oh wait.. you can't.